# need advice on prep for scope



## Fariel (Jan 2, 2002)

Hi everyone,I've been suffering from symptoms for the past 7 months and am scheduled for a colonoscopy in one week. I was told to drink 4 litres (!!) of Colyte starting at 2pm the day before and then a bottle of Citromag. Have any of you had to do this specific type of prep? I don't know how I'm going to get all this down when I hate drinking more than 5-6 glasses of water a day! Any advice on flavoured verses non-flavoured (I heard to stay away from the lemon one)....any advice would be greatly appreciated.


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## Guest (Jan 4, 2002)

Find something you like to do where you can sit quietly and be preoccupied, such as reading a reaaally good book or watch a great movie. hold your breath and drink. talk yourself into thinking its good (gag), but try not to think about it as you drink. OH, and DON'T SMELL IT! when I say hold your breath I mean it, it stops you from tasting it as well. I find flavored stuff to be more revolting. Before you do..get some nice gentle baby wipes and vaseline to protect your tender parts (sorry to be gross)...no sense adding misery to misery. I found out the hard way. Good Health to you!


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## vikee (Feb 5, 2000)

If you read through this past Thread below you will find lots of experiences people had with the prep.I plugged my nose with cotton so I couldn't smell. That really helped not be able to taste. I also sucked on lemon wedges (I love lemon) to get the taste of the stuff out of my mouth and it did.I think someone said the cherry flavor is best.Someone else said if the D from all the stuff starts to run clear you can stop drinking the stuff. Some people have run clear after consuming half a gallon. Some people go on a liquid diet for days before so they wouldn't have to drink all the stuff and yet would run clear fluid and mucous.Colonoscopy PrepWishing you luck!







Vikee,


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## ibssean (Jul 9, 2001)

I think you can drink phospho (spelling) soda, once in the evening and once the morning of. It is 45 ml of fludid mixed in a juice sized glass so not as much volume but rumour has it the stuff tastes pretty bad. I have been instructed to take a gravel an hour before each dose. I will know the taste more intamitely in a couple of weeks.I had the citromag for another test and the stuff is quit pleasant, drink it cold.


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## Guest (Jan 7, 2002)

You do NOT have to drink a gallon of that GoLitly stuff!!! Find a doctor that gives better options. I drank 2 10oz bottle of calcium citrate - about 5 hours apart, and took 4 ducolat tablets with the second bottle. Completely cleaned me out.


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## vikee (Feb 5, 2000)

Fariel, Seagate, I'm having the colonoscopy again in a few months. I take lots of medication for different conditions that tends to slow my intestines down. I have to space the medication and a BM. If I am anxious I am very slowed down! I also use Citucel daily. But didn't with clear liquids.I was not given anything but the Phospho-Soda last time and I feel asleep after the first dose which really slows things down. I wasn't cleaned out for the colonoscopy. My Doctor said if I took the GoLitly I would have been cleaned out. But I too can not drink too much of anything at a time normally.I'm starting a list of alternatives to present to my Doctor. He said I may have to be on liquids for a few days. I can handle this with no problem. He does not want me to take Phospho-Soda with ducolat as someone else did. He said we would talk. He knows I'll do the research!!I hope this thread offers lots of ways to run clear. Seagate your prep has been suggested by others. 2 10 oz bottles of Calcium Citrate spaced 5 hours apart with 4 ducolat pills with the the 2nd bottle. Sounds good, especially if I go on a liquid diet for two days and stop fiber supplements. I would not take anything to stop gas cause gas pushes things out for me. I can live with cramps but My Doctor said no to only strong laxative pills. Years ago I did not have this kinf of problem.Anyone have other remedies? Please post them. Thanks!







Vikee


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## Kitty19HasIBS (Jan 8, 2002)

ok this is not for the faint at heart and it's gross what a way to say hi on here for the first day hehe..i had this done 2 years ago and i remeber drinking a lot of this stuff and well not long after you drink let's just say be close to your bathroom..it got so horrible i started throwing it up out of my nose yeah it was pretty traumatic for me i don't think i would ever have this again but i have heard some people drink it fine good luck! didn't mean to scare


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## Guest (Jan 9, 2002)

I can counter that horror tale with this....my gastro doc has me prep with Dulcolax only....no horrible stuff to drink...I modify my diet a few days before I start the Dulcolax...take two one night...then two the next morning and two that night....then stop taking anything by mouth....then I have the test...clean as a whistle and never had a problem. I have always wondered why there is such overkill on this bowel prep thing...its a bowel, not a sewer.


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## Guest (Jan 10, 2002)

I've had the Golyte or Nulytely prep several times. The other preps just didn't clean me out enough. This is what has worked best for me:Get the unflavored if you can. Chill it only slightly. It tastes better. But if it is ice cold, it will give you a stomach ache, just as drinking a lot of anything very cold would.It helps me to hold my nose (rather than stuffing it with something) and drink it very fast. I've gotten so I can just slug it down. My doc lets me start earlier because I always had trouble drinking a big glassful every 15 or 20 minutes. I used to gag and throw up. I had my last colonoscopy in October. I started the Golyte at 1 p.m. the day before, and drank a glassful every half hour until I passed only yellow liquid. (It's okay if there's are tiny little bits of white mucous in the clear liquid.) That means you're done. If I didn't eat so much the day before, I didn't have to drink the whole jug. Cutting back on high residue foods the day before definitely helps. This was suggested by someone on this board and it was great advice: Drink each glass down as quickly as you can, then swish some 7-Up or Sprite around in your mouth and spit it out. (Don't swallow it.) It instantly took away the bad taste and it stopped that gaggy feeling. I was fine.It will be over before you know it. I guess we should be glad that we can have it done. I can remember when there was no test, so I try to remember that it is a good thing, even though I don't like the prep. Let us know how things go for you, okay?XOXOX


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## Littlemo (Jan 11, 2002)

you got some great advice! I was able to do it at the hospital because my blood pressure is so low.It was good because when I got nauseous, they gave me a lovely medication that eliminated that problem. I have had a colonoscopy and a sigmoid and the best thing to do is to stop eating for a while before except for jello, water, etc.. Then you won't have to drink the whole prep! Good luck.


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## Guest (Jan 12, 2002)

I agree with Littlemo about the diet thing...if you would just start reducing your diet of hard and slow digesting foods a few days before you start the prep, you would find the process much easier and less traumatic. I still do not believe that anyone need go thru all those gallons of nasty stuff...there are more modern methods prescribed by enlightened medical folks and proven to be effective....why suffer?


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## webbsusa (Feb 1, 2001)

I had to drink a gallon of the nasty stuff when I had mine last year--gross!








It was just an awful experience. The suggestions about "chasing" the solution with Sprite or something like that are good. Also, one thing that helped me was chewing gum. The taste of that nasty stuff really stuck in my mouth, so my husband ran out and got a ten-pack of Juicy Fruit for me.







I chomped on that stuff all day, and it definitely did help get the taste out of my mouth.I ended up not drinking the whole gallon. I was so nervous about the test that I started having D two or three days beforehand, and I deliberately ate foods that would give me D, which helped clean me out. Good luck to all who are about to have this procedure--the prep is DEFINITELY the worst part!


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## admflo (Dec 1, 2001)

The prep is necessary. If they go in and you are not cleaned out, all is for naught. Everyone resonds differently to meds so just do what your doctor is telling you. Colonoscopies are essential to rule out other causes for your problems so pleassssssseeee do what your doc says.


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