# scared of colonoscopy prep



## 22560 (Aug 31, 2006)

Yesterday I scheduled my first colonoscopy. Because of all the issues I've been having lately, and with the aid of my primary care doctor, they got me on the schedule for this coming Thursday. And now I'm terrified - I've got all kinds of reservations about the procedure itself, but the prep is scaring the hell out of me.I cannot fathom why they make people who have incessent stomach aches and cramping induce a massive stomach ache with - I imagine - cramping. It seems like cruel and unusual punishment.But anyway, this seems extreme to me - is it normal? The test is on Thursday:Tuesday night, take 2 laxatives before bed.Wednesday at 2 take 4 more. Once there is a BM, start drinking the prescription liquid stuff.It's not the stuff on Wednesay that seems particularly excessive (although, 4, at once?) .. the Tuesday laxatives though - I have only taken laxatives a couple of times, only ever ONE at a time, and they send me to the bathroom quickly and for a good 6 hours. So it seems as though I'll be up all night Tuesday night, and .. what's goign to be LEFT to come out on Wednesday? I can't imagine that there will be anything left for another bowel movement - the whole thing will implode and my eyeballs will fall out.I'm going to call the office next week with questions, but since so many here have done this already, I wanted to see if this was pretty standard.How do you survive it? It sounds like hell on earth.


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## 18383 (Sep 4, 2006)

Here in Germany laxatives are obsolet since a few years for this prep.If you take enough of the liquid (min 4 better 6 liters of water with the appropriate ammount of polyethylenglycol 4000) beginning on 10 AM on the day befor the coloscopy your intestine should be very clean.All the laxatives iritate your intestine even more. The polyethylenglycol goer right through and takes everything with it.Regards,Roland


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## 22299 (Apr 7, 2005)

I am about to start my prep tonight (sat) for a monday colonoscopy. My prep is 10 oz bottle magesium citrate at 8 tonight. This will start the "flow." Usually just a couple trips. Then hopefully a full nights sleep. Tomorrow-1.5 oz fleet phospho soda at noon (mixed w/lemonde-I used to just drink it straight. Didn't know I was supposed to mix







Then another at 5. 8 pm sunday 4 dulcolax. NOW what I do is, I take my size into consideration. I am 5'1" and weigh 107 lbs. These preps have killed me in the past, so I tweak them. I will drink about 2/3 of the citrate tonight. Then the fleet tomorrow at 12. I then see what happens. IF I am going alot and it seems like most stuff is out, I skip the 2nd fleet. Then at 8 if I am going just water, I take 2 dulcolax, not 4. If I still feel I am not fully clean, I take all 4. I used to do the prep BY THE LETTER. I almost had to go to emergency room 1x I as ssssoo dehydrated. My mom does these also and told me she tweaks hers. So that's what I do. You have to be careful to watch your progress. MOST Important is to be fully clean when you go. I follow it to the letter UNTIL I start to feel very sick and I see that I am going clear water. Then I cut back. Hope this helps (me & you). I'm off ot eat my last real meal until after this test on Monday.


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## 22560 (Aug 31, 2006)

Ok, now I'm adding "frustrated" to scared. I just got my offical prep instructions in the mail (previous, I had only gotten verbal ones over the phone - this is kind of a rush appointment). Dulcolax Tuesday, Dulcolax and Nulytely (but only half the container?) Wednesday. Not totally unexpected. But nothing like reading "sipping will make it taste worse than it already does". Nice touch guys.I have been beyond sick for the past 3 days - barely eating, because it causes intense cramping. Barely sleeping because of the cramping. So I wanted to know if/what I could do so I could hopefully get some food in me before the liquid diet.And they're going to have to call me back, later, or tomorrow.And to add insult to injury, the receptionist couldn't even give me directions to where I have to go. I don't even know if it's in the office or the hospital! No details. So add anxiety over not knowing where I'm going.And threatened that the procedure might be cancelled if I didn't get my paperwork in tomorrow. Would have been nice to know that when we scheduled this on Friday - I would have just driven over and filled it out in person.I just want this to be over.


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## 22299 (Apr 7, 2005)

WOw that sounds awful. Why don't you call the drs office and get the info you need? I've learned, you need to assert yourself w/the dr. Don't let him make you feel like you can't ask questions. I would call him tomorrow and tell him everything you wrote here.


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## 19743 (Aug 6, 2006)

TiredCat, I think you should follow the instructions you've been given by your Doctor. I totally understand how brutal a time the prep for the colonoscopy is but that time will pass and that is guaranteed. I know how fed up you can get when you're in pain and having to do the prep and I think that makes you feel worse!I hope things improve, I hope the colonoscopy gives you answers, and I hope you get well.


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## 22560 (Aug 31, 2006)

Well, the dr's office DID call me back last night, and I officially love his nurse. She was super-sweet, gave me great directions for how to get there, went over all the instructions again ..She got my prep changed from the total of 6 dulcolax plus half a gallon of a lytely. Now I just have 2 dulcolax tonight and the phospho-soda stuff tomorrow. She agreed that maybe, given how I've been feeling that the other one might be a bit too harsh for me to take (emotionally, if nothing else - but come on, I've barely eaten in a WEEK, there can't be much in there to come out anyway). She also talked to the dr for me about the massive cramping that's been keeping from eating/sleeping, and got me an anti-anxiety drug to help with the sleeping. And, it also nicely calmed the cramps down.So now I've had a full night's sleep (only 3 more to make up for ..), and managed to eat breakfast and a cup of tea, with no pain. I'm not planning on eating MUCH today, since it all needs to come back out tomorrow, but some caloric intake would be good.And now I know to ignore his receptionist, because she apparently skipped sensitivity training day. And I feel better about it all. But now .. how bad is the phospho-soda?


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## 22299 (Apr 7, 2005)

Glad you're getting somewhere w/the office! I won't lie to you...the phospho soda is not pleasant. Mix it up w/something tho and just chug it down in one gulp. It's only 1 1/2 oz so not too much. I had spearmint gum on hand that I popped into my mouth the second I finished swallowing. Hope all goes well.


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## 14737 (Aug 17, 2006)

TC:Boy, can I identify! Tried to get a colonoscopy a few years back; went through all the prep (in agony b/c I'd had D for over a month already), got hospitalized, had my GI Dr begin the procedure......only to stop after 5 minutes and tell me that he couldn't get the scope around the acute turns! JUST what I wanted to hear!So, he had me wheeled down to x-ray, bumped a bunch of other poor, hapless patients out of the way, and I was treated to my second lovely barium enema. Oh, joy. The table tilting was so painful, I was desperately hoping I'd pass out.I haven't been back to the GI Dr. But, I'm going to have to do something--I've had D and abdominal pain for over 3 months solid (no pun intended) now. I HATE the prep. HATE IT!!! And I know just as soon as I see the GI Dr, he'll want to shove some kind of scope up my colon. This from me--the woman who bit through her index finger in pain at her first flexible sigmoidoscopy. They said it wouldn't hurt. Hah!I won't do ANY of this stuff now w/o a healthy dose of Valium!


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## kitkat17 Lady of the Loo (Jul 21, 2005)

Get read yto SIT and SIT on the pot. Take a TV in there with you. That is what I do. I cannot even get off the pot for about 5 hours when I drink that stuff.Yes it does taste like poo. Salty. I thought I was going to throw it back up. Nasty. But it works.Good luck, the prep is the worst part of the whole thingTake careKAt


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## 14135 (Sep 22, 2005)

If you eat light a couple of days before hand it's not THAT bad. And it's just for one night. You'll be fine.


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## 22299 (Apr 7, 2005)

TC: I'm guessing you've finished the prep and are scheduled today? Good luck and hope all goes well. It's weird, alot of people on here write about taking magazines, tv's into the bathroom w/them. My experience has been I have to RUN to the bathroom, but then it's a 10 second session and I'm out of there. Granted, I'm back there 5-10 min. later. But I haven't had these long sessions like others. I think it's because as people suggest, I ate very light the few days before. Let us know how you made out. I have to make my phone call tomorrow to find out results of biopsy. I'm not really worried that it's anything. I'm more concerned over when he's going to say I have to have my next one. Better be at least 2 years. I'm worried he'll say one. I get naseaus just thinking about it.


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## 19539 (Aug 31, 2006)

Relax it is not bad at all. The worst part of the whole thing is the prep. You will not fell or remember a thing. Also you should feel more relaxed afterwards knowing whats going on.


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## 22560 (Aug 31, 2006)

Turns out I should have been less scared of the prep and more scared of the aftermath.Yes, I am the exception to the rule. While the prep was awful, horrible, something I will NEVER do again ... I woke up from the scope (during which I could not feel a thing and they did manage to see everything) in major pain. They had to do XRays and everything to make sure they didn't perf the bowel. Kept me for an extra 5 hours, during which time I puked (stomach acid) multiple times.And sent me home with a basin, still in pain (STILL in pain NOW too), and an appointment for a cat scan on Monday, and an order to then go to my dr's office so he can squeeze me in.Seems my problems might NOT be IBS afterall - my colon tissue itself is perfectly healthy too. It's all the structures AROUND it making it misshapen. They compared it to a doughnut where it is supposed to be a tunnel. And my appendix isn't normal either.So the next time someone tells me the "worst" is already passed, I'm going to call them a damned liar.So, how bad is the cat scan contrast liquid?


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## 22299 (Apr 7, 2005)

That stinks that you had a crappy aftermath. I too have thrown up after my last 2. I got stuck at the hosp. for 5 hours also once. Throwing up. Nurse finally told me to try and leave after my next throw up otherwise they were having a shift change and I would get stuck there forever. So I left w/my pink basin. Threw up for hours afterwards. Thankfully when I called my GI dr. the on call dr. told me to take a Benadryl. Did the trick. This time when I started the dry heaves, I took a benadryl right away and it got better. ALthough it has been almost 4 days since my scope and while I feel better, I still don't feel really good. I have seen a few other posts on here where people have similar experiences. I don't think I have ever had the cat scan. I do know I did a test years ago where I had to drink something and then they told me "don't burp." Well nurse left the room for so long I thought I'd "sneak" a burp. When she came in to do the test, she said "you burped didn't you?" I had to redrink the stuff. It wasn't pleasant, but I kept it down. I don't know if this is the test or not. What do they think is wrong and what do they do to fix it?


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## 22560 (Aug 31, 2006)

Most of the air has passed (I was up all night!) and I haven't thrown up again ... but I still hurt. And I have a fever.Basically, from what I can remember through the fog of drugs and pain ... my appendix just isn't right. It's all wrinkled. So that needs to come out - and based on my current pain and fever, I'm kind of scared that the scope inflamed it and it will need to come out TODAY (waiting on a call from the doc).Also, they think my endometriosis could be affecting my intestines. But the only way to diagnose that is surgery. So first they want to do the cat scan, make sure that all the other organs are appropriate, and then take out the appendix and whatever endo might have built up. And try to make my bowels not so .. misshapen.Ugh. I have a feeling it's a going to be a LONG road.Time to try to eat for the first time in 50 some-odd hours.


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## 22299 (Apr 7, 2005)

Wow...sorry that you face such a long stretch of the "unknowns." I guess the "good thing" is that at least you are finding out what the problems are being caused by. It's either they find nothing and you (and they) continue to think it's in your head. OR they find something, but then you have to deal w/it. I have to call my dr. in a bit re: my findings. I'll check back. I feel for ya.........


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## 22560 (Aug 31, 2006)

Hope your results turn out ok Lauri!In some ways I'm glad they found SOMETHING wrong with me .. but .. yeah, I'm not looking foward to the next couple of months.


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