The clearing out begins

[mary9761]

Good luck with the colonoscopy. I've had them and no the prep is no fun, I'll try to remember the baby wipes/aloe next time I or my husband has to have one. The procedure itself, the drugs they give you usually knock you out or at least they did me. I don't remember wanting to yarp either, but everyone reacts to the meds and gas differently. I did wake for a very few seconds during my scope 9-11-01 but felt someone pat my hand say, "you'll be ok" and was out like a light again. At least it's better than they did nearly 20 years ago, I was fully awake for a similar scope. There are many benign things they can find and you may not find anything. I have IBS and diverticulitis, but not having the scope and missing something isn't worth NOT going through the prep etc. One suggestion, when you mix the drink tomorrow, if they haven't already suggested it, make it early and put it in the fridge, it's a lot easier to tolerate chilled. Hopefully you got a flavored mix.

[Zen]

I've had two of these fun procedures and I recall spending the entire day before one of them on the toilet. I had a little six inch TV in the bathroom with me and i even fell asleep on the pot But I couldn't go anywhere else.
The second one was not quite that extreme, I don't know why.

I hope everything comes out OK sorry, couldn't resist

[michelem]

Good luck to you! I recently had a colonoscopy and the prep was no big deal whatsoever. I was expecting that I would get sick from drinking it, but pretty much had no reaction. I fasted for 72 hours prior to drinking the prep (water with a little bit of lemon juice only). Bought the lemon-ginger flavored phospho soda and mixed it with lemon flavored gatorade and water. Drank it chilled and with a straw. The first dose did absolutely nothing. After the second dose (6 hours after the first) I finally went a little bit, but not much. I returned the unopened package of wipes for a refund - I barely even used any tp!

The procedure itself - had to have an enema first since the prep didn't produce the results they wanted. Yucky. Then they put me out. I don't even remember getting dressed or hubby driving me home afterward. I felt very foggy-headed and out of it for the next day or so.

The real fun began AFTER the test. I swelled up like a balloon - edema - from all of the retained phospho soda prep. I gained over 8 pounds of water weight and over the course of the next two weeks got to the point where I couldn't wear closed shoes and my eyes almost swelled shut. Then, my body started shedding water like crazy and I got back to "normal."

All of that to be told my symptoms were either an infection or ischemic colitis - no cancer - whew!

Anyway, long explanation, but just wanted to give you my experience. We're all different, so I'm not saying you'll be affected the same way.

Again - GOOD LUCK!

[Aggie_Ama]

One thing I forgot... My husband had one for his Crohn's diasnosis last year. Since you are having issues you may experience some pain/discomfort afterwards from the air. We had to find out what additional pain killers he could take because the pain continued after the meds from the procedure wore off. He had a lot of inflamation from the Crohn's, so this is probably not the norm.

Kudos to everyone for taking care of your health. My Pawpaw had colon cancer. My dad is in remission from colon cancer and it broke my heart to have my stepmother in law tell me she would "never have another colonoscopy because she can't think of anything worse". Well I can and have seen it.