# colonoscopy recovery time



## petra (Feb 2, 2009)

Wondering how long it took you to recover from the colonoscopy procedure. I had one many years ago and it seemed ages before the watery diarrhoea settled. Maybe it's all got exaggerated in my head now! Anyway, a year ago i was told I needed another one but I refused. I have another GI appointment in a couple of weeks and I know she'll say the same again but i'm just so scared -not of the procedure but of the prep. I remember hardly making it to the hospital -traffic nightmare and still being in the loo when the porters came to take me down to the procedure room. All so embarrassing and i think in some way has scarred me for life and left me with a lot of anxiety/bowel issues which I never had before.


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## blondeoverblue24 (Oct 20, 2009)

What kind of colonoscopy prep did you have in the past? You might want to let your doctor know that you "over-responded" to the last prep and he/she may be able to give you one that's less harsh. I've also heard from several people that decreasing your intake slightly in the days prior to the prep may help you have an easier go of it. When I had my colonoscopy, my following BMs were somewhat normal during the day of procedure/most of the day after - however the night of the day after, I developed abdominal pain, though that may have been related to eating pizza and drinking pop at the time. Really, the worst part of the "recovery" for me was that anesthesia tends to make me feel very fatigued for the rest of the day - I've had a few surgeries and that's been true of all of them.Also, I'm pretty sure that you don't need to feel too embarassed about being in the bathroom when you were taken for the procedure - These people have seen it all and very much understand that if they load you up with laxatives, you're going to need to use the restroom. However, I know that's easier said than done!


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## petra (Feb 2, 2009)

Hi -thanks for your reply. I was much worse than you with the prep-I stopped counting after I had been 60 times. Was ok during the night but then started up again as soon as I woke and had to get to the hospital for the test. I was going about a dozen times a day for a week or maybe two afterwards-that's the bit I can't remember so well. I didn't work then so if I have it again I would need to probably take 2w annual leave. I'm very reluctant to go through it again esp as at the time they diagnosed non-specific colitis. My GP re-labelled me as IBS. Either way, I don't think the result would affect my treatment in any meaningful way. More an academic exercise for the GI specialist. It has all come about because I wanted to try asacol again which was my origincal treatment.


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## blondeoverblue24 (Oct 20, 2009)

If you were placed on asacol in the past, it sounds like they thought you had inflammatory bowel disease, not irritable bowel. Colitis can occur from the prep irritating the colon, however, the biopsies should have shed some light on the situation. I would honestly recommend going through with the colonoscopy because I think it will impact your treatment. If your doc finds signs of more specific colitis it could very well change the medications you're on and give you better symptom relief.


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## crstar (Jun 29, 2009)

i'll tell u what i think...........i think alot of those procedures cause alot of problems & damage, in & of themselves........altho, i know alot of people would disagree with me.........u know what u suffer from, u know what u have to deal with........treat the symptoms with natural things, alot of them actually work & don't have alot of side effects like most all Rx drugs..........but go ahead with the tests.........the technicians make money from them, drs make money from them, hosptials & labs make money from them & probably many others i can't think of right now.......i have a dr who once said to me, if it walks like a duck & quacks like a duck, treat it like a duck.........i thank god he doesn't think pharmaceutical drugs r the only way to heal someone.........those tests won't heal anything..........neither do pharmaceuticals drugs.........they're just legalized drug pushing........& most of them u get to take for the rest of ur life........if they really healed, u would take them for a short time & then b able to stop, cause u'd b cured.........but guess what, u get to take them forever........if they actually healed, then those drug companies wouldn't make hand over fist of loot at ur expense....... do whatever u can to heal the intestines..........i read the book: FIBER MENACE & anything else i could find to help me do what was good for me........it saved me from this horrible disease & tons of D........i keep telling people here, but what do i know...........i only know what works for me.......& that book made lots of sense.......


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## blondeoverblue24 (Oct 20, 2009)

In response to crstar, yes, it is possible that the colonoscopy prep can irritate the lining of the colon a little bit. However, if someone is suffering from an inflammatory bowel disease, it is nowhere near the irritation that the disease can do to the colon. As for "natural things" not having side effects, it really depends on what you're using. Many supplements have absolutely no regulations to them and can do more harm than good. That being said, yes, many prescription drugs have side effects as well. But because they are regulated and tested, it's easier to know what these effects are and to manage them more properly.The tests do not "heal" anything, but they give practitioners a better idea of what they are trying to deal with. In inflammatory bowel disease, different drugs target different areas of the intestines, so there is a need to know. If the patient has no signs of this, it's more likely that IBS is the culprit, and it's safer to treat the patient with lighter medications, or no medications at all. IBS and IBD do share the fact that just because you are on a medication at one point, it doesn't mean you will have to remain on it for life. Obviously, it depends on the patient and the severity of the disease, but medications are often required to get symptoms under control, and then it's possible to work towards a medication-free life.Now I don't know your doctor, but from those that I've dealt with, none would have you go through a colonoscopy unless they truly felt it was to your benefit. It requires time on their part and on all the people who need to assist as well, so most doctors I know try to keep from doing a procedure unless they have to. And they are not paid on a case per case basis. It is great that the Fiber Menace book helped you out and you have been able to avoid medications. Currently I am on no medications, but I do attribute my "remission" (quotation marks because occasional flares still occur) to being on them in the past. I think it's great when someone can do things without the help of prescriptions, but it is not possible for everyone as the disease varies from person to person.


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