# Tell me about your colonoscopy **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 12, 2013, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-colonoscopy/652743 "2013-03-12T18:57:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-colonoscopy/652743/61 "2013-03-15T00:30:16Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > Huh - interesting. The sensitivity (which I believe means the percentage of issues caught) is slightly higher (96.1% vs 94.7%). The note about “tagging agents” seems to say that the sensitivity rises to 100%, am I right? > > At the end of the abstract it says “primary CT colonography may be more suitable than OC for initial investigation of suspected colorectal cancer” which I’d personally challenge. “more suitable” in that maybe there’s less cost, less anesthesia (with those risks and inconveniences) and less “tube where the sun don’t shine”, but then if they do find anything you still have to do it the old fashioned way. > > As a known “trying to catch the Big C” patient, it won’t be the right choice for me anyway, sigh. The sensitivity is essentially the percentage of cancers caught, yes. The two numbers are essentially the same, as the confidence intervals overlap (as I recall from looking at the papers yesterday while shaking off the propofol). Fecal tagging makes the feces look different from the bowel or bowel cancer on CT, kind of like painting the poop in the pipe, so you can better tell it from the pipe. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-colonoscopy/652743/62 "2013-03-15T00:46:25Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > The handout from my place says something to the effect of they have a medical transport service that can take you home if you pre-arrange it. That suggests it’s an alternative if a friend can’t be with you though they don’t make that clear. This is a problem with the HMO that I belong to. They are absolutely anal (:dubious:) about the transportation rules. The patient MUST be accompanied by a driver. The driver MUST remain at the hospital for the duration of the procedure. The patient CANNOT take the bus. The patient CANNOT take a cab. The patient CANNOT take Dial-A-Ride. The patient CANNOT use any sort of medical transport service. The clinic does NOT offer any transportation services, or any assistance in getting transportation. When I had an appointment last year (the one I eventually chickened out on anyway), and similarly when I had an upper-GI endoscopy a couple years earlier, I had to beg some neighbors that I barely knew to take half a day off and give me a ride. This is just such a pain in the ass on so many levels. ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-colonoscopy/652743/63 "2013-03-15T04:21:53Z")
I have had two. I slept through the first one, and was semi-conscious through the last. There wasn’t a lot of foreplay. I asked for a video, set to music of the event, but was denied. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-colonoscopy/652743/64 "2013-03-15T05:11:33Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I had a fairly easy prep. No special diet. I skipped supper that night. They gave me these huge pills to take. I think it was 4 or 6 pills at one time? Lots of water. Then a few hours later another batch of pills and a pitcher of water. > > They cleaned me out. 😉 Never imagined a person had that much in them. > > The exam itself was nothing. I was heavily sedated. I went home and watched tv afterward. LOL - yeah, you had OsmoPrep. The split-dosage regimen is apparently a lot more effective than doing it all in one session, regardless of the prep method. I remember being stunned, in the morning, that there was anything but pure liquid coming out after what had happened the night before. I have no idea how you can be basically peeing outta your ass with nothing solid, not even teeny bits… then 8 hours later there’s more sludge. Oh - and **Napier**? :eek: :eek: :eek: I assume you won’t be going back to _that_ guy for your next scope!! ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-colonoscopy/652743/65 "2013-03-15T09:42:40Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > They’re more worried about bowel perforation, I believe. See **Napier** ’s post. (Although I did have one nurse I worked under mention to her patients that they shouldn’t make any passwords for 24 hours or so, because they were likely to forget them d/t the amnesiac effects, which I thought was kind of her, and I do the same, but it’s hardly life threatening.) The discharge paperwork I’ve seen most often is big on the “rigid, boardlike abdomen” and “vomiting blood” sort of warnings. Strange, then, that they didn’t make a point of telling me to have someone around the house for the rest of the day. They did include instructions not to cook for several hours, though, so I still think they were thinking about the sedation. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-colonoscopy/652743/66 "2013-03-15T11:27:56Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > Strange, then, that they didn’t make a point of telling me to have someone around the house for the rest of the day. They did include instructions not to cook for several hours, though, so I still think they were thinking about the sedation. Very strange. “You’ll need an adult to stay with you for \_\_\_ hours after” is standard spiel IME. But, as with prep procedures, it seems that aftercare protocol is beginning to vary a whole lot between providers. ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2013, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-colonoscopy/652743/67 "2013-03-16T03:34:30Z")
Oh, and BTW, the clear liquid only thing? When I complained to my doctor that I hadn’t slept a wink the nite before from anxiety about it (my first one), he smiled and told me that beer is a clear liquid. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2013, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-colonoscopy/652743/68 "2013-03-16T04:15:16Z")
Dennis Wolfberg - “[The Rigid Sigmoidoscopy](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r9LAYaIvP4)” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![MindsEye\_Watering](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindseye_watering/32/3619_2.png) [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2013, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-colonoscopy/652743/69 "2013-03-16T10:39:50Z")
> [@DummyGladHands](#): > > Oh, and BTW, the clear liquid only thing? When I complained to my doctor that I hadn’t slept a wink the nite before from anxiety about it (my first one), he smiled and told me that beer is a clear liquid. So’s white wine. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2013, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-colonoscopy/652743/70 "2013-03-16T11:23:59Z")
I’ve had two, and let’s face it, the pooping part is not pleasant. However, it is a bit more humane now than in the past. I’ll be having another in June. I need them every three years now, rather than five years. You’ll hear me bitching about it in a few months. And yeah, have a friend drive you home, and stay with you if possible. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2013, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-colonoscopy/652743/71 "2013-03-16T14:19:47Z")
> [@MindsEye\_Watering](#): > > So’s white wine. 😉 And vodka is the clearest liquid of them all 😉 Though orange juice isn’t particularly clear, so best to dilute it with some other beverage. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2013, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-colonoscopy/652743/72 "2013-03-16T16:00:48Z")
Attention all you people who will be having a colonoscopy - no pre-medication is necessary! I found this interesting contention online in a report from one Dr. Michael Bretthauer. While wimpy people around the world often find colonoscopy without analgesia or sedation to be quite painful, Bretthauer suggests to us that Scandinavians are made of sterner stuff and/or have lots better-qualified endoscopists. “While colonoscopy is performed in heavy sedation or even general anaesthesia in some countries, the majority of colonoscopies in e.g. Norway or Finland are performed without any sedation or analgesia. Previous studies indicate that routine sedation does not significantly facilitate either coecal intubation or patient satisfaction. We thus assume that the reason for the variation in sedation practice is to a large extent due to local traditions rather than scientific evidence. There is, however, a considerable difference in the technical skills of endoscopists, and less skilled endoscopists may be more prone to use sedation during colonoscopy. Compared to non-sedated colonoscopy, the use of sedation during colonoscopy has several disadvantages that need to be recognised; higher rate of colonic perforation, need for recovery after exam, patient amnesia leading to difficulties in explaining findings/follow-up, impaired driving ability for the rest of the day. Therefore, in our opinion, colonoscopy should preferably be performed without sedation.” [http://www.worldendo.org/assets/downloads/pdf/resources/ccsc/2005/4b.1\_bretthauer\_abstract.pdf](http://www.worldendo.org/assets/downloads/pdf/resources/ccsc/2005/4b.1_bretthauer_abstract.pdf) As someone who has undergone two colonoscopies with the aid of pre-medication that were non-painful (or if they were, I don’t remember it) and knows people who had very painful experiences even with pre-medication, I say to Dr. Bretthauer: Up yours, with an adult-sized endoscope.\* \*one wonders how many of the docs who blithely propose drug-free endoscopies have ever experienced them themselves. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-colonoscopy/652743/73 "2013-03-18T02:23:26Z")
I had surgery last year to fix an old incisional hernia. (Thread [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=644723), if anyone’s interested.) The surgeon wanted to make sure that my colon was reasonably empty beforehand, so he advised a senna/mag citrate thing. The senna part wasn’t horrible (except for the cramping), but the mag citrate was just vile beyond words. It was like drinking lemonade with about half a pound of salt dissolved in there. And I had to drink two bottles. ☹ It worked like a charm, though; once the stuff took effect, I just stayed in the can. After the procedure, I got to listen to all the colonoscopy patients farting up a storm. It was like the [campfire scene](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPIP9KXdmO0)from _Blazing Saddles_. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-colonoscopy/652743/74 "2013-03-18T03:10:52Z")
Choking down the gallon of gludge is the worst part. I kept after it like it was chilled case of crap beer that had to be demolished. I was down to about the last 10% and threw up a bit. I stopped and said “no mas.” The scope itself was a breeze. They gave me a roofie, the ladies doing the procedure made jokes about my “man fur” on the arms when they were putting the needles in. Woke up in recovery with a vaguely unsettled feeling, slight weird feeling on my backside, and went home to surf the dope. I felt okay but made a conscious decision not to get on email for the whole day just in case something abnormal would end up. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-colonoscopy/652743/75 "2013-03-19T17:42:18Z")
> [@Dobbs](#): > > Elastic pants > > Dab, not wipe Thank you for this advice. You saved my ass, and you saved my couch. Everything went pretty smoothly. (A little too smoothly!) I did have some pain during the procedure because they didn’t fully knock me out, but it wasn’t too bad. I am now the proud father of some bouncing baby polyps. Octuplets, in fact. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-colonoscopy/652743/76 "2013-03-20T22:52:40Z")
I am supposed to have one tomorrow, but the prep doesn’t seem to be working. I’m done drinking all the stuff, but feel no discomfort and could get up and go shopping or out to visit friends with no problem. This is not my first, so I know what to expect, but it’s sure not happening. So, either I’m in for a rough night or I get to do this all over again when they reschedule me. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-colonoscopy/652743/77 "2013-03-20T22:58:24Z")
I’ll be going for my 2nd one (I’m 50) in May. Have already scheduled the day off. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-colonoscopy/652743/78 "2013-03-20T23:50:55Z")
has anyone asked for a copy of the video? ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-colonoscopy/652743/79 "2013-03-21T02:03:14Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > has anyone asked for a copy of the video? I’ve never asked for a video, but the report they give me each time has photos of the areas they spot that need carving. The first time, when I also had an esophageal endoscopy (yes, they did that end first, LOL), I got a photo of a pill I’d taken a few hours earlier :). ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-colonoscopy/652743/80 "2013-03-21T02:04:39Z")
> [@Pai325](#): > > I am supposed to have one tomorrow, but the prep doesn’t seem to be working. I’m done drinking all the stuff, but feel no discomfort and could get up and go shopping or out to visit friends with no problem. This is not my first, so I know what to expect, but it’s sure not happening. > > So, either I’m in for a rough night or I get to do this all over again when they reschedule me. Hopefully this is moot by now, but going on such an outing would guarantee the stuff would start working!! A colleague of mine foolishly thought she had time to pop over to Wal-mart before things started happening. She regretted the impulse. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-colonoscopy/652743.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-your-colonoscopy/652743.md?page=5)