Bowel prep for colonoscopy - long post. Sorry.

[Bowelprincess]

Hi. I thought I would kick off with the dreaded bowel preparation (clearing) required prior to having bowel examinations or surgery. There are a number of products (some branding names vary between USA and UK). So, this is my journey this year:

Needed a colonoscooy as well as Upper GI Endoscopy so appointment received for last week of April. They sent "PlenVu" as my bowel prep, which requires around a litre of fluid. I drank it fairly quickly but within seconds it all came back up. No bowel clearing. Called unit who said it was pointless coming in.

Next appt 6th May (which meant prep on my Birthday). Received prep drink in post. Plenvu again. Same thing happened - up it came.

Another appointment for 13th May. This time it was "MoviPrep" and it appeared to be working well, but perhaps less than I expected. Went to hospital and in procedure room they were able to do Upper GI endoscopy. However, the prep had still not worked. Roll on to next appt ....

18th May. Moviprep again. Seemed to work OK. Arrived at hospital, went into procedure room. Consultant could not proceed due to amount of waste still in the bowel. Which brings me to today. The doc recommended "Picolax" plus some Movicol (softener). But I also purchased some softener and Dulcolax tablets from chemist to start things moving. By Friday, I had still not received the Picolax from hospital so i had to call them. They arranged for me to collect from main reception at hospital. I got there last night about 7.30pm. No sign of anyone. In the end I had to find a porter and explain it was urgent. Collected. Tonight I have taken 1st Picolax and nothing has happened. That was 2 hours ago. I am now drinking like crazy as well as getting some Dulcolax in me. I prefer the Picolax as it is only 150ml to make up a dose and as I had a Gastric Bypass 11 years ago, I find it hard to drink loads in one go.

Next dose of Picolax at 7am tomorrow. I will update you all later. But please share experiences, tips & tricks plus any advice you have been given that helped. I look forward to reading your comments. Toilet humour is encouraged, but otherwise please keep it clean - thank you.

[Hidden]

You have to avoid many foods also better for you if just have fluids/soup etc days before.

[Jackie1612]

Hi - many commiserations to you and what you are going through.

You seem to be trying everything you can and the suggestion by oscar seems to be a good idea. I had an acquaintance who had also had a gastric bypass and she had a lot of difficulties with constipation afterwards, including some occasions of having to stay in hospital to get it sorted out. I hope this has not happened to you. Maybe the bypass makes it more difficult for the preps to work?

[soregut]

It can take several hours to work and for colonoscopy prep it's usually 2 sachets and a low residue diet for the 24 hours prior to the scope.Good luck, stay near a loo.

[Beezwax]

For the colonoscopies I have had, I was required to follow a low residue diet - no fibre, no juice , no fat etc. - for 3 days before taking the bowel prep.

[Bowelprincess]

Hi all. Many thanks for your advice. The 2nd sachet of Picolax worked very well. However, in endoscopy procedure room they could not complete it due to bowel not being fully cleared. But they have diagnosed an unusual bowel condition called "redundant colon" which is where the large intestine is longer than normal. The constant change in bowel habits, vomiting and diarrhoea then constipation are apparently typically presenting features. I now face a CT Colonograph plus an MRI before I have major surgery entailing the shortening of colon that will leave me with both an ileostomy and colostomy - although they hope at least one will be temporary. So I am feeling a bit stunned, znd not quite sure how quickly things will happen.

[Bass20]

I cant drink the bowl prep liquid I just bring it all back up as I had to take it for small bowl ct scans so when I had my colonoscopie I bought off the shelf laxative tablets and just took them starting a few days before I watched what I had to eat for the few days prior and it worked well i told them at the hospital what id done and they were happy to proceed

[Krn210 in reply to Bass20]

I wish I would have read this prior to my colonoscopy appointment. I couldn’t keep the prep down either and now have to reschedule the exam 🤦🏼‍♀️