Following my endoscopy, I have been referred to my local hospital, the JR, for a colonoscopy. This seems to be precautionary since the main thing found in the endoscopy was a hiatus hernia.
I have some serious reservations about this operation and would be interested in anyone who has had a negative experience. I have framed my questions on my blog at foodandarthritis.blogspot.c...
I think you'll find that perforation and leaky gut are on rather different scales.. Ie perforation will be at a gross level...something that is visible...whereas leaky gut is at a microscopic level. Not sure if that's helpful?
I had a colonoscopy after suffering several episodes of profuse, watery diarrhoea and feeling extremely unwell. Whilst the colonoscopy looked OK, the gastroenterology took biopsies which showed that I have an inflammatory bowel disease, Lymphocytic Colitis. This helped in the diagnosis of the type of arthritis I have ( Spondyloarthropathy/PsA) so I'm glad that I had it done. Clemmie
Try not to overthink and worry about this whole thing - colonoscopies feel a bit invasive, but actually are among the least invasive of internal procedures that can be done as they are not intended to cut into or damage the tissues that are being looked at. Your doctor presumably knows your history, so wouldn't have prescribed the prep if it had been contraindicated. You do need to have the prep to empty out absolutely completely, because otherwise the colonoscope won't be able to get very far at all and won't get a clean view of the wall of the bowel, and it will have been a completely wasted examination. A colonoscopy is the only way to really examine the lining of the lower end of your gut for both macroscopic (obviously visible) and microscopic changes - understanding exactly what is going on there could mean that your future treatment becomes much better targetted, you know for sure what is going on and you have a better chance to become much more well. Not having the colonoscopy means you will never get proper answers to what is going on and will likely spend the rest of your life playing around with your diet and other things and never quite get to the bottom of it. Also having a colonoscopy means that you can be sure that some of the nastier things (like cancers) have been ruled out.
I had a colonoscopy a number of years ago. I found the process to be relatively comfortable. I chose not have any sedation as it meant that I could get out of the hospital shortly after the procedure. It is a very common diagnostic tool and 1000s must be done every day round the world I would have no reservations about repeating the procedure.
I have had a few colonoscopies and I had twilight sedation and came through fine. don;t overthink things and worry yourself into a state. They do thousands of them a week and you would have to be very very unlucky to have anything go wrong. BTW I have also had 3 cardiac ablations and I have to say I was so scared when I had the first one done, but really it turned out ok and then I had to have two more and the risks with those are way way higher than a colonoscopy. Get it done and hopefully it will give a better picture in your diagnosis. The worst part for me is the revolting cleansing drink. Good luck and hope it all goes well
Hi. I have had 2 colonoscopies and both have been a doddle. I had sedation each time and apparently I talked through them but I remember nothing about either of them. Don't worry about it but ask for sedation. All the best. x
I think everyone has covered it very nicely. I've had several in my life. I have to have one every year. Don't over think. The sedation is one of the easiest to come out from under. Like you've never been asleep. Good luck and God Bless
I had one done earlier this year to find the cause of severe anaemia. I took the sedation, awake the whole time. It was a little sore at times, I did say I thought the sedation stopped that. It wasn't bad, all fine, told I had a very long and tortuous bowel but nil to see. Like you I was in two minds as I couldn't see much point. In one way glad I had it done as no problems discovered. It isn't as embarrassing as I thought it would be. Hope all goes well whatever you decide x
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