colonoscopy

[Singinglouder]

Hi all. I’ve got to have a colonoscopy, with three days of a low fibre diet as part of the preparation. The hospital has given me a list of foods I can eat, but at least half of them aren’t gluten free or the gf equivalent is higher in fibre. I’m also vegetarian and on a low fat diet, and at the moment it’s looking like three days of mashed potato and reduced fat rice pudding! I tried to get the hospital to give me an acceptable percentage of fibre, so I could try to identify eg bread that meets their requirements, but they didn’t have a clue. Anyone here have any ideas? TIA

[Regalbirdy]

Hi,

My initial thought was that the hospital need to give you more support - perhaps from a dietician?

Expecting you to live for three days on mashed potato and rice pudding is not a good level of care. If you have the strength and the courage, go back and raise the issue again.

Good luck, I hope the procedure works out and you get the answers you need.

[Singinglouder in reply to Regalbirdy]

Thanks for the reply, but unfortunately this is happening on a two-week pathway, so not enough time to get a dietitian’s appointment - not round here, anyway!

I am planning to suggest that adding a definition of low fibre would be helpful, if they can’t produce a dedicated list of suitable foods - and they must do enough colonoscopies on coeliacs to make it worth the time to put something together.

[quanglewangle]

Hello

I don't want to rain on your parade but my main message is - suck it up and eat fruit for a couple of days and it will all soon be over (the enema on the final run-up will take care of all remaining fibre!!!)

When my Coeliac journey started and I was down to 8 stone and wiped out, I put myself on an elimination diet (rice pears and water) for two weeks. I lost some weight but survived and soon found an intolerance to almost all foods. Eating the same foods every day for three years was tedious but gradually built my strength and body weight and after ten years I ran the London Marathon. Twenty years on from the marathon I have slowly gained weight (12 stone now) and can tolerate many foodstuffs, but my digestive system has never fully recovered and thankfully colonoscopies and a sigmoidoscopy have not uncovered anything adverse.

I apologise for the rant, but grab the bigger picture; thirty years from my nadir when I and everyone thought I was going to die - I am still here. Three days of restriction will soon pass (along with the enema!)

Chin up🤪

[Singinglouder in reply to quanglewangle]

Oh, I’m resigned to a boring three days juggling my insulin on a high carb low fibre diet (tho not fruit - all fruit and vegetables are banned, except mashed or boiled potato without skin) - just thought I’d ask if anyone had any bright ideas!

No enema, happily - just the clear out laxative to drink - tho even that’s proving tricky, as I’m allergic to the flavourings in the one they usually use - just waiting for the replacement to arrive now 😊. Trust me to be awkward…

Glad you’ve made it past such a dismal prospect, and impressed that you ran the London marathon - great achievement.

[JanCymru in reply to Singinglouder]

You are not being awkward! Agree with all the information you've been given here so far from folk - it really is unhelpful of the hospital to expect you to weather this preparation without any support. Like you I can't tolerate the prep drink (Moviprep, I think?) as it contains Aspartame an artificial sweetener and I can't even keep it down when I drink it. I was accused last time of not preparing as instructed, they wouldn't entertain that in trying to drink the blasted stuff I was being sick, so had limited prep in my gut to clear it out. Absolutely no empathy or support at all. It was a case of 'tough, that's the prep drink, get on with it' not helpful at all. Would your GP surgery be of any use if you rang them and explained the situation, you might just get somewhere if the surgery rings the hospital and explains. Hoping all goes well for you, it's not a pleasant procedure especially if you are trying your hardest to comply with them. Take care and keep us all posted.

[Singinglouder in reply to JanCymru]

Sorry you didn’t get support over the aspartame - that really was very unhelpful. To be fair to the hospital, they did identify the problem with the Plenvu (the prep they use here) in the pre procedure phone call - I’m allergic to oranges and grapefruit, and that rang alarm bells for them, as the second dose is fruit punch flavour. The packet gives no further details - not which fruit, nor whether it’s artificial or natural flavouring. I was considering taking the risk, assuming a medical product would probably be artificial everything, but while they were consulting the hospital pharmacy, I decided to do some research of my own, found a manufacturer’s information line, and rang. Lucky I did, as it turns out they do actually use real fruit oils and extracts, including both orange and grapefruit! When I told the hospital, tho, they were fine - they’ve found a safe alternative, which is being posted to me. They’ve already phoned me three times to get it sorted, and they’re not unsympathetic - but they clearly know b all about the coeliac diet, and no more about low fibre than is in the leaflet they sent me. I don’t blame the nurses, but I will suggest it’s an area where the department could improve.

[JanCymru in reply to Singinglouder]

Not come across Plenvu but glad the hospital seem to be doing what they can to help. Manufacturer's websites and information lines are valuable and again I'm pleased you managed to obtain some first hand information. It's a minefield, isn't it!?!?

[Singinglouder in reply to JanCymru]

All adds to the rich tapestry of life, I suppose!

I think Plenvu is a fairly new prep a lot of hospitals use now because it’s said to be less unpleasant to take - you don’t have to swallow as much per dose (500ml rather than 1l). Take it that means I’ll be on the 1l version now! According to google, some are unflavoured, so I’m guessing that’s what they’re sending me (they did mention the name, but I’ve forgotten it 😊).

[JanCymru in reply to Singinglouder]

Thanks for the extra info - I must admit it is 6 years now since I had my last colonoscopy so things have moved on (sorry, no pun intended!). Wishing you well 👍😍

[Researchfan]

Hi.

Unfortunately gluten free bread is usually very high fibre! If you’re following high carb Can you switch to the free from crispbreads for three days, instead? The schaer ones are basically starch and low fat.

You could have long grain, basmati, risotto white rice and white rice vermicelli noodles for a change from mashed potatoes? Or plain gluten free pasta? The ones in the majority are made from maize and rice flour. Avoid brown rice. Free from rice pops if you eat cereal too?

Assuming in the UK all the supermarkets have free from own branded sweet biscuits such as free from custard cremes and bourbons that are practically no fibre. Avoid the gluten free cookies because they usually made with wholegrain oats which is fibre.

As a rule of thumb (which I’m surprised the hospital hasn’t advised) anything less than 2g fibre per portion on the nutritional label is low fibre. And according to the NHS low fibre diet guidelines is less than 10g total a day.

Hope that’s helpful.

You should consult your GP or diabetes team for advice re insulin and the diet change.

[Singinglouder in reply to Researchfan]

Thanks for the info on the amount of fibre that constitutes low fibre - that’s what I was asking the hospital, and hadn’t found myself. I did go and look at ordinary bread in the supermarket, and discovered white loaves seem to be around 3g fibre per 100g, so I’ll have to look through the cupboard and see what I’ve got in stock that fits the bill. I do have some rice noodles and rice, but I use chickpea or lentil pasta, so for that I’ll have to go shopping! I’m not deliberately on a high carb diet - far from it, I’m diabetic on insulin - but the effect of taking all the vegetables and fibre out of my diet is that what’s left is basically carb! Hadn’t thought of crispbread, so thanks for that - that with some cottage cheese is a bit more appealing than three days of mashed potato 😊

[Researchfan in reply to Singinglouder]

It’s a tough one when there’s several dietary restrictions!

I understand if restricted to low fat also then what’s left is gf carbs!

I try to learn and view things from all perspectives when it comes to health personally and apply what works by trial and error. Elimination diets are still the gold standard in medicine when it comes to figuring out digestive health.

I hear of many on a Low Carb diet putting autoimmune conditions into remission especially crohns and colitis. There’s also many type 1 and type 2s thriving on a keto and low carb lifestyle. But natural fats are essential on this diet as I’m learning, for energy has to come from somewhere! (if there’s excess body fat to lose then the fat is supplied that way but if need to maintain weight then got to eat equivalent calories in fat to the carbs being skipped - so called rabbit starvation would ensue if low carb was done with low fat.) Anyway sorry getting sidetracked.myself. There are also many people on a McDougall diet or Vegetarian diet very low fat thriving too. There’s more than one way etc as the saying goes. The commonality is getting rid of ultra processed foods and veg/seed oils I think. The more I learn the more I realise and agree it’s the (modern) food. But not necessarily the food but what’s been done to the food by modern day processing.

Good luck. Three days can go in a blink in the grand scheme.