Has anyone had a colonoscopy?

[Muse]

I was scheduled for one yesterday and had to cancel because the clearing procedure failed. I just never got to the point where my intestines were anywhere near clean enough to warrant having the procedure.

I had one 6 years ago and the doctor said I wasn't clean enough and had to have one the next year. That one was OK, but he found a small benign polyp or two and recommended a follow up C in 5 years, which is now.

My PCP at Kaiser said fine, but when I asked him to schedule he had a talk with his GI guy who told him that recent studies indicate that people with my history shouldn't bother having the procedure (IOW, they wanted to deny me). I persisted and they eventually relented and scheduled me.

I followed the procedures indicated in the letter they sent me including an Rx for Colyte (AKA Golytely, and there's another name for it). I actually was conservative in my diet for the 72 hours leading up to the procedure, eating very low fiber foods and only clear liquids (including gelatin) on the day before), and followed the Colyte instructions to the letter, taking the more aggressive approach of 8 oz. every 10 minutes, starting at 4:00 PM. I was supposed to start releasing after about an hour, but didn't actually start for over 5 hours! :Q

In spite of the directions to drink quickly and not sip, I found that after 1.5 hours I just couldn't stand to go faster than sipping and started to feel so queasy I had to stop ingesting for a while. The instructions say to do that but not for more than 1/2 hour. Finally, I started drinking again with a less aggressive 15 minutes between cups.

6 hours or so into this ordeal I couldn't help myself and barfed up a mess of the solution. I never did clear out. My releases were just as dark as initially and I went to bed exhausted finally after midnight. I got up twice during the night and the discharges were just as dark, as it was when I got up after 7:00 AM. I was scheduled for a 10:30 AM procedure, but as soon as the office opened, I called and rescheduled.

They said I can use magnesium citrate or phospho soda next time, my choice, which are OTC. I think I've done both of those before for my previous two Cs.

I'm wondering if there's a relatively tolerable way to clear and if there's anything I can do to prevent the fiascos I've had (i.e. 2 out of 3 of my Cs have bombed due to not being clean enough). Tips, advice, wisdom appreciated.

 

[Bucks]

As someone with Ulcerative Colitis, I have had many colonoscopies.

The prep is by far the worst part of the whole ordeal. I know how bad the predrink stuff tastes. It's like drinking sea water. A trick that a friend suggested and that works for me...I use a beer bong and bong the stuff a cup (or 2) at a time. It is the best way I have found to do this. I usually never get completly done with the container before vomitting, but I get atleast 3/4 the way and that usually does the trick.

Also, make sure you aren't eating anything AT ALL the entire day before.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: Bucks
As someone with Ulcerative Colitis, I have had many colonoscopies.

The prep is by far the worst part of the whole ordeal. I know how bad the predrink stuff tastes. It's like drinking sea water. A trick that a friend suggested and that works for me...I use a beer bong and bong the stuff a cup (or 2) at a time. It is the best way I have found to do this. I usually never get completly done with the container before vomitting, but I get atleast 3/4 the way and that usually does the trick.

Also, make sure you aren't eating anything AT ALL the entire day before.

Never heard of a beer bong. What is it and how does it work?

Yep, the prep sucks. The procedure is a snap in comparison. In fact after one of my procedures (I had a sigmoidoscopy and two Cs), I was in a blissful state due to the drugs they used!

I can fast if I want to and I guess you are saying to do that the day before the procedure or the day before that? Do you do anything else dietarily preceding that?

I'd never vomited before when prepping for C (the two previous times) and I was mortified. I didn't know what I could do since I had no more solution. I must have vomited up 20-25% of it. Getting the last 14 oz. down was tough, but I eventually did. But I never cleared, nowhere's close.