So I’ve turned 50 & need to schedule this, but I’m dreading it and procrastinating. A friend told me that the colonoscopy itself is no big deal, but the PREP is horrid. He said that the day prior to my procedure, I should not leave the house At All. Not even for 5 minutes. Was this your experience? Please lmk, with as much graphic detail as possible. TIA
Yeah, the procedure is nothing. I was basically out cold for it. I did feel some discomfort afterwards due, I think, to air they pump into you.
And yes, the prep is the worst part of it. Your diet will be limited and it will only be clear liquids for the last while. And yes, you will not want to be too far away from your favourite toilet as the prep cleans you out (soft TP, baby butt cream will be a good idea).
I’m pretty sure we have an omnibus thread for colonoscopy threads, I’ll see if I can find it before somebody else links to it.
Thanks for the info. I just searched ‘colonoscopy’ threads & the second result that came up was “Butt-hurt Trump takes to twitter again” 
Your friend is right. The prep is the worst part, and you should definitely plan on staying in all day. It’s not painful or scary, it’s just annoying. You annoyingly poop all day. The procedure itself is easy peasy. Uncomfortable for a minute if you aren’t fully knocked out (I woke up during mine and had a little cramping) and completely forgettable, I assume if you are fully knocked out.
I had a friend die from colon cancer at the age of 38. I have another friend who is suffering through life with colitis. Another friend has had a colostomy bag since she was in her 30s, is currently battling cancer and has had several surgeries on her bowel.
I’m sure they’d rather have a weekly colonoscopy than go through what they’d gone through. Yaknow?
Just do it.
I’ve had 3 or 4 of them in the past 15 years. My advice is to start on your Jello and Popsicle diet the afternoon before you start the full prep. And it’s a good idea to stay within a short walk from the nearest toilet; my fondest memory from one of my previous preps is leaving the downstairs bathroom and going upstairs for some reason–by the time I got to the top of the stairs, I headed straight into the bathroom off the landing.
You’ll be dehydrated by the evening, and may feel cold. I take a hot shower and get into bed, although I still shiver under the blankets during the night.
You’re out for the procedure and the minute you wake up in the recovery room, the nurses will be very nice and encourage you to pass as much “air” as you can before they get you up and dressed and hand you over to whatever friend or relative will be driving you home. You may also get a lovely set of photos of your colon to take home with you.
I was wrong, there is no omnibus colonoscopy thread but it was suggested.
Here is the link to the thread I started.
While I agree about always being near a toilet the prep a couple years ago was much better than the one 10 years ago. For the more recent one they simply used an over the counter laxative (but all or most of the bottle of it) while the one 10 years ago was a prescription. The over the counter one bowel movement was more gentle. As for the very limited diet strangely I didn’t feel hungry.
Didn’t read the whole thread.
Do eat less than normal for a couple of days before. No 16 oz. steaks and cups of bran cereal, kwim?
I’ve had two, and seriously, it’s no big deal. Yeah, your asshole will get sore after all the diarrhea induced by the prep solution, but you will live. Buy some of the Huggies’ Wipes called “One and Done,” and a tube of Beaudreaux Butt Paste and use the former to apply the latter exactly where the sun don’t shine – every single time.
The most important thing is as soon as the procedure is over, start drinking water and drink lots and lots of it. You’re dehydrated, but you may not notice until you feel so bad that no amount of water will help. After my first colonoscopy, I felt pretty good and went about my day. I thought I was drinking enough water but the next day I felt just sick all over. When I had my second, as soon as I woke up I started drinking water and kept that up continuously for at least 8 hours.
With procedures like this, I tell myself, “Millions of people have gone through this and if they can do it, I can do it.” That thinking came in handy when I had to have a lumpectomy.
Just get it over with and don’t think about it too much.
I had my first one about a month ago. It was scheduled for early afternoon so I took the first dose of the Suprep at about 6pm the night before. The day before I ate only a very light breakfast of two eggs. I stuck to the clear liquid diet for the rest of the day and then the next morning took the second dose of the Suprep around 8:30am (four to six hours before the procedure). I took the Suprep stuff (six ounces in each dose) with about ten ounces of lemon-lime Gatorade and then drank two 15 ounce glasses of water in the next hour. The stuff tasted not great, but I just drank it down in one go.
As for staying home, I did run out the day before to fill the gas tank of my car but after taking the Suprep, I stayed home. I took an Uber to the clinic and a co-worker drove me home.
The last part thing I remember from the procedure was being asked to roll over on my left side and the next thing I remember was being in the recovery room. No pain afterwards. (And what surprised me the most was that I wasn’t particularly hungry.)
In short, it’s probably worse in your imagination than the reality. I encourage you to go and do it.
The thread Ike Witt linked has links to the many, many, many threads we’ve had on colonoscopies over the years (includingmy own.) But really, it always boils down to three questions:
How bad is the prep?
Ever had food poisoning, aka “stomach flu?” It’s NOT as bad as that. Yeah, you’ll have diarrhea, but only for one day.
Does it hurt?
My doctor likes to knock his patients out, so in my case, not at all. Even the docs who don’t use a general anesthetic use some kind of relaxant.
What happens afterward?
You put on your clothes and leave. You may “expel air” (fart) for some hours afterward. That’s about it.
This was my experience as well. Seven years or so ago my prep consisted of a gallon of polyethylene glycol, and by the last glass I strongly resembled this (seriously, my hand was moving the glass away from my mouth involuntarily as I was trying to drink it). Last year I was told to use OTC stool softeners and laxatives — much easier (an understatement). Also, I did as ThelmaLou suggested and ate very lightly for a couple of days before “prep day” which meant less to clear out.
I don’t see it mentioned, but they’re serious when they tell you to avoid anything red: it can sabotage the process and result in your having to do it all again. Best to avoid purple as well, just to be on the safe side.
As for the procedure itself,
describes my recollection. It may take a day or so for your digestive system to wake up again.
Rent a couple of your favorite DVDs, and bring your laptop into the bathroom with you.
I’ve had 3 so far, and yes the prep is nasty while the actual medical procedure for me was fairly tame. The last two time I was fairly well under (was woken up by the nurse after the procedure was done and they were putting the equipment away), but the first time I was semi-awake and in a position to see the video screen display the wonderful purples, tans and greys of my lower bowels.
So I agree, taper way off the solid food starting 2 days before, follow the prep the day before (2 bottles of magnesium citrate in my case spaced apart, about 2 hours after the first bottle the fun began and I was pretty much on the toilet for the remainder of the night, and for good reason - luckily I had stocked plenty of TP & reading material on hand). I walked to and from my doctor’s office no problem (it’s not far), and was pretty clear-headed soon after the procedure was completed.
I too lost a friend years back, he was in his early 50s when he suffered a painful death due to colon cancer.
Put the prep stuff and whatever you mix it with in the fridge so it’s cold. (My doc is partial to a brand called Suprep - it’s two small bottles that are mixed with water, gatorade, etc., for consumption.) Drink it with a straw as fast as you can so it gets in you before your tongue figures out what’s going on.
For the liquid diet phase of the pre-cleanout, I drink cooking stock or bone broth that has protein so I have some “reserves” before switching to the clear liquids and prep phase.
I’ve had two, one I was completely out for, and the other I was awake, but relaxed, for. I greatly preferred the being awake one, because I could watch the monitor and listen to what the doctor and nurses were talking about. Based on my limited experience, I come out of anesthesia without many side effects, so the actual procedure and recovery were a total non-issue.
The prep is the worst. Sitting on a toilet for a few hours while binging the show of your choice isn’t really that bad, but drinking the stuff is nasty. I made the mistake of mixing up doses into a liter sized cup with measurements on it, because that seemed easy. It warmed up too fast. I recommend dosing it into smaller (rinsed coke/water bottles, or whatever) and keeping them in a cooler in the bathroom.
Since I wasn’t allowed to drive after, and had to have someone at least 18 accompany me as well, both my sons had to go with me. My 18 year old didn’t drive, so his 16 year old brother had to take care of that. I’m sure they loved spending a couple hours in a waiting room on a summer day while the old man got his butt scoped. I ignored the part about watching what I ate afterward; I thought took the boys to Taco Bell as a reward. I’m sure Ms. P was glad she had to work all day.
Or bring your laptop to the bathroom with you and give us the down and dirty. (We’ll keep you company–as all monarchs know, it can be lonely up there on the throne.) 
I haven’t done this (yet) but here’s what Dave Barry had to say about it.
This past year and a half has made me really not look forward to invasive medical procedures, so my doctor and I compromised on a Cologard, which was normal. I know I’ll have to do it eventually.
I’ve had 2 or 3. The output part was no problem. I brought a pile of books and puzzle books to the toilet with me, and since our house has 3 toilets I wasn’t even keeping anyone from anything important.
The input part is another thing. The prep stuff didn’t taste all that great, and there was a hell of a lot of it. Getting it down was the worst part of the whole operation.
It tasted like Gatorade. This had a side effect. When I was in Japan I saw a drink called “Pokari Sweat” in vending machines on the street. I always wondered what it was like. A friend went there and brought me back a can. It seemed like the Japanese equivalent of Gatorade. But thanks to my colonoscopy experience, I couldn’t stand to drink more than a sip of the stuff.
Oh, and since driving right after being knocked out is recommended, you will need someone to drive you home.
I never had any problems eating after it.
My first experience was a sigmoidoscopy, where I didn’t get a total and could watch. Very cool.
I had my first colonoscopy about a year ago. I must say, for all that people talk about how awful it is, I found the horror stories to be greatly exaggerated.
The actual procedure, as people have said, you will probably be asleep for, and thus not even really experience. The prep, at least for me, was more “inconvenient” than “horrid.” Yes, you need to stay at home near the toilet, and you can’t eat much except clear liquids and maybe some Jell-o. But it wasn’t all that horrible. I think that most prep instructions these days just use over-the-counter laxatives. Mine used a combination of Miralax and Dulcolax, with instructions on when and how much of each to take. Mix the Miralax into Gatorade, and it tastes fine (assuming you like the taste of Gatorade).
It will help if you start to reduce how much you eat a few days before prep day. That will mean there will be that much less to “clean out.” Don’t starve yourself, but start eating a bit more sensibly. I found the prep relatively simple, to be honest, and the procedure itself was nothing. There’s a little discomfort afterwards, but nothing intolerable.
All in all, I really found it much better and easier than people make it out to be. And they found and removed two polyps, so it was probably a good thing for me that I had it done.