# My colonoscopy experience



## TVgirl (Sep 16, 2009)

Okay thought I would start this little journal thread of my experience with colonoscopy. I have not had it yet. I have never had one before. I am 35 year old mom of 2 and have had IBS ruining my life for past 8 or so years. I have had normal CT scan, normal Ultrasound. I am really really nervous about this and have thought about cancelling a few times. My husband keeps telling me that I can't cancel. It is scheduled for next Wednesday OCTOBER 5th. My prep is a one day prep. On Tuesday the 4th I have to drink 2 bottles of magnesium citrate. I picked them up today for like $16 for both bottles (in Canada). I am sooooo nervous about making myself purge with these. UGH !! making me sick thinking about it. Then I am reading all over the internet about colonoscopy which is making me more nervous, reading some horror stories about pain and such and then others who say it was a breeze. I am going to have concious sedation apparently. They better dose me up real good !!! I will eat lightly Sunday and Monday. Then start the prep on Tuesday. I guess I will post here again when it gets closer to the time.


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## BQ (May 22, 2000)

I'm sure you will be fine. Try not to make yourself feel worse with worry. Regarding the two bottles... I found sipping was better than guzzling. I also began it earlier (4-5 hours) than they suggested so I could get some sleep that night. Once I began it.. I just continued to sip it and didn't pay much more attention to the instructions (ie: like "start the second bottle at this time...) I just continued to sip it slowly. When I was 'running clear' (looks like just slightly off color water) I stopped sipping. I had a bit left.. but for me?? I was cleaned out with what I had already ingested. So.. I was done prepping.I found with the conscious sedation that I seemed to blink and the whole thing was over! May the same be true for you!


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## somewhereiniowa (Sep 30, 2011)

Your first time you will be anxious and then afterward you will wonder why you were. I am 41 and have had about 4 or 5 of them already. I lost count. I insist on the half lytely. It's two pills and then a half gallon jug of the lytely and an enema. It has always been great at cleaning me out. Each glass I put in about a half packet of Crystal Light lemonade to make it go down easier. Then in the morning I have to do an enema. Which by the way is nothing like a douche so you can lay on your floor to do this and not worry about any liquid going anywhere. Good info to know for someone who has never done one before. When I get to my Dr's office, they start me up on an IV drip. Then when rolled into the room, they inject my IV with the nighty night drug. Which is awesome!!! Next thing you know it you are in the recovery room coming out of your "coma". It's really a piece of cake! You will then realize your day before prepping was the hardest part of it all! Make sure the person that takes you takes a paper and pen and writes everything down the Dr said because you won't remember any of it.


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## TVgirl (Sep 16, 2009)

2 more days till purge day then the next day is the test. EEEEEEEEK. Still really nervous. I went shopping tonight and loaded up on supplies. I tend to go overboard. I bought 3 containers of flushable wipes, 1 tube of baby zinc "bottom" cream, 4 litres of apple juice,2 litres of white cranberry juice (it is clear white, not red), 1 litre of sprite, 12 bottles of water, 2 litres of chicken broth, 2 small boxes of jello which I will make tomorrow and a couple poweraide drinks !! LOL LOL........NO...I am not going to drink all that !!! That would kill me. But when I get nervous, I get paranoid that I will run out or something. It was a nervous shop. OH goodness I can't wait till this is all over. Then on my way home, a black cat crossed my path !! not a good sign but will try not to let that bother me.


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## peaches41 (Nov 26, 2008)

TVgirl said:


> 2 more days till purge day then the next day is the test. EEEEEEEEK. Still really nervous. I went shopping tonight and loaded up on supplies. I tend to go overboard. I bought 3 containers of flushable wipes, 1 tube of baby zinc "bottom" cream, 4 litres of apple juice,2 litres of white cranberry juice (it is clear white, not red), 1 litre of sprite, 12 bottles of water, 2 litres of chicken broth, 2 small boxes of jello which I will make tomorrow and a couple poweraide drinks !! LOL LOL........NO...I am not going to drink all that !!! That would kill me. But when I get nervous, I get paranoid that I will run out or something. It was a nervous shop. OH goodness I can't wait till this is all over. Then on my way home, a black cat crossed my path !! not a good sign but will try not to let that bother me.


Good luck tv girl - hope it all goes well for you. Think you went a bit over the top with the shopping!I don't know where you live but here in England a black cat crossing your path means GOOD luck! Bad luck is when you see only one magpie......


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## TVgirl (Sep 16, 2009)

peaches41 said:


> Good luck tv girl - hope it all goes well for you. Think you went a bit over the top with the shopping!I don't know where you live but here in England a black cat crossing your path means GOOD luck! Bad luck is when you see only one magpie......


Thanks peaches. LOL, glad to know it is a good sign..I'll go with that. So today, is the day before purge day. I am going to try and eat fairly light because whatever I eat, I will be purging tomorrow. I have kind of been having loose stools for the past several days. I stopped taking the nexium which I think might of aggravated everything because all my reflux came back. I broke down and took a nexium last night and it seems to have settled the stomach. Had toast for breakfast and really trying to get hydrated, drinking lots of water today. Not sure what I will eat later but I am so friggen nervouls. I think I might just have some soup and crackers. Maybe a bowl of oatmeal with brown sugar. will post tomorrow during "THE PURGE DAY".


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## TVgirl (Sep 16, 2009)

I never finished talking about my experience in this post. I ended up talking about it on the general forum. But for those of you who haven't seen it.the prep went well, it was tiring and exhausting to run back and forth to the bathroom all day and it wasn't fun. I drank a bottle of magnesium citrate in the morning and felt quite nauseated for a few hours and then it calmed down. took about 2 hours to kick in and then I was going every 20 minutes or so. sometimes more sometimes less. I just sat in my room near my bathroom with everything nearby me, fluids and my laptop etc.. I was able to get it all done and have a good nights sleep.the colonoscopy was not as bad as I had expected. I do remember parts fo it. I was given versed and fentanyl. But I remember being awake through it but I must of not remembered a bunch of it because it felt like i was only in there for 5 minutes out of the actual 30 minutes that I was in there. I did have some pain and started to squirm a bit but they gave me more fentanyl I guess and it was over before I knew it. the pain was just in the lower rectum area and I could not feel being scoped through the colon. I had minor gas afterwards. I was able to easily pass it and I didn't have much of cramps or anything after. My anxiety really was the worst part of it all for me. I am glad I had it done. The nurse said no biopsies were done. I have to book an appointment with doc for the results.


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