No big deal. Best sleep you’ll have.

I put it off a couple of years. Prep sucks a little, but I don’t fear it when it comes up next.

Get the procedure done in the early morning. This way you're not starving all day.

well that sums it up, LOL
I always appreciate the candor here..will get er done !

And I don't even consider the prep to be "awful." It's a nuisance, but if it's the worst thing that you ever have to do in life, be thankful.

Did my first one last month. The prep is the hardest one for me. Being diabetic, not eating for that long period of time was very hard for me. I was not able to finish the entire prep drink (Gatorade and whatever the doc prescribed to mix with the drink). I cleared out though. I had like 32 oz left, when I started throwing up. Did mine first thing in the morning.

This is the same advice I was given and it made sense to me so I followed it and seemed to help.

I was supposed to drink the prep in an hour. Don't just slam it all down at once. Pace yourself and use the time allowed. I did half in the first 30 minutes and the second in the next 30.

Use a straw to drink from. You don't smell it and it makes it easier to drink.

Relax - I had my first 3 years ago and it was not that bad.

Hope this helps.

Cheers~

I had one last month and the prep was taking 12 tablets with 16 ounces of water at 6 PM the evening before and one hour later drinking another 16 ounces. This was repeated at 3:30 AM which was 7 hours prior to the scope. I drank some extra water each time and my surgeon said that the prep was thorough.
It was a painless(no cramps or gas)cleanse.

Good luck and when it's over, you'll have had a restful sleep and realize that it's not a big deal.
ETA: during the fast the day before, I made a list of 6 of my favorite sandwiches that I wanted to have when I could eat again. This gave me something to look forward to and it was enjoyable to cross each one off of the list as I had them.

I'll be the devil's advocate.

Consider Cologuard instead. It's what I did.
https://www.cologuard.com/?gcl...H_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

And although the risk is small, there is still a possible serious risk when getting a colonoscopy.

https://www.ices.on.ca/Newsroo...dians-risk-procedure

Just as a side note, a good friend's wife got a colonoscopy every year. Absolutely paranoid about cancer and preached it from the mountaintops. Told me I was nuts to use Cologuard.

She died of a Stroke 4 years ago.

just had one

like everyone else - prep not fun, but procedure easy

I used Miralax in the prep. No taste in water or ginger ale. Just tiring to drink so much.

Ate light the day before prep day and prep day.

Could have taken Dulcolax tablets instead

quote:

Originally posted by BBMW:
Anyone do Cologuard instead of the colonoscopy?

The problem is that if they see something the will have to do the real version to address the issue.

It's not a big deal and I've had 4. Each time the prep has gotten better. By that I mean the stuff you drink was almost a gallon in total the first time, then maybe 2 quarts the next and now it's two small 8 oz. bottles you drink hours apart along with a few glasses of water.
You'll be unaware of anything although they say you are partially conscious.
Much better than learning you have colon cancer that has spread because it gives no early symptoms. If you're clear, and that's the most likely outcome, that's even better.

Had my second about a month ago. As others have said the prep is the worst along with not eating the day before. The days prior I ate really light like soups. The day before I drank a lot of Gaterade G2...orange, green or white only. That helped with tamping down the hunger pains. My doctor had his own instructions for prep which required the first dose at 6pm and the second five hours prior to the procedure. In my case the second dose was at 3am...that sucked. Other than that the actual procedure is a breeze. Get a good nap and let the excess gas fly as soon as you're wheeled into the recovery room with the other victims.

Do it! While I have had colonoscopies in the past (last one 2009) without the doctor finding anything, I kept putting off another one until November, 2021. Like lizardman, I had both an endoscopy and a colonoscopy done while I was sedated. The doctor found 3 small precancerous polyps, which he removed, and GRD issues in my throat, which were treated with an over the counter medication. The doctor also prescribed a newer prep, which consists of taking a total of 24 tablets in two sessions--much better than the older preps. As a result of finding polyps this time, the doctor wants me to have another colonoscopy in five years. I am now convinced that a colonoscopy is the best way to go. While Cologuard is appealing, it does not remove precancerous polyps that may turn up in a colonoscopy. The sedative used these days puts you to sleep immediately; when you wake up, you feel fine.

I'd add to the above advise, your first after the procedure meal is the best tasting meal you've had in years.

quote:

Originally posted by BBMW:
Anyone do Cologuard instead of the colonoscopy?

I did the cologuard and it came back positive I then had the colonoscopy cause of the cologuard results.

Do it, the prep is worse then the procedure.

I'm doing my 3rd one this Thursday.

What were the results of the scope? Was it a false positive, or did you actually have something?

Is it better to have a non-invasive "pre-test" that likely comes back negative and not have to get scoped, or just suck it up and get scoped from the start?

quote:

Originally posted by MoreCowbell:

quote:

Originally posted by BBMW:
Anyone do Cologuard instead of the colonoscopy?

I did the cologuard and it came back positive I then had the colonoscopy cause of the cologuard results.

Due to diverticulitous, i have had 5 or so. Prep is worst part.
Even this has gotten better over the years,
in 2005 prep was brutal drinking a gallon of prescription 8 oz every 10 minutes.
Current prep is drinking a jug of Miralax in a quart of water. Add in a few ducolax and
You will be "clean".

As others have said schedule for morning procedure.

As a side note. During prep baby wipes are your friend.
You dont want to learn whats behind the saying "Chaffes my ass"

just think of the prep as a very bad case of the "Beer Shits"... think Geneesee cream Ale type stuff

don't venture far from the bathroom, once the intestinal gurglage starts... you don't have much time to get seated

I found having some Dannon Activa yogurt in the fridge an easy way to put the probiotics back into the digestive system

This is a very helpful article about the process written by humor columnist Dave Barry in 2008. https://www.miamiherald.com/li.../article1928847.html



Dave Barry: A journey into my colon — and yours (This Dave Barry column was originally published Feb. 22, 2008.) OK. You turned 50. You know you’re supposed to get a colonoscopy. But you haven’t. Here are your reasons: 1. You’ve been busy. You don’t have a history of cancer in your family. 3. You haven’t noticed any problems. 4. You don’t want a doctor to stick a tube 17,000 feet up your butt.

Let’s examine these reasons one at a time. No, wait, let’s not. Because you and I both know that the only real reason is No. 4. This is natural. The idea of having another human, even a medical human, becoming deeply involved in what is technically known as your ‘‘behindular zone’‘ gives you the creeping willies. I know this because I am like you, except worse. I yield to nobody in the field of being a pathetic weenie medical coward. I become faint and nauseous during even very minor medical procedures, such as making an appointment by phone. It’s much worse when I come into physical contact with the medical profession. More than one doctor’s office has a dent in the floor caused by my forehead striking it seconds after I got a shot.

In 1997, when I turned 50, everybody told me I should get a colonoscopy. I agreed that I definitely should, but not right away. By following this policy, I reached age 55 without having had a colonoscopy. Then I did something so pathetic and embarrassing that I am frankly ashamed to tell you about it. What happened was, a giant 40-foot replica of a human colon came to Miami Beach. Really. It’s an educational exhibit called the Colossal Colon, and it was on a nationwide tour to promote awareness of colo-rectal cancer. The idea is, you crawl through the Colossal Colon, and you encounter various educational items in there, such as polyps, cancer and hemorrhoids the size of regulation volleyballs, and you go, ‘‘Whoa, I better find out if I contain any of these things,’‘ and you get a colonoscopy. If you are as a professional humor writer, and there is a giant colon within a 200-mile radius, you are legally obligated to go see it. So I went to Miami Beach and crawled through the Colossal Colon. I wrote a column about it, making tasteless colon jokes. But I also urged everyone to get a colonoscopy. I even, when I emerged from the Colossal Colon, signed a pledge stating that I would get one. But I didn’t get one. I was a fraud, a hypocrite, a liar. I was practically a member of Congress.

Five more years passed. I turned 60, and I still hadn’t gotten a colonoscopy. Then, a couple of weeks ago, I got an e-mail from my brother Sam, who is 10 years younger than I am, but more mature. The email was addressed to me and my middle brother, Phil. It said: ``Dear Brothers, ``I went in for a routine colonoscopy and got the dreaded diagnosis: cancer. We’re told it’s early and that there is a good prognosis that they can get it all out, so, fingers crossed, knock on wood, and all that. And of course they told me to tell my siblings to get screened. I imagine you both have.’‘

Um. Well.

First I called Sam. He was hopeful, but scared. We talked for a while, and when we hung up, I called my friend Andy Sable, a gastroenterologist, to make an appointment for a colonoscopy. A few days later, in his office, Andy showed me a color diagram of the colon, a lengthy organ that appears to go all over the place, at one point passing briefly through Minneapolis. Then Andy explained the colonoscopy procedure to me in a thorough, reassuring and patient manner. I nodded thoughtfully, but I didn’t really hear anything he said, because my brain was shrieking, quote, ``HE’S GOING TO STICK A TUBE 17,000 FEET UP YOUR BUTT!’‘ I left Andy’s office with some written instructions, and a prescription for a product called ‘‘MoviPrep,’‘ which comes in a box large enough to hold a microwave oven. I will discuss MoviPrep in detail later; for now suffice it to say that we must never allow it to fall into the hands of America’s enemies.

I spent the next several days productively sitting around being nervous. Then, on the day before my colonoscopy, I began my preparation. In accordance with my instructions, I didn’t eat any solid food that day; all I had was chicken broth, which is basically water, only with less flavor. Then, in the evening, I took the MoviPrep. You mix two packets of powder together in a one-liter plastic jug, then you fill it with lukewarm water. (For those unfamiliar with the metric system, a liter is about 32 gallons.) Then you have to drink the whole jug. This takes about an hour, because MoviPrep tastes -- and here I am being kind -- like a mixture of goat spit and urinal cleanser, with just a hint of lemon.

The instructions for MoviPrep, clearly written by somebody with a great sense of humor, state that after you drink it, ‘‘a loose watery bowel movement may result.’‘ This is kind of like saying that after you jump off your roof, you may experience contact with the ground.

MoviPrep is a nuclear laxative. I don’t want to be too graphic, here, but: Have you ever seen a space shuttle launch? This is pretty much the MoviPrep experience, with you as the shuttle. There are times when you wish the commode had a seat belt. You spend several hours pretty much confined to the bathroom, spurting violently. You eliminate everything. And then, when you figure you must be totally empty, you have to drink another liter of MoviPrep, at which point, as far as I can tell, your bowels travel into the future and start eliminating food that you have not even eaten yet.

After an action-packed evening, I finally got to sleep. The next morning my wife drove me to the clinic. I was very nervous. Not only was I worried about the procedure, but I had been experiencing occasional return bouts of MoviPrep spurtage. I was thinking, ‘‘What if I spurt on Andy?’‘ How do you apologize to a friend for something like that? Flowers would not be enough.

At the clinic I had to sign many forms acknowledging that I understood and totally agreed with whatever the hell the forms said. Then they led me to a room full of other colonoscopy people, where I went inside a little curtained space and took off my clothes and put on one of those hospital garments designed by sadist perverts, the kind that, when you put it on, makes you feel even more naked than when you are actually naked.

Then a nurse named Eddie put a little needle in a vein in my left hand. Ordinarily I would have fainted, but Eddie was very good, and I was already lying down. Eddie also told me that some people put vodka in their MoviPrep. At first I was ticked off that I hadn’t thought of this, but then I pondered what would happen if you got yourself too tipsy to make it to the bathroom, so you were staggering around in full Fire Hose Mode. You would have no choice but to burn your house.

When everything was ready, Eddie wheeled me into the procedure room, where Andy was waiting with a nurse and an anesthesiologist. I did not see the 17,000-foot tube, but I knew Andy had it hidden around there somewhere. I was seriously nervous at this point. Andy had me roll over on my left side, and the anesthesiologist began hooking something up to the needle in my hand. There was music playing in the room, and I realized that the song was Dancing Queen by Abba. I remarked to Andy that, of all the songs that could be playing during this particular procedure, Dancing Queen has to be the least appropriate.

‘’You want me to turn it up?’‘ said Andy, from somewhere behind me.

‘’Ha ha,’‘ I said.

And then it was time, the moment I had been dreading for more than a decade. If you are squeamish, prepare yourself, because I am going to tell you, in explicit detail, exactly what it was like. I have no idea. Really. I slept through it. One moment, Abba was shrieking ``Dancing Queen! Feel the beat from the tambourine . . .’

‘ . . . and the next moment, I was back in the other room, waking up in a very mellow mood. Andy was looking down at me and asking me how I felt. I felt excellent. I felt even more excellent when Andy told me that it was all over, and that my colon had passed with flying colors. I have never been prouder of an internal organ.

But my point is this: In addition to being a pathetic medical weenie, I was a complete moron. For more than a decade I avoided getting a procedure that was, essentially, nothing. There was no pain and, except for the MoviPrep, no discomfort. I was risking my life for nothing.

If my brother Sam had been as stupid as I was -- if, when he turned 50, he had ignored all the medical advice and avoided getting screened -- he still would have had cancer. He just wouldn’t have known. And by the time he did know -- by the time he felt symptoms -- his situation would have been much, much more serious. But because he was a grown-up, the doctors caught the cancer early, and they operated and took it out. Sam is now recovering and eating what he describes as ‘‘really, really boring food.’‘ His prognosis is good, and everybody is optimistic, fingers crossed, knock on wood, and all that.

Which brings us to you, Mr. or Mrs. or Miss or Ms. Over-50-And-Hasn’t-Had-a-Colonoscopy. Here’s the deal: You either have colo-rectal cancer, or you don’t. If you do, a colonoscopy will enable doctors to find it and do something about it. And if you don’t have cancer, believe me, it’s very reassuring to know you don’t. There is no sane reason for you not to have it done.

I had my first one 8 years ago. i had some issues, and my GI doc recommended an endoscopy 1st. I'm glad he did, because nothing showed up on the colonoscopy, but I had an ulcer on the up endoscopy.