Colonoscopy advice please

[KittyTherapy]

Hello ladies,

Gastro have referred me for a colonoscopy which should hopefully happen in the next month or so.

I was wondering if you have any advice/ tips for me. Should I do anything differently leading up to it? Anything you think I should be aware of?

They've sent me the bowel prep in advance for it and they will sedate me for the procedure which I'm pleased about.

I've been focusing on an anti inflammatory diet which is helping ease some symptoms.

Any advice welcomed 🙏

Thank you!

[Seetheworld]

Hi Kitty therapy,My only advice is that the bowel prep tastes horrendous, so you need something to help keep it down . You need to make sure you take all of it without throwing up, so your bowels are fully clean. I suggest having a nice drink that is on the allowed drinks list, like apple juice, to have a sip immediately after a sip of the bowel prep solution to get rid of the taste and to be able to keep it down. I also had sedation, but it wasn't general anaesthetic, so I was still conscious and it was incredibly painful still (I had 20 biopsies). I do have a lot of scaring in that area from surgery last year, so that is probably why it was so painful for me. Hopefully it won't be so bad for you. If you're having biopsies, you will likely feel very tender the next day. I felt like I had done a thousand sit ups and my stomach area made it painful to move. So you probably want to take it easy the day after, which you will be advised to anyway after sedation. But that only lasted a day for me and I felt completely normal after that.

Hope it all goes well for you 🤞🏻. Good luck. X

[KittyTherapy in reply to Seetheworld]

Hi,

Thank you so much! Oh no, I hadn't even thought about how it might taste 😳 not looking forward to that but thanks for the heads up!!

Hoping its not quite so painful but again, good to know / prepare myself for it. I think i will ask my work if I can work from home for a day or two afterwards x

[Selfel in reply to KittyTherapy]

I second it being difficult to keep the prep down. However I didn't have much pain at all. There was one point I felt pain but it lasted a couple of seconds but other than that it was fine. Of course it wasn't pleasant but not bad. I only had one tiny polyp removed though which I didn't feel at all, so maybe that's the difference.

[KittyTherapy in reply to Selfel]

Hi, thanks for replying! ☺️ hope i manage to keep the prep down, i almost vomit just from brushing my teeth at the moment with having this gastro flare, I've strangely noticed my gag reflex is way more sensitive and I'm constantly nauseous so I'm a bit worried about the prep but will have a nice drink ready to hand! Reassuring that not everyone finds the scope super painful x

[ChicaPixie in reply to KittyTherapy]

Hello ladies, I had a colonoscopy before being diagnosed with endo and I second the yucky flavour as I almost threw up during the prep. One thing for me it was very very painful. At the time I did not know why and my specialist had to stop at one point. Later my gyne confirmed that a lot of my endo was all around my bowels so that could be why as a few weeks after that I had my lap op and my endo was horrendous.

I definitely would take a day off after that just because you might feel quite tired. At least I was absolutely shattered. Good luck lovely and hope it goes well.

[KittyTherapy in reply to ChicaPixie]

Thank you for sharing your experience ❤️ I am a bit apprehensive about the pain, I was told adhesions could be seen on my bowels from my lap - but my gastro problems have gotten worse since the surgery and I'm just worried things are now worse. I just hope they can give me a proper answer. My general gynae has discharged me and I'm waiting to be seen at a specialist centre. The colonoscopy will just be under general gastro and I'm anxious they might not know what to look for but I could just be over worrying x

[ChicaPixie in reply to KittyTherapy]

You're very welcome. One thing for me my colonoscopy was with general gastro specialist as at the time I didn't know I had endo, it's just a lot of my symptoms are very much gastro related. So he didn't know why I was in so much pain.

But my laparoscopic op a few weeks after that confirmed it.

I can relate to symptoms getting worse so I really hope yours will go well and it'll be as smooth as it can. Hopefully it'll provide you with some answers too.

Worrying is so part of this though isn't it, I'm the same so don't blame you. I'm sending lots of strength your way lovely and hope soon this bit will be behind you and you'll have some further clarity.

[KittyTherapy in reply to ChicaPixie]

Bless you, thank you for your kind words 🫶🏻 x

[ChicaPixie in reply to KittyTherapy]

You're so welcome lovely 🫶x

[Lilac_10]

Hi,

They should give you a letter with advice on what to eat and drink etc a couple of days before but other than that and the bowel prep drink there’s nothing extra for you to do. I agree with what everyone said about the prep though - in my experience, the prep was the hardest part. I put it in the fridge with ice which helps a little but It’s hard because you’re not allowed to even down it quickly. I was really nervous the colonoscopy would hurt due to the pain I get with bowel movements but mine was absolutely fine. I did have a 5-10 seconds period of pain during a certain part but this quickly went off and seemed to be positional with the camera. As soon as they noticed I was in pain they were right there to reassure me and make sure I was okay.

I was so nervous before the procedure but mine was absolutely fine so hopefully yours will be to. 🙂

I hope it goes well x

[KittyTherapy in reply to Lilac_10]

Thank you lovely x

[Chopper7]

hi there , I have had a colonoscopy a few months back , the prep was awful .. make sure to drink most of it / until it comes out as a yellow / clear liquid then u can stop drinking , it is very hard and u won’t be able to sleep without toilet trips .. I would advise to go on a really light food diet before hand so it might make the prep easier for you .. I also had sedation and gas and air and it still hurt so much to the point where they gave me more pain relief through the tube as well as biopsies taken , they will tell u straight away if anything is shown , luckily for me nothing was shown despite my high calprotectin, it’s still a mystery and gastro has now given up lol but I’m still under gynaecology wondering if endo could be the solution and issue causing the inflammation, I hope it goes well

[KittyTherapy in reply to Chopper7]

Thanks for sharing & for your tips ❤️