# Miralax as bowel prep



## fizzixgal

I need to do a bowel prep this Wednesday for a minor procedure. The doctor doing the procedure doesn't normally require a bowel prep, but he will be doing a KUB beforehand and I know that they will not be able to see anything unless I'm cleaned out. A few weeks ago I called my GI doc's office and asked what he would recommend, now that Fleet's Phospho-Soda is no longer available. I wasn't able to speak with him, as usual the office staff insisted on acting as go-between. They said his recommendation was: a 238g bottle of Miralax mixed with 64 oz of Gatorade. It sounded like homebrew GoLytely and I thought, sure, that sounds reasonable!Well today I bought my bottle of Miralax and looked at the directions for the usual dosage, which is 17g mixed in 8 oz of water. Now I know that a bowel prep is little more than an overdose of a laxative, but I was thinking maybe 3-4 times the normal laxative dosage. 238g is 14 times the usual dose!! Doesn't that sound like overdoing it a bit much? Has anyone else used this recipe, or did I maybe misunderstand, or perhaps the office staff misunderstood the doctor or failed to relay something crucial (maybe it was supposed to be half the bottle) ??I can't contact the doctor before Wednesday as he is only in the office on Fridays... so I'm hoping someone here can either put my mind at ease or give me a recipe that is safe and has worked for you.


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## BQ

Here I found the directions for a Miralax prep for pre-colonsocopy. (Note in these directions there seems to be twice the amount of Miralax than you was told to you. But maybe since you aren't having an actual colonscopy that's why your amount is less.)Here are the directions:http://health.uchc.edu/clinicalservices/ga...ology/formc.htmNow also we had a member here named Willie who had to have colonoscopies fairly frequently and he used the following Ducolax prep to clean out with his Doc's permission. He swore by this prep. Said it was easy.. no cramping etc..Here it is: (From this thread in our archives: http://www.ibsgroup.org/forums/index.php?s...t=0&start=0 ) "Take a light diet the day before and the day you start the prep...nothing extensive, just easy to digest. Then two days prior to the test you take two Dulcolax at 10PM. Next morning (1 day prior to the test) you begin a clear liquid diet and take two more Dulcolax tablets at 10AM...and then two more at 4PM..thats it. You take nothing by mouth after midnight. Then the next morning you have your colonoscopy....then end. Works like a charm everytime." So hope this helps you and good luck with your procedure.BQ


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## fizzixgal

Well, it sounds like it isn't an overdose, now I'm wondering if they erred in the other direction... they said, though, that this is what they use for colonoscopies so that can't be the reason it's a lower dose. I'll go with what they told me. I was already thinking of taking a normal dose of senna the night before the bowel prep to start things moving. Dulcolax doesn't work for me at all, it just makes me sick and I've even had slight bleeding from it. That was with one tablet... I don't think I would want to try four.Anyway, all good to know. Thanks!


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## BQ

Yeah so maybe just go with what your GI said. And no, if Ducloax doesn't work for you, I would definitely not take that. All the best.BQ


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## Kathleen M.

The stuff in Miralax is the same stuff that is in some of the other colonoscopy preps.Miralax as a brand is sold and dosed for treating constipation rather than cleaning you completely out. It is an osmotic laxative so it can do both. Some of the other brands are just sold as a colonoscopy prep so only come in the amount you need to do a full clean out.Just it takes a lot to clean all the stool out of the colon so you can do the colonoscopy, and that much diarrhea isn't needed to just make sure you have wet enough stools to be able to go every day.So depending on what you are taking it for will determine how much you take.


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## fizzixgal

Hi Kathleen,Yes, I knew that either GoLytely or NuLytely (or maybe both) is PEG-3350, just like Miralax. It's just a question of how much is needed and how much is too much for any purpose. I just wish I had been able to talk to the doctor directly, instead of having to go through his office staff.What I'm having done is a lithotripsy for kidney stones. They will use either fluoroscopy or ultrasound guidance and need to do a KUB beforehand to determine if the stones will be visible on fluoroscopy. So I need to be cleaned out of any and all stool that might contain a radio-opaque substance (like calcium). It's a pity that neither the doctor doing the procedure nor the hospital can give me any idea of what to use, since most people's colons aren't so filled that they can't see the kidneys so they don't normally order a bowel prep. Just my luck to be a "special case"







... but it seems a colonoscopy-style prep is the surest way to go.Thanks again to you both.


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## fizzixgal

Please disregard my earlier whiny post... the combo worked, it just took a lot longer than I expected.


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## BQ

So how did you do Fizzi? Hope it all went well for you!BQ


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## fizzixgal

Well I'm sore as all heck and still gassy, plus I had to go about 5 times waiting to be wheeled to the OR thanks to taking senna 2.5 hours after drinking the solution when I thought it wasn't working (bad decision!), but I think I'll live. They couldn't see the stones on x-ray but it sounded like it wasn't because of stool, but because they were either too small or were radiolucent. I'm using the Vicodin they prescribed for me today but starting tomorrow I think I'll just use ordinary tylenol rather than take a chance on my bowels getting slowed down too much. I think I even caught some stone dust already in the strainer they gave me... hooray!


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## Mary5

Glad to hear it is all over.My gastro told me to take the preparation of the small 4.1 oz Miralax in a large bottle of Gatorade (or other drink) any time I felt I was truly stuck. Mix it all up in a a large plastic jug, turn the tv on and drink a glassful every 10 or 15 minutes-and be ready to run to the bathroom!I have done this several times and it worked like a charm! It does leave you a little gassy and leaky but it works.Unfortunately the last time I did it nothing happened until the next morning so I need to ask him about this. Perhaps, as is the usual case, the body gets used to it and it doesn't work anymore. My gastro does not like Dulcolax...it is a strong stimulant and can really clean you out. Then it takes several days for the colon to start working properly again so it is kind of a vicious circle.


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## fizzixgal

@Mary5: I don't think the small Miralax would do much for me except make me feel bloated. But even things that usually work for me, like senna, sometimes don't work as well as I'd like. So maybe it's just a one-time thing for you, and next time it will [email protected]: It sounds like you have much the same issue as me, you need a peristaltic "push" for the miralax to do much good. So I use senna (as Ex-Lax brand laxative). Some people say Dulcolax is best as it is a stronger stimulant laxative than senna, but for me it is more of an irritant than a stimulant. Everyone is different though, you just have to find something that works for you.If Dulcolax and senna are both too irritating for you, you could always try cascara sagrada. I've never tried it, but it is a stimulant-type laxative that is supposed to be milder than either of the other two.


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## Mary5

missaustin, Dulcolax and Miralax work in different ways. The dulcolax is a strong stimulant, and the miralax is an osmotic (draws waters in). You can actually do both, the miralax to make the material soft and the dulcolax to push it out.


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## slotaddict

OK, I have IBS-D and having my first colonoscopy on the 17th of May..The doctor prescribed the Miralex prep (as opposed to the drinking a gallon of fluid). I went to the doc today and I was prepared for the Miralex, what I was not prepared for is that the instructions say to take 4 ducolax tabs at bedtime. Please understand that I go to the bathroom everyday, anywhere from 2 to 7 times depending on what I eat.. What are these 4 pills going to do? After doing the 64oz of liquod with an enormous dose of Miralax isn't that enough???? I told the person giving me the prep instructions that I would not do it, she said if I took the Miralax and was runnning clear, then I only had to take one pill...if I have to be at the surgery center at 7am, and have to drive 1/2 to get there, is this pill going to interfere with that? I have watery D everyday, I wouldn;t think it would take much to clean me out especially if I ate a low residue diet for two days prior to Miralax...Is there an advice out there, the thought of this is already making me sick..I may have posted this on the wrong site, as this seems to deal with IBS-D, sorry that I did that...


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