Nuts and seeds

[ny biker]

Thanks Emily. I moved the air purifier from the kitchen to the bathroom, turned it on high and closed the door. The room is so small that the grill odors were gone quickly.

I was very worried that there would be bad abdominal cramps from the laxative (Suprep). A friend who goes through this every 3 years had given me the impression that I would be suffering mightily after drinking it. Fortunately this did not happen! It tasted awful, and I thought my stomach would explode from drinking the 16 oz. mixture followed by 32 oz. of a clear liquid. For the first dose I started off the 32 oz. chaser by drinking ginger ale because I thought the bubbles would help, but I think they actually made it worse. I switched to Gatorade which was easier to drink. So after the second Suprep dose (at 5 am -- too early for any food or drink, in my book) I drank all Gatorade. As soon as I could I followed that up with Italian ices, the remaining jello and some juice to get as many calories as possible before I had to completely stop the clear liquids for four hours. Nonetheless I was very hungry for most of those four hours and could barely remember my date of birth by the time I got to the hospital.

The anesthesia was great -- I closed my eyes, went out right away and the next thing I knew it was all over. I was a little lightheaded at first when I got to recovery but that wore off quickly, especially after I had some ginger ale and crackers. I felt fine when I got home, just a little tired. Around midnight I fell asleep in the chair in the living room, woke up a half hour later and realized I had edema in my legs and feet. Overnight that improved but I'm still overall bloated with excess water. For about a week now I've been having a hormone swing with water retention plus a flare up of the chronic hives. I think that ingesting so much sugary liquid and salty chicken broth for more than 24 hours followed by the dehydrating effect of the Suprep made all of that worse. I have no idea what to do about it. Every pair of pants I own is too tight right now, barely wearable. I'm already taking antihistamines twice a day and I've gone back on Zantac (also a histamine inhibitor) which is how I treat the hives. I'm wearing the tightest compression socks I own. I'm trying to avoid salty foods and too many carbs. So far none of this is working. A nurse from the gastroenterology place called me today to follow up and I told her about the edema, but she said that she'd never heard of that as a problem after a colonoscopy -- most people are dehydrated afterwards. I would love to be dehydrated right now.

Oh and they found a polyp so I have to go back in 5 years. Yay.

The day before the clear liquid diet I had been in a bookstore getting some Christmas presents, and while I was there I realized I could probably use a really good book to occupy my mind and keep me from thinking about how hungry I was. I watched the first Hunger Games movie recently and thought it was interesting, and I have a niece who had really liked the books when they first came out. So I bought all three books. I read the first one in less than 24 hours -- it definitely helped pass the time. Now I'm reading the second book. I haven't seen any of the other movies so it's all new to me at this point. (Yes there is some irony in this -- there is much discussion of food throughout the first book! But it still helped keep me from thinking about all the food in my kitchen that I was not allowed to eat.)

[emily_in_nc]

Wow, sounds like you had a pretty bad experience, NY. I don't remember much about "after" my colonoscopy, just that I got the day off work and napped in the afternoon (lovely). Can't remember any strange after-effects at all. I was lucky they didn't find anything, so I'm on the 10 year plan (my DH has had polyps twice so is on the five-year schedule).

On the positive side, I recently finished reading the Hunger Games trilogy and loved it. I have not had the chance to see any of the movies. The first book was my fave, but I liked the other two as well.

Hope you're all back to normal and un-swollen very soon!

[Crankin]

As someone who has had all kinds of weird side effects/allergies/hives, it's very frustrating, because most of the time no one believes you. While I had no issues after my colonoscopy (I never was all the way out, just felt no pain and I actually watched it on the monitor) and came home and ate Indian food and rode my bike the next day, I have avoided other medical procedures because of this. I would strongly suspect there might be a preservative in the IV solution you had, in addition to the salt/sugar thing. I had a horrible reaction to IV contrast dye, even after I told the tech I didn't want it during a CT scan, because my mom was allergic to it and I am also allergic to most shellfish, which is pretty much the same thing (iodine).
NY, I would seriously try to find out what chemicals and preservatives were in all the medicines and "drinks" you took.