Tell me about your colonoscopy, especially the prep experience

In My Humble Opinion
21

I’ve had two. The first time they found a polyp and had to remove it. The second time was all clear. I have to go back next year for follow up.

Yeah, the prep kinda sucks, but that’s partly because I adore eating and don’t do well with NOT eating. The prep is definitely worse than the procedure.

Oh, except for the fact that the first time I kinda wasn’t “out” and started yelling because it hurt while they were doing it. They gave me more dope and I don’t remember the rest. I told them about this the second time and didn’t have an issue.

On the scale of things, it’s a nuisance and not great but there are worse things. Better to get it done with and all checked out because it’s SO treatable.

Good luck, Stoid!

22

Just had one in late July. I’d posted here in early June asking for prep regimen opinions. I specifically asked the doctor for a way to avoid drinking that thick-textured GACK (e.g. GoLytely) and he gave me Osmo-Prep (which is a sodium phosphate pill regimen). I still had to drink a lot of nasty liquid, but the nasty liquid was just Gatorade in “yellow” flavors (couldn’t have any flavors that tasted good, because of the restriction on red/blue/purple/orange dyes).

I did have to be liquids-only for 2 full days before. Dunno if that’s standard for the Osmo-Prep regimen, or I’m just special (for the record, they were doing both ends in one visit). The first of the two liquid-only days was while we were travelling back from Las Vegas. I brought a few bottles of drinks onto the plane… then there was turbulence and I couldn’t get up to get them from the bin (grrrrr). The second liquid-only day was a bit easier actually; I was able to make Jello as soon as we got home the previous evening, so had something to “chew”.

The night we arrived home (2 days before) I had to take Dulcolax tablets.

The following afternoon (the day before the procedure), the Dulcolax kicked in… very suddenly. New underwear was required. :eek::(.

The night before, I started the tablets at about 6:30 PM. 4 tablets + 8 ounces of Gatorade, every 15 minutes, for a total of 5 doses. About 8:00 the floodgates opened. What was annoying was I’d “go”… then think I should sit there for a while, but nothing would happen, so I’d get bored and go to the bedroom (adjoining)… then 5 minutes later the gurgling would restart. It was as if my gut was playing games with me. All was over by about 11 PM.

The next morning I had to repeat the regimen, though only 3 rounds of pills+Gatorade. Started that about 7 AM. At 10:45 I was panicking, as we had to leave the house at 11:00 and things were still rushing through. Fortunately that’s about when things stopped. I was seriously considering bringing a change of pants, and putting a Hefty bag down on the carseat.

Anyway - I think being forced to drink the thick stuff would have been intolerable. I hear horror stories. Some doctors use an over-the-counter prep involving a large bottle of Gatorate with a bottle of Miralax mixed in: polyethylene glycol (PEG) which happens to be the main ingredient in the Golytely etc. - though the texture is supposedly better. No clue why docs continue to use the prescription gallon-o-puke given that alternative. I have to assume it’s their cruel streak showing.

Lucky me, I get to do this all over again next summer. Blech. But anyway, the prep, while not fun, was not horrible either. Wear loose clothing that you can pull down in a hurry. Don’t leave the toilet lid down - delays can be messy. Keep a paperback or magazines near the toilet. If you have any way to make a TV visible from the toilet, I recommend doing so.

23

Is colon cancer more prevalent nowadays? I’ve had many elderly relatives and no one ever had colon problems, and most were never even checked for them.

24

:::snerk:::

There was no “you can’t leave until you pass gas” order for me, but I knew I’d be passing gas so pretty much as soon as I felt the urge, I let it rip.

I remember as they were putting me under, I kept trying to tell them something. What it was, I have no clue, but it seemed important. I wasn’t speaking too clearly because they’d put something in my mouth to allow passage of the gastric endoscope. Hard to talk with that between your teeth.

Oh - I got a printed report describing the polyps they saw and removed, including photos of each. Plus a photo of a pill in my small intestine. Unfortunately I misplaced the report, so I can’t scan that and put it on Facebook. That’s probably just as well.

25

Oh, I guess I should tell about my experience, too. I didn’t particularly enjoy the fasting beforehand, but eh, it wasn’t TERRIBLE. The prep solution tasted vile. I’ve had worse diarrhea, but evacuating the bowels with that solution was more of a nuisance than anything else. I don’t remember if it was painful or not.

I was VERY anxious about the procedure itself. A chaplain came by my room and offered to pray with me. I explained that I was an atheist, but I was more than willing to chat with her. She reassured me, we had a nice chat, and I said that I felt better and thanked her.

I had tubes going in both ends, as my entire GI tract was getting checked out, not just for colon cancer but to determine the cause of my digestive problems. So I had the twilight anesthesia. I don’t remember anything about the procedure itself. After I came to, the nurse insisted that I fart as often and with as much feeling as possible. I was handed a set of photos, showing the inside of my intestines. Apparently, I had a few polyps which were snipped and tested, and they weren’t anything to worry about.

This isn’t something I’d do for fun, but it’s something that’s fairly easy to do, has very few bad side effects, and could easily save your life.

26

How to explain it with a time-line reference … when you’re pooping tea you’re halfway there.

27

Heh heh heh. Versed really is a wonderful drug. :smiley:

Tell ya a secret: 99% of patients experience rather extreme discomfort *during *colonoscopies. 99% of them don’t remember a thing. It’s the Versed. (It makes you real woozy, greatly reduces anxiety, *and *it’s an amnesiac.)

Tethered Kite, sorry you didn’t get the good stuff (or not enough of it, anyway.) Did you tell them it was hurting? They should have given you more drugs.

Oh, and for those of you going through the prep and thinking of cheating - yes, we can tell. And if you cheat too much, we’re going to have to schedule you for another because they won’t be able to get a clean look at your innards. We’re not trying to be mean, really…you really do have to drink the whole thing.

28

Actually I have less concern about the evacuation than drinking the stuff. I am ultra sensitive and I’m just sure I’ll be sick as hell nausea-wise.

29

I had the same prep as yabob, and made it to the last cup.* It was a little nauseating, but not especially unpleasant, and was over fairly quickly (I actually got to sleep through the night). The procedure itself was pretty straightforward: undress, lie down, sleep, wake up, fart, get dressed, go home. They found and removed three polyps that turned out to be borderline between benign and precancerous, so I’m on a three-year repeat; but I’d much rather be aware of them than to have them silently wreaking havoc.

*For those who remember seeing Bell, Book and Candle, there is a scene where Shep has to drink a particularly disgusting potion to counteract Gillian’s love spell — but as he is trying to move his mouth toward the bowl, his hands are involuntarily moving the bowl away. This describes my experience exactly.

30

For a humorous yet (slightly) informative look at John Bell’s “coca-colanoscopy”, you can check out episode forty of Bell’s in the Batfy

direct link

31

I’ve had two.

The preparation last time wasn’t as evil as I remembered.

They burnt off a polyp or two and I go back in 3 years.

32

In recent years, I have driven 3 friends to and from their colonscopys (they couldn’t drive themself because of the drugs given). All 3 gay men.

In case you wondered, gay men find this procedure just as uncomfortable & embarrassing.

33

Mine was quite uncomfortable as well, though not bloody murder painful. The practitioners didn’t seem to care, but of course it wasn’t their discomfort. I would rather get the noninvasive kind if I had to do it again. Which, from the sound of it, I will do at some point… by age 50 at least, heh. There’s still the chance that a more invasive “real” one wouldn’t be necessary, and I’d rather not go through that again if I don’t have to.

I probably wouldn’t have needed to take the second dose of Fleet laxative they prescribed for the prep, the first one seemed to clean me out quite sufficiently and the second was overkill. It had a fairly nasty ginger-lemon flavour, but not so bad that the memory of it keeps me up nights or anything.

34

I don’t know if I had Versed (I know I’ve had that for other procedures, including my gallbladder surgery - I don’t even remember them wheeling me away for that one) but for the colonoscopy, I had Propofol (same stuff that killed Michael Jackson… extremely safe if used properly). I’ve heard it called “Milk of Amnesia”. But it burns going in the IV, which nobody warned me about!

BTW - the thing I dreaded most about it was the IV getting started. I have crappy veins, and it took them 4 tries with 2 different people to get the IV started for my gallbladder surgery. I had some pretty nasty bruises.

Day of colonoscopy? Nurse used a butterfly needle, got it in the back of my hand in one almost-painless jab. I complimented her. She said she used to work in an NICU so she learned on preemies.

35

Dunno about more prevalent (though some aspects of our Western diet certainly don’t help), but with the availability of colonoscopy as a fairly affordable screening tool, they’re pushing it more and more since it really can prevent needless deaths.

As someone who had a precancerous polyp removed, I’m rather glad of it!

36

I have had four colonoscopies, two endoscopies, seven cystoscopies. The colonoscopies after prep are the easiset due to Versed and Propofol. Worst issues are when you don’t have some really gentle toilet paper to use during prep.

37

If it is of any interest, I have had around 30 endoscopies over the years.

Recently they have been a cinch, but some of the earlier ones were very uncomfortable.

38

Oh - and some TMI:

[spoiler]
When things first started “moving along”… I saw evidence of something I’d eaten at least 3 days beforehand, maybe 4. I have in the past noted evidence that food transits my gut in less than 24 hours. My theory is that some food transits the gut that fast but other food “stays put”.

By the end of the evening prep, I was essentially excreting unmodified Gatorade. However, the next morning when I did that prep, there was some sludge in the first few “trips”. Not sure where that came from! I guess that’s common, or they wouldn’t need to insist on both rounds.[/spoiler]

Oh -and re the gallon-o-glurge being safer: this is true. The pills I had (and the Phospho-Soda which is a liquid version of the same) both have a black box warning for phosphate nephropathy. Dunno how common it is - from reading about it, there are some risk factors such as age, already-impaired kidney function, some BP meds (one of which I was on at the time :eek::smack: though a low dose), dehydration. I’ll ask the gastro about that before I go in the next time. My BP is under good enough control that I could almost certainly skip the medication for a couple of days (I’m on another one as wel anyway).

39

Since I was having it “north and south”, I asked if they’d hammer in a golden spike when they met in the middle. :stuck_out_tongue:

For some reason, they didn’t find this all that funny. :dubious:

40

Ha, that’s great.

Once, just before I was put under for a different surgery, I stopped a room of doctors and nurses in their tracks just by wishing them all “good luck”. They were astonished and really thanked me. To which I thought, well it’s not like that isn’t self-serving.