colonoscopy

[kingharold11]

has anyone had a colonoscopy whilst on prednisolone, I had one 3 years ago before I was diagnosed with PMR and subsequently put on steroids. The bowel screening people have contacted me again but I don't know what to do I can't stop taking steroids and the stuff they give you to clear out your bowels beforehand would remove the steroids anyway. Any advice gratefully received.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

I had a colonoscopy about 2 years ago - it's standard practice here when you are over 55!

How do they do the "clear-out" at your hospital? I was given an appointment in the morning so had one lot of the stuff about 6pm the night before and had stopped "going" by about 9.30pm. The next morning I had to take the next lot about 6am and was fully "cleared out" by about 8.30am. At that stage I could take my tablets - as long as they stay in your stomach for about an hour you will absorb the pred and by that stage they won't get to the lower end of the gut by the time they are scoping it. I was told it was fine to take any normal medication I needed. There is no reason either why you can't take a higher dose the day before which should leave you not too stiff the next morning - some people take their pills every two days with double the dose, I did for a long time and the second day I was fine, I just started to get a bit stiff towards the end of the 48 hours.

Contact the screening people and explain - being late taking your pred for one day does no harm at all, you may just feel a bit stiff in the morning. Missing your dose for one day rarely causes any problems - plenty of people manage to miss a dose at some point and don't notice until late in the day. And if you explain and ask nicely I'm sure they'll manage to give you an appointment that everything fits in with.

[kingharold11 in reply to PMRpro]

I have contacted them and the nurse I spoke to said she would talk to the doctor in charge to sort it out it is the same doctor who did it last time and he is very good also good looking which is a bit embarrassing////

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to kingharold11]

The guy who did mine was very nice and we were chatting all the way through (no sedation offered here!) whilst watching the screen. And when it comes to good-looking - you should have seen my gynaecologist when I lived in Germany! A 6 foot blond god! Needless to say, his wife worked in the practice too.

[kingharold11]

thanks I will have to contact them again

[csy50]

I also had a colonoscopy last year while on 10mg pred. I had to do the starving and clearout process for the 24 hours before it. I took the pred early the day of the cleanse and then after the procedure (which was early in the morning) took the pred with a late breakfast/early lunch!

Eileen - don't know how you managed without any sedation! I was given midazolam and still felt a bit of discomfort but time flew by and I didn't remember much about it!

Chris

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to csy50]

They tell you beforehand that there may be a bit of pain when they "get to the corners" so to speak and that if it is too bad they will give you something. However, they prefer to try a bit of "manipulation" and a nurse offers a hand to squeeze whilst coaching breathing techniques. I've also had a cystoscopy done with no pain relief (3 really, one in Germany, on in the UK and one here) plus urethral stretches. Now THEY are nippy sweeties! Germany just gets on with it so at the second in the UK I was surprised when the decision was made to do one again that they'd have to wait and it would take longer because of pain relief. The nurses couldn't believe it - it upset them more than me. None of it came even close to period pain or PMR!

[csy50 in reply to PMRpro]

No hand to hold was offered to me! and the surgeon was keen to get off home as it was a saturday list fitted in as an extra to get the waiting list down! Yes, the going around the corners was the uncomfortable bit and I remember moaning (I hope low key moaning but I can't be sure as I can't remember!). But all in all not as bad an experience as I expected!