They found a polyp for mine but it was still covered, but Ive heard horror stories about that.
Swiss standard is to sedate everyone. I think it wasn’t so long ago that colonoscopies were only done in hospitals. I know a few high-risk people who still have theirs done in the hospital, because there’s a high expectation that there might be something big that needs to be cut out.
I don’t remember how much is paid by insurance.
Hubby’s prepping for his second one. His first one was 10 years ago with the high volume prep. Since then this doctor’s office changed to a 50/50 prep, which means basically the same amount of liquid, but only half of the volume is prep. (Plenvu)
I’ve done two colonoscopies with the 50/50 prep since then, as I am one of the “lucky” ones to start early at 46, and then got put on the 5 year plan due to a single polyp. Since the second one also discovered a single polyp, I get to go again 5 years after the second one.
As my dad did the same (age 45-80), I am somewhat resigned to it for me. Hopefully hubby can keep the 10 year plan.
Our doctor’s office has the following instructions:
- 10 days before: stop bloodthinners
- 7 days before: stop eating seeds, grains and peels (apple peels, for example)
- 3 days before: stop eating fruit and vegetables. Basically only white food diet, including cheese, coffee and cola.
- 1 day before: light lunch, which is the last food until after the examination. Dinner is part one of the prep. Broth and non-red jello (gummie bears for us) are permitted, plus cola, tea and coffee.
- Day of: Late breakfast: part two of the prep, with examination appointment at early afternoon.
Recovery beverage at the doctor’s office is a choice between chicken broth, beef broth or coffee with milk and sugar.
I’m prepping right now. I didn’t get to eat anything at all today; I’ve had clear liquids and a popsicle. I start downing the Gatorade/Miralax solution in about half an hour, an hour after taking a couple of biscodyn tablets. I look forward to an evening of flushing out my system and flushing down the results. After almost twenty four hours of no solid food I have very little energy left. Hopefully they won’t find any polyps this time, since that’s the reason I’m having this done more often.
I’m fasting now, and start my prep tonight. My procedure is tomorrow afternoon.
Five years ago when I had my first colonoscopy, I was given SuPrep (which worked great). This time I was given the option for SuTab. My doctor told me they worked very similarly, so I opted for the pills. I really hope my experience with SuTab is better than the one that @Mama_Zappa had!
As for diet, I was told normal diet* until 30 hours before the procedure, at which point I’m only supposed to have clear liquids. Then nothing by mouth 4 hours prior to the procedure.
*Except no nuts, seeds, or quinoa 7 days before the procedure. Which I actually forgot, but was told it would probably not be an issue.
I was at the grocery store (one that did not have a pharmacy) a few days ago, and saw a man buying two things: A pack of bisacodyl tablets, and a 2-pack of Fleet’s Enemas. I thought, “I know what you’re going to be doing!”
I don’t know why anyone would need an enema. By the end of my prep I swear I had a Brita filter in my butt it was coming out so clean.
I’ve seen enough Code Brown situations after oral preps to recommend enemas. To be sure.
As it happens, I have my second colonoscopy scheduled for the Monday of Thanksgiving week. My first was November 2018, so five years ago. (He found a couple of polyps, which is why the recommendation to return after five years.)
Thanks. That’s awesome! I love Woody Harrelson.
Yeah, same here. My 5 years is up and I was invited to make an appointment with the Gastro. Just had the consultation last week - he offered that the guidelines have changed recently so now, with my specific risk factors and the findings from my prior scoping, I can wait until 7 years. I thought about it for a few seconds then decided to just go ahead now rather than in 2 more years. Insurance covers it either way, so why wait?
I was offered the Suprep pill and declined, since last time I managed things just fine with the normal Suprep. Appt is the week before Xmas.
I’ve had a total of three scopings at three different clinics over the years. Each had a different prep regime. One wanted the Fleet’s, the other two did not.
Evidently a whole lot of personal opinion and anecdote driving how each clinic does their specific preps within the broad goal of getting you cleaned out enough to see into.
I’ve just been prescribed a gallon of Nulytely in anticipation of my first colonoscopy (not yet scheduled, but probably in the next few weeks).
What am I in for with this stuff (as compared to other prep regimens)?
I had much the same for my first procedure (it came with a collection of packets that purported to turn sludge into flavored sludge). I was told to take it in eight-ounce increments every half hour. Chilling it as much as possible helped, as did sucking it through a straw so that it went directly to the back of my mouth (bypassing most of my tongue). Of course, YMMV.
Update: I had my second colonoscopy yesterday. The SuTab prep was fine. I found the pills to be very easy to take, and the prep worked just as well as the SuPrep liquid prep I took five years ago for my first colonoscopy.
For the SuTab, the night before your procedure (between 6pm and 7pm) you take 12 tablets along with 16 ounces of water or other clear liquid, followed by another two 16-ounce glasses of water over the next hour. The tablets were very easy to swallow. I was easily able to take two at a time. The tablets took about two hours to work, and they were very effective. Once they started to work, the main action lasted about 2-3 hours, requiring frequent trips to the toilet. The next morning you repeat the same process with 12 more tablets five hours before the procedure.
For me, the doctor found one polyp this time (which was removed) along with a diagnosis of diverticulosis in the sigmoid colon. Guess I need to increase my fiber intake. (Which is odd, because I actually thought I did eat a lot of fiber. With that said, it may also have a genetic component, and in fact my mother had diverticulitis.)
Based on the recently updated screening guidelines, I’m supposed to return for another repeat colonoscopy in 7 years.
P.S. I will add that the SuTab pill prep was actually a little too effective. Meaning they took quite a while to stop working. While the main action did last only 2-3 hours, I was still having to go to the bathroom several hours after that (which messed up my sleep the night before).
The next day, after my second dose, I was hoping it would stop before my procedure. Incredibly, it was still working even after the procedure!
So actually, on balance, I think I would rather do the SuPrep next time instead of the pills.
Sounds like your experience with SuTab somewhat paralleled mine, with never quite quitting. Not quite as severely as mine, I hope!!
I tend to start the morning part of the prep a bit early, so I can make it to the hospital without needing to stop. If that extra hour lets too much build up develop, they’re just going to have to deal with it, or schedule it as an in-patient procedure.
I can hardly visit a colonoscopy thread without adding my experience.
I had a routine colonoscopy a decade ago, and they unknowingly put a 4" tear in my ascending colon. Recovery from the colonoscopy itself was extremely painful, and they kept coaching me to fart but I couldn’t. They gave me a hard time about it too, saying I was being a baby about it. The next day, I still felt a great deal of pain, and still couldn’t eat, and was tremendously bloated. Worse than that, my temperature was swinging up and down, and my abdomen had turned red from hips to bottom of ribcage. The GI doctor had me go to the emergency room at a large and busy hospital, and met me there – it was Saturday of Labor Day Weekend – and he ran around behind the scenes to hurry things. There were about 40 people waiting in the ER when I arrived, and I was the first served. They did an X-ray and determined my colon had torn, and whisked me upstairs for emergency surgery. At this point I was 28 hours post. I remember one of the doctors pressing on my belly with his finger, and then pulling the finger away, and asking me which hurt worse. Pulling it away hurt worse. This was somebody-or-another’s sign, an indication of peritonitis, which I did indeed have.
So it became surgery.
They warned me they might have to do a colostomy and I might wind up with a bag, which might be permanent. And they would do their best but I might not survive surgery, and asked me to sign a consent form, and I asked about not having surgery, and they said “oh, well, you can’t survive without surgery”, which made the form easy to sign. They told my spouse and daughter that (again) they would do their best, but this could go either way. They both wound up understanding that it was kind of 50/50 though I don’t know if anybody actually quoted numbers to them.
I woke up from surgery and immediately felt around my belly for a bag, and I lucked out, no bag. A friend who had bowel surgery was told the same thing, and feeling his belly was the first thing he did, too.
So it was 7 days in the hospital, and I have a very prominent scar (I look like a football), and on the beach children sometimes stare. But no permanent effects.
I’m due for another colonoscopy now, and I’m definitely going to do one. Grandfather died of colon cancer. And if colon cancer is nasty now, it couldn’t have been any less so in 1965.
You know what’s the worst thing about having a colostomy bag? Finding shoes to match.
Not really. Crocs are plastic and always look like shit. 
In a more serious vein, congrats for surviving a very close call with death and escaping with minimal consequences to boot. Hard to say whether that proves you’re inherently lucky and should buy lottery tickets, or that you’ve used up 3 lifetimes of luck right there and should never buy lottery tickets.
My late first wife went through one of those “inherently very risky surgery or guaranteed imminent death” scenarios. Not a fun week for anyone. In her case the outcome was in the middle, leaving her with a permanent medical inconvenience. Her life was already pretty circumscribed in both duration and extent by then. But it was still a rough go for everyone.
I remember that when it happened and I was horrified for you. I am glad to see that you recovered well and have such a great attitude.