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Colonoscopy-GAF

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I'm 30 and I'm getting one on Friday for health reasons. I'm omw to get supplies. The instructions make it seem rough. I can basically have Gatorade, soup broth, and Apple juice for the next 36 hours.

Experiences?

How did you make the day before bearable with eating nothing?
jesus,
reading that screams 1st world problems
 
It's gonna suck. You're gonna be hungry, no way around it.

Depending on the prep, you might have to drink a gallon of chemical tasting, concrete thick solution, the reward for finishing said solution is turning your anus into a painful fire hose of liquid shit.

Breakfast will be good after you get the procedure done, so you've got that going for you.
 
First, not everyone has the fart. I've had multiple procedures and I guess the doctor affixed his mouth to my anus and sucked out the gas.

I don't expect you to skimp on the cleansing instructions, but don't be afraid to use the bathroom even when you're waiting in the hospital in your gown and you're about to be called in. It'll just be a little water but try to get it all out. You don't want to wake up and find out they couldn't explore you as well as they wanted to.

Not sure if you've ever fasted at all before, but I found I had more energy than expected the morning after sleeping. The first day of fasting I just found something to mindlessly occupy myself (in my case it was Final Fantasy Exvius, deleted the game off my phone the next day), keep it low-energy use, obviously don't go hiking.

The procedure is painless, I'm sure you'll be fine.
 
I have had to have it done every two years since I was 24.

You can have gelatin, jello etc, really nothing hard that needs hours of digesting. My doctor even allows me to have pudding. It is hard to adjust to 2smashes says. You'll be fine though.

The worst part is the prep. The actual procedure is as easy as blinking or farting. Plus you'll be on some good drugs.

Good luck and best of health. Hopefully this is a one and done deal for you.
 
You won't remember the procedure, but for the love of god finish the prep. You don't want your doc to reschedule you because there's still poop in your colon.
 
I have had to have it done every two years since I was 24.

You can have gelatin, jello etc, really nothing hard that needs hours of digesting. My doctor even allows me to have pudding. It is hard to adjust to 2smashes says. You'll be fine though.

The worst part is the prep. The actual procedure is as easy as blinking or farting. Plus you'll be on some good drugs.

Good luck and best of health. Hopefully this is a one and done deal for you.

The instructions say I'm awake but the drugs will make it seem like I'm not.
 
Its not bad. I think mine was mid morning so I started the prep the night before. I had to take a laxative and some other solution that tasted like lemonade. The laxative cleared me out in one shot so I wasnt in the bathroom all night. I was so focused on the procedure that I didnt even think about not being able to eat. I think the procedure itself only takes a few minutes and you'll be out the whole time. I didnt feel a thing and afterwards it didnt feel like something got shoved up my but either. I went straight to quiznos after the nurses let me leave.
 
Get ready to pee out of your butt!

The sudden onset of having to go the bathroom within 2 minutes of a sensation. I once had to drive my girlfriend to the train station in heavy traffic. Getting back was a nightmare, let me tell you.

The procedure itself was a breeze.
 

Machine

Member
I had one recently. When I read the prep instructions, it said I was able to drink clear liquids. Right before the procedure, I asked the nurse if beer and vodka were considered acceptable clear liquids and she gave me a nod. That will make my next prep much more tolerable.
 
The instructions say I'm awake but the drugs will make it seem like I'm not.

Might be a conscious sedation, it's actually fascinating and if it were in a non-medical environment it would be terrifying. I've had my doc tell me to move my leg mid procedure and I was awake to move it. You feel asleep and certainly don't feel anything inside you.
 

Hazmat

Member
The instructions say I'm awake but the drugs will make it seem like I'm not.

The twilight anesthesia they'll give you will from your perspective be the same as knocking you out. I saw them slam the drugs into my IV and the next thing I knew I was in the recovery room. You'll be groggy, but you'll have definitely been somewhere else for the procedure.

They'll probably have you drink some chemical solution the night before. It tastes awful and you will spray water out your ass like it's a firehose all night. It's easily the worst part of it.

The sandwich I had after my procedure is one of the best things I've ever eaten in my life.
 

Trouble

Banned
I've had two because of family history.

The hunger isn't that bad since you can have drinks with sugar in them. You aren't zero calorie fasting.

The prep is by far the "worst" part, but it's not painful or anything just really weird and a little scary the first time. The second time I knew what to expect so it was almost fun.

Set up a battle station next to the toilet you are going to be spending a lot of time there. Phone, tablet, handhelds, etc.

The procedure itself goes by in a blink because of the drugs. Having them tell you to fart as much as you can is a bit awkward, but only for you. I had a young female assistant pushing on my stomach to help me fart and it was by far one of the odder things I can say has happened to me.

The first food you have afterwards will be heavenly.
 
I thought the fasting was easy but I took a day off work to do it and told my family not to ask me to do anything that day. I just drank Gatorade mixed with the laxitive all day and binged the last season of breaking bad.

The operation was painless but I had some complications that showed up after. Somehow my intestine absorbed some bacteria and I got deathly sick and spent 3 days in the hospital. They said it's incredibly rare for that to happen and unfortunately I should get more colonoscopies to be safe.
 
The day of fasting is tough, the night before you'll be strapped to the toilet, the procedure is thankfully quick and painless and you'll be dying for something solid.
 

Grisby

Member
Procedure is fine but get ready to go to the bathroom for almost half, if not the whole, day. Assuming you take the laxative drink stuff.

Damn that stuff is nasty.
 

Jag

Member
Just remember during the prep, if you think you are about to fart, you're not. Get to the toilet!

I have IBS and get it done every few years. You will hate Gatorade and your anus will too.
 

Trouble

Banned
Oh yeah, make sure to drink a lot of fluid other than the prep. It's pretty easy to get badly dehydrated. You'll swear your body couldn't possibly hold as much fluid as comes shooting out of you at high velocity.
 
They said clear liquids only, I didnt' see clear sports drinks but for Gatorade they said no red or purple. I got the light blue one, bad? Thinking of calling in the morning.

I've had two because of family history.

The hunger isn't that bad since you can have drinks with sugar in them. You aren't zero calorie fasting.

The prep is by far the "worst" part, but it's not painful or anything just really weird and a little scary the first time. The second time I knew what to expect so it was almost fun.

Set up a battle station next to the toilet you are going to be spending a lot of time there. Phone, tablet, handhelds, etc.

The procedure itself goes by in a blink because of the drugs. Having them tell you to fart as much as you can is a bit awkward, but only for you. I had a young female assistant pushing on my stomach to help me fart and it was by far one of the odder things I can say has happened to me.

The first food you have afterwards will be heavenly.

I'll finally regret getting rid of my Vita and 3DS. Guess I should setup the WiiU :lol
 

Trouble

Banned
They said clear liquids only, I didnt' see clear sports drinks but for Gatorade they said no red or purple. I got the light blue one, bad? Thinking of calling in the morning.

No red or purple because they have red food coloring, which they could confuse with blood. Blue should be fine.
 
I had to have one because I was having some complications during chemo. Given the situation and how unhappy I was and tired of being in the hospital, I had my wife sneak me in lasagna to eat since I was taking the laxative and I knew it would be flushed out of my system. Huge mistake and horrible night!
Had to have an upper GI at the same time and joked they were going to do that after the colonoscopy using the same camera. Then I had I dream that happened...

Procedure was no biggie. I remember coming out of the twilight briefly during the procedure and finding myself watching on the screen and telling the Dr how good my ass looked.
Honestly, it's the easiest and most painless procedure I've ever gone through. Only downside is the night before.

Sorry for the rambling. Having a night...
 
36 hours seems excessive? The couple times I've had them it's been like 20 hours max.

The prep is definitely the worst. Drinking the fluid is pretty bad and going to the bathroom nonstop is unpleasant, but there's worse things.

The procedure is a breeze. The couple times I've done it, I was put under and literally don't remember anything between counting down and waking up hungry as hell.
 

btrboyev

Member
Enjoy the best fart ever.

That doesn't really happen anymore. They use a new gas that doesn't cause bloating.

OP, it's literally nothing. The worst part is the day prep before. The day of is just getting in a gown and going for a quick nap and you wake up and it's done.
 

Aruarian Reflection

Chauffeur de la gdlk
I requested not to get any sedation for my colonoscopy (I wanted to watch out of curiosity since I'm in the medical field) and it was no big deal at all. I was able to drive myself home right after, would do it again. Prep wasn't too bad either. I feel like the whole thing is over-exaggerated but my occupation maybe colored my experience
 

pixelation

Member
Enjoy the best fart ever.

Hahahaha this!, they wouldn't let me out of the clinic until i farted good... like... REAL GOOD.

Worst part?, the actual colonoscopy of course *shudders* i felt like i was getting probed by aliens.

Oh and... USE WIPES!!!
 
36 hours seems excessive? The couple times I've had them it's been like 20 hours max.

The prep is definitely the worst. Drinking the fluid is pretty bad and going to the bathroom nonstop is unpleasant, but there's worse things.

The procedure is a breeze. The couple times I've done it, I was put under and literally don't remember anything between counting down and waking up hungry as hell.

Well I threw that number out there but my appointment isn't until like 1.30 on Friday.
 
I've done a couple, they're fine. The day before isn't as bad as everyone makes out, although the flavoring on the prep stuff can be kinda sickly sweet after a while. Also, watching someone roam around inside you on-screen while high is actually kinda fun.

Choosing to do a gastroscopy with no drugs, however ... that I would not recommend.
 

Jetman

Member
You'll be fine. Surprised that your going to be awake for the procedure though.

My grandad stayed awake for one of his, and had no painkillers or anything. Said the scope went so far up his butt he felt it was gonna come out his throat, and was coughing trying to get it out lol .
 

Christian

Member
I've had over 25 scopes in my life. I'm 34. The prep is the worst part, maybe getting the IV if you have an aversion to needles. You probably won't remember anything about the procedure itself. I hope everything turns out well for you.
 

Elandyll

Banned
Listen to the colonoscopy song.

https://youtu.be/aa6pKymmy6w

A friend of mine even had it on repeat during her colonoscopy.

During a campaign to push the over 50yr old staff to schedule themselves, the healthcare system I used to work with showed these during a Monthly Director Meeting (about 150 Directors, nursing managers and VPs).

It was ... an interesting moment to have that on a 9x12 screen.

Most people had a chuckle, but the message is indeed important.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmKnf7QhuSo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI1go72c5H8
 

legacyzero

Banned
Yes, you're going to want to have some apple juice and chicken broth to eat. I barely ate anything 24 hours before my proceedure than it fucking sucked.

Then just survive the prep. Baby wipes, because you're going to be wiping that ass raw. And youre going to be liquid-shitting like somebody is power-washing your insides. Wasn't an uncomfortable experience for me outside of having a sore ass for the night.

Procedure was fucking excellent. Like I fell asleep and woke up all at the same time.

I've had over 25 scopes in my life. I'm 34. The prep is the worst part, maybe getting the IV if you have an aversion to needles. You probably won't remember anything about the procedure itself. I hope everything turns out well for you.

Man, I was so fucking out of it, that I really didn't care what they jabbed me with at that point. Probably helped that I spend that year getting a lot of blood tests and such. So I kinda became de-sensitized to it.

Don't do the drugs. There's not much pain and you can leave as soon as it's over.

FUCK OUTTA HERE lol
 
I was hungry until I drank the medicine. Then I was too sick to be hungry. The main problem with getting the stuff that you have to drink down is the weird taste. It's not nasty, just insanely strong. Mine tasted like a fatal lemon-lime overdose. It took a little bit of willpower not to vomit it, but if you keep telling yourself you'll just have to buy more and try again you'll be fine. And then you just hang out as close to the bathroom as you can for a while. The better you stuck to the diet, the better this goes. It wasn't too bad for me. I have IBS, I'm very used to diarrhea and urgent need to go, this was just a bit more liquid.

I was under full anesthesia for the procedure, so that's a black hole. They do get gas in your colon and that hurts a bit when you wake up until it comes out through natural methods. My recovery didn't take long.

I think they offered me pain meds but I didn't take them. Didn't need them.
 

Tunesmith

formerly "chigiri"
Had one done, the day before prep is the worst part, drinking nearly vomit inducing bland liquid that turns on the water so to speak. The actual procedure was a quick 20 minute thing, slight anaesthesia but was still awake during it, no issues whatsoever (though I suggest not looking at the monitors unless you like those Hospital TV shows where they show surgery footage). Back home an hour later.
 
How did you make the day before bearable with eating nothing?
jesus,
reading that screams 1st world problems

After a while the hunger just goes away and you continue on drinking water. It's the cleanest your colon has been since you were in the room - after the purge that is.

Also, maybe don't sleep that night in bed with someone you love. At around 2am my body decided it was needing a poo very badly.

I woke up at 2:30pm

I didn't get any drugs for my probes (I had 2 inside a month) and it was super uncomfortable but bearable. It meant I could get the fuck outta there too. I do remember just watching the monitor and seeing my colon. That was weird.
 

Yazzees

Member
man i probably need one of these, bled from my ass for like two weeks last year though it hasnt happened since

*gulp*
 

Zolo

Member
I remember nearly passing out when I actually got to the building to have the colonoscopy done. Allowed me to get to my treatment really quickly anyway.
 

Kintaco

Member
People talking about the nasty liquid, did you not mix it into something like Gatorade? My instructions had me mix the stuff into yellow Gatorade and it wasn't bad, just weird slimy consistency.

OP it's not too bad, you're probably in the middle of the prep right now. I'm a big advocate of colonoscopy exams. I had one last year and a tumor was found, so I think these exams can save people's lives. I finished chemo a couple months ago, and I'm starting to feel better.
 

Kyrios

Member
Co-worker of mine just got his done two days ago. He said the worst part was being hungry all of the time and of course frequent trips to the bathroom. But hunger was the worst part for him and he said he didn't feel a thing during the procedure.

Best of luck, bud!
 
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