Tell me the truth- How bad is a colonoscopy?

[li10up]

Not as bad as cancer!!!

I'm sure it's not a pleasant experience but I saw a show on tv recently that showed a man who didn't have a colonoscopy done because his "friends" told him how bad it was. He later developed colon cancer.

Good luck to you. I hope the results come back all clear.

[Crankin]

The test was not bad. I was sedated (mildly) with valium like stuff, but was awake and watched the whole thing. I drank that entire jug of awful stuff and seemed to go plenty, but the doctor said I was definitely not all cleaned out???? Just wondered how that could happen.

[Aggie_Ama]

I haven't had one but sending you good vibes for the prep, test and results. DH had one and said it wasn't that bad, he has trouble sleeping so a day sedated was nice. He had to have it to diagnose his crohn's.

My dad put his off and at 52 was determined to have Stage 3 Colon Cancer. After having a piece of his colon removed and six months of chemo he will be the first to tell you it is worth it. He will also tell you the prep sucks. I have to have one at 40 thanks to dear old dad but I will be doing it shortly after my birthday.

[IFjane]

Good luck, KSH! You should be well into your no-food day now. I have had one and have to have another in two years. I had to drink the stuff and it was miserable. The procedure was fine.

Question - where can I get the pills next time? Do I have to have a prescription or are they over the counter like the liquid?

[HillSlugger]

Question - where can I get the pills next time? Do I have to have a prescription or are they over the counter like the liquid?

Yeah, they're prescription. The stuff I took was called Visicol.

[KSH]

OK, so I got the pills. I took 20 of them... took the last 4, 45 minutes ago... and nothing.

Hhhuuummmm... I hope there isn't an explosion of sorts!

Otherwise... these pills aren't doing the job. Of course, I probably spoke too soon.

I take my last batch of pills at 10:00 PM... and I have 12 left.

I guess we will see.

Honestly, I have more "bathroom" action on days that I eat and don't take silly pills.

[HillSlugger]

You can't rush this sort of fun

[sandra]

Uh oh. I hope they work. I asked my doctor for pills and he said "no pills". He said he didn't think they worked as well. Maybe this is normal for the pills? I don't know.

Did you drink a lot with them? (or are you supposed to?)

[sandra]

I just realized...you take the last batch at 10 P.M.? I hope they don't kick in too much then! By that time I was ready for bed. What time is your test?

[HillSlugger]

I had to get up in the middle of the night to take the last 4 pills.

I'm going to bed. I hope it all comes out in the end

[Starfish]

Hey, I've had a colonoscopy, plus I grow polyps so have had some surgeries...so have done this prep lots of times. It will be OK. Never fun...but, if you've got a doc who will give you all the drugs you could ever want, you won't know it's happening. It is a good thing to do for yourself.

edited to add: I never did the pills...always the liquid. But, I remember that it can take a little longer than you think for it all to start acting. You might be up a lot later.

[sandra]

I'm wondering how you are and how the test went today.

[carpaltunnel]

Just thinking of you & wondering how it went.

[sandra]

I hope you are OK. I see you haven't signed in since you last posted before your test. Please check in.

[HillSlugger]

Karen posted this on Beginner Triathlete:

I'm Alive!

I was out of it after the procedure due to getting general anesthesia (? spelling). I ate one meal all day yesterday.

Now it's 7:30 AM and I'm watching my recording of the Biggest Loser and eating breakfast. I hope to be on the road by 10:00 AM.