Bowel prep help

[Lilly83]

Hi girls

I'm booked in for my 2nd lap soon, and my 1st bowel prep!

Can anyone share experiences with me please? And did you vomit with it too?

Dreading this next lap, it was too extensive to treat on my first lap so having 3 months of prostap then excision, I have stage 4 and it's on my bladder, bowels, pouch of Douglas, in my ureters, 2 blocked tubes, 5 endometriomas one of which measures 15cm! Everything stuck together too

Thanks in advance

Lilly xx

[jalo69]

Bless you you've got a lot going on. The Bowel prep isn't too awful. I find having so much fluid in my tummy is a bit sloshy without food so this might make you feel slightly nauseas. Depending on what the hospital gives you depends on the type of prep you have. I had picolax sachets. I bit hard to swallow but bearable So the loo trips. Don't go too far I wouldn't plan a supermarket trip but if you time it right and you need too go out you should be ok for a quick outing!! Good luck. Importantly drink loads of fluid to replace what you lose. Dehydration can happen quite easily especially post op which in itself can give you headaches and believe it or not after all you go through, constipation!!! Hope this helps and your operation gives you a pain free future J xxx

[Lilly83 in reply to jalo69]

Hi J

Thanks so much for the reply, I have emetophobia (a phobia of vomiting) and haven't been sick for 20 years, I'm 29 now! So the thought of drinking something that might make me vomit is terrifying. Thanks for the tip will keep hydrated, I won't know which prep I'm having til my pre op in a few weeks, I was constipated after my last lap, didn't go for 7 days!

Lilly xxx

[jalo69 in reply to Lilly83]

Hi lovely. If you're concerned about being sick why don't you ask them about enemas these might be a possible alternative:)) good luck. J xx

[Lilly83 in reply to jalo69]

My other half had surgery last year and they gave him a choice of bowel prep at home or enema in hospital, he chose the prep but really regrets it, in hoping they give me a choice. Will ask at the pre op xx

[Stace86]

I have had 4 colonoscopy now (camera test) it isn't great but it really isn't too bad. It can be a bit of a shock the first time as it does really make you go to the toilet (sorry for tmi) but it will be like water! A really good tip is to buy some wipes for the toilet Andrex or something similar and take some with you to hospital in case you still need to go ESP if you have early morning surgery - my experience hospital toilet roll is not the softest.

You will be fine honestly,

Good luck

Xx

[Lilly83 in reply to Stace86]

Hi Stace

Thanks for the reply! It's the vomiting I'm most worried about as I have a phobia of it, the other end I can cope with! So you have bowel endo? How was it treated? They haven't mentioned a camera yet although a had a cystoscopy to look in my bladder, he will be working on both my bladder and my bowel next time. Will stock up on wet tissues thanks for the nip. Not looking forward to arriving at the hospital at 7am after a night of it, it's a 45 min drive to get there too

Lilly xxx

[Stace86 in reply to Lilly83]

I wouldn't worry about the journey you can always put a pad on if you are anxious. Ask your doctor for some anti sickness tablets personally I have never had sickness as a result of the bowel prep but I understand how you will be feeling especially with your Phobia.

I have had Endo found in pouch of Douglas and other places but my Bowel conditions have worsened so I'm back in for a lap on 11th June I will let you know what they find and how it might be treated.

Best wishes xxx

[Lilly83 in reply to Stace86]

Thankyou! It's horrible waiting for a lap isn't it, mines 24th July, waiting for Ivf so it seems to drag even longer, I have never suffered with my bowel was really surprised when they said it was on my bowel, been lucky I guess xx

[Lullabell]

Hi I am in process of bowel prep & sorry to say it's not nice. I have had little sleep the last two nights. My advice is to have some polos to suck on as u can have sugar based sweets even when u r on fluids only. This has helped me with the sickness feeling.I have been using Andrex wipes but my goodness am I sore this morning. The thought of a camera going up there this afternoon is something I am not looking forward to. Tummy is full of fluid and I feel hungry from time to time but I think u can manage that. I am still having to go to the loo this morning, the first time was at 10pm Wednesday. I thought it would of been over by now so just bear in mind it may be several hours. Drink plenty & make sure u have a selection of things as u may fancey drinking something different. U can also have jelly babies & fruit sweets but not the red ones as it can stain your bowel. X

[Lilly83 in reply to Lullabell]

Thanks so much for all the tips, will be sure to use them, was your bowel prep over 2 days then? I presumed mine was just 1, will know more after pre op

How did your procedure go?

Thanks again for the reply xx

[georgiepeorgiepudding]

Hi Lilly,

You sound in the wars, you poor thing.

I'd had a lap 3 weeks ago and had to do a bowel prep. I was given sachets of powder that I had to mix up into a fairly unpleasant lemon flavoured drink. It wasn't very nice to be honest, and i didn't manage to finish it all - it made me feel very sick and I stopped half way through the second drink because i thought I'd rather keep down what i could than throw it all back up again. It cleared everything out well enough.

If you can, plan a day of being kind to yourself when on your bowel prep. You won't feel like doing much anyway.

Good luck.

x

[Lilly83 in reply to georgiepeorgiepudding]

Thanks for the reply, that's good you were ok not drinking it all, in planning on amending and restricting my diet leading up to it so there's as little as possible to 'expel'

How did your lap go?

Lilly x

[georgiepeorgiepudding in reply to Lilly83]

Hi Lilly83, Yes, I restricted my diet before my bowel prep too.

It was my first lap and seemed to go ok, as far as I can tell. They found more endo that appeared on the scans so I've had a thorough clear out. I felt great for the first couple of weeks but have slumped a bit this last few days as I come to realise that it's quite likely to return.

I'm planning on amending my diet as a way of being pro-active in the longer term, so we'll see!

Good luck with you bowel prep and lap. Thinking of you.

x

[mablesky]

Hi there

I had a bowel prep before surgery last year.I'ts not too awful but not pleasant either!

I didnt feel sick at all but I remember I couldnt be far away from a loo so dont plan to go out .As you cant eat anything I found around mealtimes a little jelly hepled the hunger pangs and this is allowed.sorry to go into detail but some one gave me some good advice about using a little vaseline around your bottom because it really does get quite sore.Hope all goes well just pamper yourself on the bowel prep day relax and take it easy.xx

[Lilly83]

Thankyou, all these tips really help and it makes me feel loads better knowing people didn't vomit with it, will definitely use the Vaseline one

The things we have to go through hey!

Thanks again xx

[Todds78]

Hi Lilly. I have had bowel prep several times and not been sick at all. The lemon laxative is hard to get into you but it is a case of mind over matter. You really should try hard to swallow the whole thing as it is so important to have an empty bowel to reduce operational risk. The hospital also gave me a sachet to help rehydrate me. This tasted like water laced with icing sugar and did make me feel sick. However, when I explained this to the pre op nurse next time she said I could drink lucozade , which was much more agreeable. There is a diet plan to follow on the lead up to the op basically reducing fibre in take. One tip is to buy toilet wet wipes. These can help prevent soreness. Good luck hun x