# Ugh, do I REALLY have to schedule ANOTHER colonoscopy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 29, 2023, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-i-really-have-to-schedule-another-colonoscopy/989304 "2023-08-29T18:16:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Skypist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skypist/32/169_2.png) [@Skypist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skypist)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-i-really-have-to-schedule-another-colonoscopy/989304/201 "2023-11-28T13:31:23Z")
When I got my first colonoscopy in the late ‘90s, I wasn’t given any dietary instructions. Just eat normally until you start drinking the jug o’ fun. Everything turned out fine, or at least nobody said anything about incomplete prep. But this time it was clear liquid diet the day of starting the prep. Nothing red or purple. No nuts or seeds within 3 days of the procedure and no raw vegetables. ---
**Author:** ![carlb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carlb/32/5930_2.png) [@carlb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlb)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-i-really-have-to-schedule-another-colonoscopy/989304/202 "2023-11-28T19:34:28Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > Are you sure your insurance doesn’t cover a diagnostic colonoscopy? I know that one of the differences is that screening colonoscopies aren’t subject to copays and deductibles, while diagnostic ones are subject to copays/deductibles. But although I’ve seen people say this before , it makes no sense that the insurance won’t cover the colonoscopy but will pay for whatever treatment a person needs afterwards. I suppose that’s what I meant by, “not covered.” We don’t, in general, have very many medical expenses, and we’ve got moderately high OOP limits, so the point is that I would be essentially paying out of pocket for this colonoscopy. I keep trying to explain that all I really want to do is “complete” the first screening colonoscopy, but since there were polyps the first time, it just automatically gets coded as diagnostic rather than screening. Even though it’s the exact same procedure. 🙄 ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-i-really-have-to-schedule-another-colonoscopy/989304/203 "2023-11-28T19:41:09Z")
If I were you, I’d explain the issue to the doctor or clinic. Either they can talk to the insurance company themselves or perhaps they can at least cut the out-of-pocket cost for the second procedure? ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-i-really-have-to-schedule-another-colonoscopy/989304/204 "2023-11-28T21:44:23Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > Someone, somewhere, decided that lemon-lime is a good flavor. Unfortunately somebody also decided that lemon-line is a good scent for toilet cleaner. Not the best combo. My husband’s prep this year was allegedly mango flavored. It has enough mango scent to turn me off (I don’t like mango) but not enough to make him want to avoid mangoes. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-i-really-have-to-schedule-another-colonoscopy/989304/205 "2023-11-28T21:56:41Z")
Good luck. On the other hand, if you have polyps, it’s really worth it for you to get that colonoscopy. Benign polyps can be snipped out, never to bother you again. But if left in place, they can grow into cancer. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-i-really-have-to-schedule-another-colonoscopy/989304/206 "2023-11-28T23:03:14Z")
Mine is scheduled for the early morning of February 23rd. I am on Team Suprep. 3 days before - stop fiber supplements. 2 days before - Drink eight glasses of water. No raw fruit, raw veggie, nuts, popcorn, anything with seeds. 1 day before - Clear liquid only and Suprep at 6pm Day of - Suprep four hours before ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-i-really-have-to-schedule-another-colonoscopy/989304/207 "2023-11-28T23:20:58Z")
I’ve got all this except the dietary restrictions are a week before and I have to drink magnesium citrate tonight (2 days before) and tomorrow. Early appointments are good because you get it over with earlier - but you also have to get up at 4 am for the last Suprep. My wife is moving to the other bedroom the night before the procedure so she won’t be disturbed by my hour or two on the toilet. I have plenty of reading material, at least. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-i-really-have-to-schedule-another-colonoscopy/989304/208 "2023-11-28T23:23:56Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Early appointments are good because you get it over with earlier - but you also have to get up at 4 am for the last Suprep. My thinking exactly. I’ll probably be up all night anyway. > [@Voyager](#): > > My wife is moving to the other bedroom the night before the procedure so she won’t be disturbed by my hour or two on the toilet. I have plenty of reading material, at least. Wise choice. I live alone so it won’t be an issue. I will be very thankful for the bidet. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2023, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-i-really-have-to-schedule-another-colonoscopy/989304/209 "2023-11-29T01:16:24Z")
Talk to the doctor. My procedure was scheduled for 7:30am so rather than taking SuPrep in the middle of the night he had me take the first dose at 10am the day before and the second dose at 5pm. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2023, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-i-really-have-to-schedule-another-colonoscopy/989304/210 "2023-11-29T02:11:27Z")
I’ve got my second dose of magnesium citrate in one of those slots, and first of Suprep in the other. I’d rather get up than have to drink all that stuff too close together. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2023, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-i-really-have-to-schedule-another-colonoscopy/989304/211 "2023-11-29T04:03:28Z")
Huh, I’d far rather get some sleep. I don’t remember the details, but I’ve had an early morning colonoscopy, and i was able to finish all the prep the night before. The only real annoyance was that i had to delay my morning caffeine until after the procedure, so as to have an empty stomach. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2023, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-i-really-have-to-schedule-another-colonoscopy/989304/212 "2023-11-29T04:13:00Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Huh, I’d far rather get some sleep. I don’t remember the details, but I’ve had an early morning colonoscopy, and i was able to finish all the prep the night before. I’m pretty sure that’s how my five years ago colonoscopy was. I like the morning because I get horrible low blood sugar headaches without enough food. > [@puzzlegal](#): > > The only real annoyance was that i had to delay my morning caffeine until after the procedure, so as to have an empty stomach. Could you take a no-doze? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2023, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-i-really-have-to-schedule-another-colonoscopy/989304/213 "2023-11-29T04:43:38Z")
I probably could have, if i thought of it and had nodoze around. That’s way too much caffeine for me, though. Or, at least, the one time i took it, many years ago, it was. But if it comes up again, maybe I’ll ask my doctor about taking a fraction of a nodoze tablet. ---
**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:** [November 29, 2023, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-i-really-have-to-schedule-another-colonoscopy/989304/214 "2023-11-29T07:57:59Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I’ve got all this except the dietary restrictions are a week before and I have to drink magnesium citrate tonight (2 days before) and tomorrow. > Early appointments are good because you get it over with earlier - but you also have to get up at 4 am for the last Suprep. PrepoPik / ClenPiq actually includes magnesium citrate (the PrepoPik - i.e. powdered - version has magnesium oxide in one packet and citric acid in the other, which react to form mag citrate. Giving off heat, as I recall - I mixed it with cold water, and the water was lukewarm 2 minutes later. That’s apparently an osmotic laxative (draws water in), while the picosulfate is a stimulant . I learned all that late last night, when I was creating a spreadsheet of all the options I could find to show what each has. Added a hard-to-read version of it to my writeup doc. Which was useful to me, as I found that SuPrep has exactly the same amount of sodium sulfate as SuTab… so if the doc suggests that, it’ll be a swift HELL NO. > [@Voyager](#): > > Early appointments are good because you get it over with earlier - but you also have to get up at 4 am for the last Suprep. For my most recent one, I actually opted for the first appointment in the morning - 7:30. Which meant getting up at 2 AM for the prep - but hell, it’s not like I was getting any sleep anyway. I’d always tried for late morning appointments before, due to the 5 hour lead time requirement. I think I’ll opt for the early one next time - traffic was tolerable getting there, and there were no delays due to earlier procedures running long. > [@Die\_Capacitrix](#): > > Unfortunately somebody also decided that lemon-line is a good scent for toilet cleaner. Not the best combo. Hysterical! Is it toilet cleaner you’re drinking, or toilet FILLER? (the brand we use to CLEAN the toilets is actually sort of a wintergreen scent, so I’ve never worried about that). > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > What are you suggesting? Taking the colonoscopy prep solution to the hardware store for them to stick in the paint mixer? Well, yeah. Makes perfect sense. Add in a little paint thinner and it’ll surely improve the taste! Actually when documenting my spreadsheet last night, one of the products said specifically to mix it no more than 48 hours in advance. I expect that between possible contamination (those things don’t have preservatives, as far as I could tell), and possible breakdown of the components, you wouldn’t want it sitting around in the fridge for too long. Plus there are morons who will mix it up and leave it on the counter overnight, or similar idiocy. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2023, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-i-really-have-to-schedule-another-colonoscopy/989304/215 "2023-11-29T13:59:13Z")
Unless it’s been sweetened, i doubt anything would grow in it. I assume the 48 hours is because the stuff breaks down over time, not anything about general food safety. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2023, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-i-really-have-to-schedule-another-colonoscopy/989304/216 "2023-11-29T15:13:40Z")
I think it’s most likely a spoilage concern. It doesn’t need to have sugar to allow bacterial or more likely, yeast growth. Most of the preps include some type of flavoring and non-sugar sweetener, and there is crap that can grow in that. The prep active ingredients are mostly salts and are very stable. Related, I found this scientific article about different prep formulations. It’s 12 years old so a little out of date, but still good info. You think the preps today are bad? > The major drawback of mannitol was its potential to become combustible. Mannitol is fermented by colonic bacteria to methane and hydrogen gas and there were several reports of explosions in the 1930s and 1940s. This is of major concern for colonoscopy preparation as insufflation of the colon with oxygen and use of electrocautery is common during this procedure. Yes, people’s colons were exploding back then. > **[Mechanism of Action and Toxicities of Purgatives Used for Colonoscopy...](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3030244/)** > > In developed countries colonoscopy volume has increased dramatically over the past 15 years and is the principle method used to screen for colon cancer. Preparations used for colon cleaning have evolved over the past 30 years. Some preparations have... ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2023, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-i-really-have-to-schedule-another-colonoscopy/989304/217 "2023-11-29T17:11:21Z")
Quoting is not cooperating. This is the very citrusy toilet cleaner, which one might decide to use after prepping for a colonoscopy: [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Duck-Deep-Action-Gel-Citrus/dp/B07CGNGC2K](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Duck-Deep-Action-Gel-Citrus/dp/B07CGNGC2K) ---
**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:** [December 4, 2023, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-i-really-have-to-schedule-another-colonoscopy/989304/218 "2023-12-04T23:09:15Z")
Hah - I think I’ve read that article before. Jumpin’ Jack Gas, It’s a Flash, Flash, Flash! ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2023, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-i-really-have-to-schedule-another-colonoscopy/989304/219 "2023-12-05T18:18:59Z")
WTF. A colon tear?! Possible colostomy bag? I would never get a colonoscopy again, i am shocked you are going back so willingly. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2023, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-i-really-have-to-schedule-another-colonoscopy/989304/220 "2023-12-05T19:46:43Z")
Since the thread has popped up again, I can report that I survived, and somehow going under reset my internal clock so that II can sleep until 8 again, which went away through jet lag when I went to Europe in October. Weird side effect. The SuPrep was easier to swallow, pun intended, than what I took 5 years ago. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-i-really-have-to-schedule-another-colonoscopy/989304.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugh-do-i-really-have-to-schedule-another-colonoscopy/989304.md?page=12)