None of it is that big a deal. Prep is annoying. Afterwards is nothing. I wasn’t gassy at all. I’ve had three of them.
People seem to love to play up how awful the prep is.
I’ve had 3 and never minded it much. Drink some Gatorade and have some runny shits in the evening. Heck, I can trigger runny shits with too much coffee on any given morning. Ho hum, so ordinary.
Admittedly different clinics seem to have wildly different drug protocols for triggering those runny shits. Some may be harder on your body than others.
As to the recovery … As said, there isn’t really much.
You wake up groggy, hang out in a warm bed for 30+ minutes farting like mad until your brain mostly works, then get a ride home. I was lazy the rest of the day and fine the next morning. No discomfort at any point in the process.
Exactly. All I know is that they want me to do it every three years, so I do. It’s up to the doctors, not me. Speak to your doctor about it if you’re concerned.
Counter example, just so you can be prepared if post-op you don’t feel well. My brother recently had his first colonoscopy[1]. Afterwards he felt nauseated, and it took several hours for his stomach to settle enough to eat.
I’ve had multiple colonoscopies and like the other respondents, I feel completely fine after, and stop for a good breakfast on the way home. I spend some of the prep time sitting on the toilet and searching for the most interesting restaurant near the hospital.
He and his doctor are the same age, so the doctor kept delaying ordering one, because he knew that would mean also getting one himself. ↩︎
FWIW, I had one and they removed some polyps, so they said come back in three years instead of five because of that. At that one they found no polyps so they said to come back in five years.
Also you are required to watch this instructional video beforehand.
I had a polyp removed at my 1st colonoscopy so the wanted a 3-4 year repeat. I was clean 54, they want one more clean scan in 3 years then I go back to regular 5 year scans.
I have IBS, my father was a big polyp producer, and my grand father had colon cancer.
I’ve had three of these as well, they were all fine afterward. I felt slightly woozy for a little while, by the time I got home appetite and health were restored. After the last one (last year, when I was 75) the doctor said we should maybe do it again in 5 years, but we’ll decide then, due to the fact that I’ll be 80. I have had polyps in the past.
It just occurred to me that I started Mounjaro a few months ago, which of course plays Hobb with one’s digestion, and makes me wonder if the same prep would work or if they would have to give me something stronger, if I’m still using it.
I had my first colonoscopy two weeks ago today.
The prep was annoying, but not anywhere near as bad as people make it out to be. Next time, I’m going to ask if I can put some lemon juice in the prep, which would have made it much more palatable. As it is, it’s just kind of bland. I was able to drink the entire gallon as it was.
The procedure was no big deal. They got me in, asked a bunch of questions about my health, and if I had any metal in my body, started an IV, and then took me into the exam room. They gave me some “milk of amnesia,” and then next thing I knew I was waking up. Apparently, the procedure took 15 minutes (they did an esophageal endoscopy also). They called my wife as soon as they were done, and it took another 30 minutes for me to wake up. I remember waking up, but not putting my clothes back on. She drove me home, and I was a bit woozy, but mostly very hungry. She made me eggs and toast. I felt pretty much back to normal after that.
I don’t find the prep that annoying. Afterward, I’m a little hungry. I eat, shower, and take it easy that afternoon. Really not a big deal.
ETA: the issue with a GLP-1 like Mounjaro or Ozempic is that 1. gastric slowing raises the ridk of aspiration under anesthesia, so they may position your head differently, and 2. they may have you start the clear liquid diet a day earlier.
2nd ETA: I had a polyp and was told to come back in 10 years. It depends.
The after-effects depend on the drug(s) that are used for sedation. I’ve no experience with propofol, but that’s the one that totally knocks you out and requires monitoring by an anesthesiologist. The alternative – and the one that I’ve experienced – is the combination of midazolam and fentanyl. The effects may depend on dosage but I was pretty much totally knocked out. I remember being in the recovery area and asking a nurse how long I’d been there, because I had no idea.
The basic answer is that the prep for a colonoscopy and the associated diarrhea that you have to endure is the worst part. The procedure itself is nothing to worry about.
One more anecdote of recovery was waking up after an awesome nap. I was absolutely starving, though. The nurses couldn’t get me enough Graham crackers fast enough, which was apparently quite amusing to them, per my wife. They don’t restrict your diet or anything afterwards so I fixed the hunger problem on my own.
They do tell you not to do any online shopping or work-related emails for the rest of the day, though. I guess your judgement can be impaired as the anesthesia works it’s way out. Neither was a concern in my case. Finding food was my only priority.
I’m pretty sure propofol was what I was given this most recent time, and yeah, I went right out. I can remember the anesthesiologist telling me that I should be starting to feel sleepy, and I remember saying something like, “Yup, getting a little blurry.” And then I was waking up in the recovery area. It was very simple.
Funny, I didn’t feel any hunger at all. I do recall that they were extremely strict not only about not driving afterwards, but on having some trusted individual (not an Uber) personally pick you up.
So my ex-wife picked me up, drove me to her place, where we chatted for about ten minutes, and then I drove myself home. She suggested I should take some extra time but I felt fine. (This was after midazolam and fentanyl – the effects might be very different with different drugs and may vary greatly with individuals – this is only an anecdote! And it was after a substantial amount of time in the recovery room.)
For me prep wasn’t fun, but was not that bad. I added lemonade mix to the prep – I did get some chills but heated up some chicken broth to counter. Yes lots of liquid pooping but I wasn’t sore.
Recovery was nothing – they told me to wake up, I got dressed and they wheeled me to my ride. (I probably could have walked)
Stopped at Kwik Trip and got one of their microwave meals. and ate as much of it as I normally do. I was definitely hungry, but not excessively so.
They found one polyp – based on the type, size, and family history (sister had stage 1 rectal cancer) I am due in 5 years.
Brian
I didn’t read the entire thread, but my main advice to you is as soon as it is over start drinking water. You have dehydrated yourself with the prep, and you need to reverse that.
When I had my first colonoscopy, I felt perfectly fine afterwards and went about my business, shopping, and eating lunch and all the normal things. The next day I felt so ill, I was about to take myself to the ER, when I called the ask a nurse line to find out what was going on. The conclusion was that I hadn’t replenished the fluid my body had lost during the prep.
When I had my second colonoscopy a few years later, I took a bottle of water with me and they kept it with my clothes. As soon as I woke up from the procedure and sat up, I started drinking water. And I drank water, sips of water, the rest of the day, and thus avoided the awful feeling of dehydration that had bothered me the first time.
So, take some water with you and start drinking it, not guzzling it, but sipping it, to rehydrate yourself.
The preperation is better than it used to be IMHO. I woke up, they made sure I was ok, and my wife and I go to breakfast.
So, no problem. I’ve had four of them I think.
I’ve had really unpleasant experiences with sedation when I’ve had upper GI endoscopies, so I’ve had both colonoscopies sober. No drugs.
There’s one point going around a bend that was crampy and uncomfortable. It lasted a few seconds. They actually do the exam on the way out, and that part didn’t hurt even a little. They let me watch. It was fascinating. I was sad to see how much older and saggier my colon looked at 60 than at 50 
but my doctor said it was normal.
I was gassy after the first one. The second time, the doctor said they’d switched from using air to (i think) pure nitrogen, which is absorbed by the body, so you no longer need to fart it out. Anyway, it was true, no residual gas.
Without sedation, the “recovery” consisted of wiping away some excess lube, and getting dressed. No discomfort. Then i drove home.
Getting an IUD was enormously more painful than a colonoscopy. I have no idea why the standard of care is to sedate for colonoscopies and give no drugs at all for IUD insertion. I think it’s more about colonoscopies being “icky” and protecting men from thinking about being gay than it is about pain. (The level of pain people experience with both those procedures varies from person to person. But the difference for me was shocking.)
The day of my prep i consumed enough “clear fluids” that i wasn’t especially hungry, but it was nice to be allowed to eat fiber again.
Thanks to two family members having had colon cancer, I’ve had more than my fair share of this over the last two decades (I’m only 58).
Recovery has never been bad. I’ve learned to take it easy with eating that day and the next. The most recent time the flatulence was less prolonged. Basically the hour and a half while I was in recovery. I only had yogurt and fruit in the day itself, and then nothing rich or spicy the next day.
Recovery was essentially waking up, hanging out in a bed for twenty minutes or so, then getting dressed and going home. I instructed my husband to bring me a strong cup of take-out coffee when he came to pick me up, and he delivered. The nurse was giving him the instructions about keeping an eye on me for the day, while I was happily chugging coffee in a wheelchair prior to being pushed out to our car. We went directly to a Vietnamese restaurant where I ordered chicken pho, because rice noodles and chicken broth I deemed to be not too challenging to my digestive system. Boy, did the coffee and the soup go down well. Then I lolled about the house for the rest of the day and took a long nap, because with all the pooping I had been awake a lot the night before.
Prep was easier this time around - gatorade + miralax was a lot easier to drink than the prescription stuff they gave me last time. It’s still annoying as hell to expel all that nearly unchanged throughout the evening/night. Buy wipes, and use them from the beginning, don’t wait until you start to feel sore, it’s too late then. And since you’ll be going through a lot of them put the wipes in the trash, not the toilet.
Recovery was easy. Woke up, was driven home, made a sandwich, took a 3 hour nap, then had a big dinner. Was perfectly fine the next day.