I’m pretty sure all insurance that covers prescriptions will cover some form of prep - but that doesn’t mean they must cover every form. That happens all the time - the insurance won’t cover prescription A without some medical justification regarding why you can’t take Prescription B. ,
Yes - the two are basically identical. SuPrep has Potassium Sulfate and SuTab has Potassium Chloride; they each have the same amount of Sodium Sulfate. SuTab is new enough that there is no generic. It’s easier to take, being a handful of horse pills vs a 16 ounce mixture of something I gather tastes like bad cough syrup. My doctor very briefly suggested SuPrep as an alternative to SuTab, after that memorably disastrous experience, but I think quickly realized that was unlikely to be an improvement.
A formulary may well exclude some of the newer stuff. GoLytely can easily be replaced by the good (?) old Gatorade / Miralax mixture, which I suspect is a bit more humane, plus cheaper.
I am looking at having some parts of my innards removed at some point (ovaries / tubes, due to an unfriendly BRCA1 variant) and apparently many places require you to basically do a bowel prep beforehand. Should be fun arguing with them that no, I do NOT need the Miralax etc, just gimme that ClenPiq! Though one website that describes it at least does not have restrictions on the color, so I could have red/orange/purple stuff if I liked.
…and the pathology came back yesterday (3 days after the 'scopy). They removed three polyps, two of which were pre-cancerous. They said the polyps were “completely removed”, which I assume means they obtained clean margins?
Anyway, looks like I get to do this again in three years.
I think it was Oxyloplatin
A friend of mine just had her second colonoscopy. I actually travelled out to take her to it (she no longer lives near me) - it was an excuse to travel, for me.
She wound up having it done at a big facility at a local university hospital - had never even met the doctor before the day. They gave her one of the high-volume preps - just by default. I was pissed on her behalf. She says “not that bad”. SuPrep was easier because it was lower volume, but she noted that the stuff was saltier than the gallon-o-glurge.
I was with her in the recovery area. I think we startled the doctor when he said “blah blah one polyp” and I asked “Sessile or pedunculated?”. He’s likely not used to people asking! In any case, hers wound up being the sort that she may never need another scope.
I’m trying to get my next one scheduled. Enough other stuff going on, health-wise, that the gastro’s PA didn’t even want to SCHEDULE it until I get clearance from a cardiologist, and the cardio wants some more testing, which won’t be until NEXT YEAR. Er, this is not an optional procedure, for me.
That’s how I’d read that, as well (after one of my early ones, they did NOT get good margins, hence 3 procedures in one year. Fun). In any case, you are well rid of these. Congrats!
One of my fellow library volunteers told me, as she was leaving in the mid-afternoon, that she had a scope scheduled for today. (That means she hadn’t eaten all day, either, for the most part.) Out of habit, I said, “Have a good evening!” I quickly corrected myself and said something like “Hope everything’s OK tomorrow.”
She had a GI illness a few weeks ago with symptoms that included bloody diarrhea, and a previous scope showed that she had hemorrhoids (not unexpected in a 70-something woman who had two term pregnancies) but I don’t think this was why she had the scope. Most likely, it had been scheduled already.
What’s the objection to a “high volume” prep?
Because it’s high-volume, sometimes a gallon or more depending on the method.
And so?
I drank about a gallon of goo for my two colonoscopies. I can’t say i enjoyed the prep, but, “drank a lot” was not the part that was unpleasant.
The objection is that it’s archaic and absolutely not necessary. More modern preps like Pico-Salax are more like having a cup of tea, and while not exactly as pleasant as that, at least make the whole process more tolerable. All the extra fluid the body needs can come from more pleasant sources like water and clear juices.
So, you drink a cup of poison, and then drink a gallon of water, rather than add poison to a gallon of Gatorade? It doesn’t sound like a huge difference, honestly.
May i suggest the use of a wide plastic straw, which you shove far back in your mouth, so you can drink the poison without tasting it, in whatever volume of liquid it is.
It was a huge difference to me - drinking a gallon of poison meant I spent the whole evening feeling nauseous (because I absolutely could not finish it within a couple of hours) and afraid that I would vomit , and the prep wouldn’t be good enough and I’d have to do it all over again. The straw doesn’t work for me. Drinking six ounces of poison doesn’t take the whole night and drinking a gallon of water doesn’t make me feel sick.
And the last time or two, I got the pills so I didn’t have to drink any poison.
Exactly. I just booked a scope for December and specifically asked for the low volume prep. It’s easier to keep down 125mL of gross stuff.
Well, that does sound miserable. I’m glad there are options. Personally, the straw was magic for me. The stuff just felt cool in the straw, and i barely tasted it. So it wasn’t much harder than drinking a gallon of water.
Spending an evening glued to the toilet was unpleasant. But i don’t think there’s any way to avoid that end of the prep.
There are ways to spend less time. The longer you stick to liquids before hand, and avoiding fiber for a full week, both make a difference.
Lots of vaseline (externally) helps prevent soreness.
That’s what I did; the colonoscopy was scheduled for Monday so I started the liquids-only diet on Saturday rather than Sunday.
Yes, So do I. I’m much too miserly to eat some food that will just cause me extra trouble and will not be beneficial in any way.
Once I started on the prep liquid I wasn’t really hungry but was hungry when sticking to the liquids-only diet a day early. And this was the weekend before Thanksgiving last year, so food-related programs were all over television, including CBS Sunday Morning, which I regularly watch. Seeing all of that was tough.
I’m seventy. Haven’t had one yet.
Haven’t had a flu shot since '02, either.
I saw my doctor 2 weeks ago and called yesterday to see if they had sent in the referral for the procedure at the site I had chosen. The site has not called me to schedule.
My doctor’s office advised that I call to see how backed up they were. I chuckled in silence at the phrasing “backed up”. But I just said thank you.
I have yet to call them…to see how backed up they are.