colonoscopies

[bob04951]

Has anyone had a colonoscopy recently and did the prep (yuch) and/or the procedure itself cause you a flare or make you really uncomfortable after?

I just ask this because Bob does suffer from IBS, IC, blood clotthing disorder and numerous other things and he had one done about 10 years ago. He was clean. His father is a colon cancer survivor, only did about half his treatments before he said the heck with it, and he is now 80 with no symptoms. This was about 20 years ago. Bob's brother is kinda a colonoscopy junkie, once a year, he's always clean. He's just terrified of the disease and is always pushing, pushing Bob to have one. Bob's doc is actually not in favor of it at this time (imagine that!) and says it can hurt him more than it helps. We'll just tell his bro to knock it off with pushing him to have this done.

My concern is the procedure AND the prep will cause problems with the IC. He has no symptoms, we do the whole fiber thing, diet, all that. So the main question is, has anyone had one lately, and how were your aftereffects as far as your IC? Would appreciate any help you got! Thanks as always guys! Jill, wife of Bob

[ICNDonna]

I went through mine with flying colors --- no IC problem. The prep is much worse than the procedure, but even the prep didn't cause me a flare.

Donna

[nyeema]

Colonoscopies

I worked in a colonoscopy clinic for 5 years and i have had one and will have another soon. i have severe IC and am looking forward to having the procedure because afterward, i had a painfree 24 hours until the anesthesia wore off!

There are different preps for the procedure. one of the newest is drinking a combo of gatorade and Miralax. if he hasn't had trouble in the past, he should be ok.
let me know how it goes
nyeema

[bob04951]

Thanks for your replies, it eases our minds. Doc decided he wanted to do the sample strip first and take it from there, so we await those results. He doesn't want to traumatize Bob any more than necessary. Thanks again! Jill, wife of Bob

[KarenAnne]

I've had two since getting IC. I was fine. The solution goes right to the intestines & not the bladder. Best of luck to Bob.

[Snuph]

Colonoscopy

Hi,
I had one done two weeks ago and glad I did because they did remove a polyp. I am 49.

The doc who did it was actually great and took his time deciding what to do because I also have an interstim.

He says that the new prep is processed through the bladder and bowel while the old prep is strictly through the bowel. So he said "sadly I have to recommend that you take the 4 litres of bad tasting liquid" . This is a lot of liquid and it took me 5 hours to get through it all instead of the three hours you are aiming for. The first hour I got nervous because every 10 minutes I drank 250 ml., I was peeing one or twice in between. However, once the prep kicked in that stopped and the bladder was fine.

Because I am allergic to narcotics, I was not able to take any pain killers but the other drug (versed) they use with the narcotics was enough for me to relax me into a sleep and do its magical powers of making patients not remember a thing. Which is the goal of the drug!

[Zygala87]

Hi Jill. I had my colonoscopy done last Sept. It was needed due to my Diverticulitis. I did not like the prep but it did not hurt my bladder. I was in pain when I woke up and insisted they help me. A normal person does not have much pain but that scope must have made my bladder angry. I called for my Doctor and told him "you know I have IC and I am now in a 10 of pain so please help me!" He did and they brought me down slowly to the point all was OK. I took a few percocets home and was fine the next day. If colon cancer is in Bob's family it is something to take serious. My Husband, His Mother and Brother plus sister had pre-cancerous polyps that were removed. Let me know how things go. Please don't over-look this problem. Hugs, Ziggy

[Grandmav]

Just had a second one

I just had a second one due to sudden problems with constipation. I ate chicken white rice and bananas three days before so I would take less of the prep. It worked like a charm. I only had to chug down two of the quarts. I filled a 32 ounce sports bottle twice and used a whole packet of flavoring in each one. It made it more tolerable. I also drank a little ginger ale and it did not affect me at all. Went through with flying colors. The colonoscopy itself is a breeze. Good luck and let us know how it went.

[mary124]

I had one a few years ago and besides the prep it wasn't so bad. I was unfortuntely(?) had problems after that (ok, besides the colonopscopy I had to have a endscopy(?) as well. After about 5 days I found myself in the hospital due to bleeding. My doctor (at the time-don't see him anymore due to this issue) said it was due to my coumadin but I kept telling him that I wasn't on it prior to my procedures and my INR (which is something they test to see if your blood is thick due to my heart condition) was way below normal.
Anyway, because of this, my husband who probably really needs one, will not get one. I keep telling him that it will be all right but he won't listen to me or his doctors!

[Grandmav]

I had one a few years ago and besides the prep it wasn't so bad. I was unfortuntely(?) had problems after that (ok, besides the colonopscopy I had to have a endscopy(?) as well. After about 5 days I found myself in the hospital due to bleeding. My doctor (at the time-don't see him anymore due to this issue) said it was due to my coumadin but I kept telling him that I wasn't on it prior to my procedures and my INR (which is something they test to see if your blood is thick due to my heart condition) was way below normal.
Anyway, because of this, my husband who probably really needs one, will not get one. I keep telling him that it will be all right but he won't listen to me or his doctors!

My brother in law put it off and put it off. Finally got one and discovered that he had colon cancer. Tell your hubby there is nothing to fear. I have had eight colonoscopies in my life. I have never had bleeding from any of them, and one I had six polyps removed.

[Snowden1]

Hi Bob,
You mentioned your dr. was going to do a "test strip" what is that? I am one who couldn't get through the prep and the dr did only the upper GI test at the time.

[irfran]

When I had mine done a few months ago, I drank gatorade mixed with Miralax and a few Dulcolax pills. Even though Gatorade has citric acid in it I didn't have a problem. I was given the okay to tade Prelief but I didn't bother. This prep is really easy..........no nasty taste.

I encourage everyone to have a colonoscopy. My first one revealed just one polyp but it was the kind you do not want to have. I had to have a follow-up colonoscopy this year and now I don't have to go back for three years.