I'm going to have to have one pretty soon and I was wondering how your experience was with it.

The worst part of the colonoscopy is the prep..lots of time in the bathroom. The procedure itself is not difficult. You'll wake up and it will be over. Good for you for doing it!

thank you

Hello
I have Crohns Disease so I guess you could say I am the queen of colonoscopys. I have had literally dozens of these. The last one I had in 2010 was probably the easiest one yet. This is how it went...
My doctor gave me the ok to use Miralax for my prep instead of the usual bowel cleaners that are really strong and taste foul. Because I have such a delicate stomach and have been know to vomit up traditional preps. My doctor thought I could tolerate this better. She was right! It was not bad at all. What she had me do was mix a whole small container of Miralax to 24 ounces of grape (or flavor of your choice) Gatoraid. And you get it really cold. Drink the whole thing- 8 oz. glasses at the time at a steady pace. You do this the afternoon the day before your procedure. And that whole day you only have eaten soft easy food like jello, soft scrambled egg, clear soup. So your bowels can empty faster. While you are drinking this make a comfortable place for you to sit and relax that is only a few steps from the restroom. You will be going and going. Keep a blanket handy you will be very cold and shaky from the liquids and the drug. They also recommend an enema the morning of your procedure to make sure you are cleaned out. I always skip this. If only clear fluids are coming out- you are clean. Besides my bum is way too sore from going so much the night before, and that saline stuff burns.
Now you are ready to go for your procedure. They will start your iv, and go over your medical records with you. Bring a list of your medications with you. Even though they should have this info- they always ask you again. Then they wheel you to a small room where it is done. Some very friendly nurses will come to help and you will be given a medication that will completely ding you. Last time I was completely asleep I didn't remember a thing. Now when you wake up you will back in your little private room area again. Now your stomach will feel a little crampy. This is totally normal. They push air into your bowels while the procedure is done to "inflate" it up so they can see everything better. And afterwards that air really needs out of there. It's a little painful. I usually ask the nurse when I can go to the restroom. And as soon as I get to go in there, all that air comes out. The doctor will come in and discuss the findings with you. You will still be loopy from that drug she gave you- so it is good to have someone with you to help listen the findings.
Then you get to go home and eat something and go to bed and sleep all afternoon. And that's about it!
You will do great!

I've had a bunch of them, too. I was having to get them every 18 months for a few years. I've graduated to every 3 years now. Yeah me!

Everyone will tell you that the prep is the worst part. They are absolutely correct. If you are going to watch TV, watch something that you have recorded. I don't know why, but for some reason, all the networks know that YOU are prepping and show constant commercials about food.

We make our own broth, so I defrost a quart package of that and sip on it all day. Be sure and drink water as well. Trust me, it does help.

I've never used Miralax. However, I don't like that gallon jug of "Go Litely" (sp). I get the little bottles of citra something at the pharmacy. It tastes vile. They label says it is flavored to taste better. They lied. I'll have to ask about the Miralax.

They will tell you to drink only clear liquids. I was surprised to read that goal4agirl could mix grape Gatoraid instead of lemon or lime. You will probably be told to not have anything red, like red jello.

I've never been knocked out. I was loopy. I was given Versaid and something else. Some people are given Propofol but I wasn't. I actually like the "joy juice" they give me. It's like being able to drink any and as much alcohol as you like, still be aware of what is happening around you and not having any hangovers or ill affects.

I was talking with the nurses and explaining why I tell people I'm older than what I am. They will ask you some base questions. Your age is one of them and I answered with my stock 62. It didn't match their records and I corrected myself. I told them that people tell me how good I look when I say 62. They were laughing and deciding how much older they were going to become. The dr got annoyed with me and told them to give me some more juice to quieten me so he could communicate with them. I heard that and I still remember replying, "I'm sorry. This stuff makes me feel good and I start to prattle. Prattle. Prattle. Prattle. That's what I do." That's when I felt more juice hit me. Oh, he told Bob that they wanted me back more often. The nurses enjoyed me. Gee. Thanks. He also put a note in my chart to give me extra juice.

That "joy juice" works very quickly. You will feel your eyes getting drowsy and you'll feel it hitting you. Calif. requires someone drive you home. It can be a taxi or limo if you like. I just have Bob with me.

I hope you get negative results. That means nothing is there.

I agree about the "RED" colored stuff -- they don't want that, so they can see more clearly (as purple has red in it too). We may do things a bit differently in Canada, but we weren't allowed scrambled eggs (nothing solid) -- only jello, pure fruit juices, regular pop (with sugar), soup broth, gatorade, plain tea or coffee, and water. We were required to drink sugar drinks & the broth to keep our electrolites balanced.

I thought I might have trouble, but I didn't becuz I found the jello & the broth made me feel quite full (esp the jello). I had 1 cup hot chicken broth & 1 cup jello for each meal. I drank the juice and pop, etc in between as we had to drink so many cups over the day (I drank 1 cup each hour, I think).

We had to take the cleaning prep twice. We were allowed a light breakfast the morning of the day before the procedure day, and the liquid foods from then on. I had 2 polyps removed so I couldn't eat until the next night (dinner), the day after the procedure. I was allowed soup that night only (the day of the procedure).

Then at the hospital, they gave us some more prep mix to make sure we were completely cleaned out. I was not totally asleep (I woke up part way through); the guy had to keep giving me more meds -- he was new and apologized, saying that he was in training for life. He had a good sense of humor. I was yacking at him a bit, but he said that he didn't mind that at all.

For me, I found them putting the IV in was the worst part of it all -- becuz I have very small veins and it took them about 10 tries to get it ... ouchy, ouchy. The nurses kept apologizing about that too ...

Here, they let you rest a while after the procedure to make sure you're OK (to check your vitals and all); and do require someone to drive you home. It's not that bad .... really.

Any results? How was your experience?