Hi
I wanted to share my experience having read through this thread to prepare for my colonoscopy. I've found a lot of the posts here very helpful and hopefully i can give insight to others about to go through this procedure.
I am a 41 year old male, based in the UK with a family history of bowel cancer. I have had on/off rectal bleeding for about 6 months which is most likely caused by haemorrhoids but my GP wanted to get me checked due to the family history.
I must admit to having been very apprehensive about this procedure. Some of the posts online would have you believe the prep involves starvation, vomiting and excruciating pain during the process. For me it was quite different.
I was sent some Moviprep a few days in advance, and told to eat low fibre for the 2 days prior to the colonoscopy. I was surprised to get a note from the hospital telling me to ignore the instructions in the moviprep leaflet and instead i could eat from the supplied allowed food list until 4pm the day before the procedure (which was at 8:30am). Eating no fibre was difficult as the allowed food list was fairly restricted, this left me feeling rather bloated but better than no food at all. I had my last meal (a cheese sandwich) at about 13:00 the day before - my logic being that i could eat until 4pm but i would merely have to expel it later on so better to avoid eating as much as i could.
I made the Moviprep at about 16:00 ready to take the first litre at 17:00. I was expecting it to be utterly foul, but thankfully (in my opinion at least) it really wasn’t that bad - slightly salty, lemony taste. My wife’s culinary experiments have been good training for this
I just held my nose and chugged it down over the course of about 40 minutes. I was expecting to react pretty quickly but it took about 2.5 hours before things got going. I did have some stomach cramps whilst waiting for it to kick in but nothing too bad. Around 19:30 the floodgates opened. This was pretty easy really, just locked myself in the loo with my iPad and some wipes. I managed to finish up by about 20:30 (with a new high score in Angry Birds) then headed to the kitchen to prepare the 2nd litre of Moviprep. This was a bit harder to get down, mainly due to the high volume of fluid rather than the taste. I had already drunk a lot of water as advised so downing another litre was tricky but not impossible. I managed to finish this by around 21:15. From then on i alternated between lying in bed with the occasional stomach pain and visiting the loo to let things take their course. By about 1am i felt i had pretty much cleared everything out and went to sleep. I woke at 6 for a glass of water and one final purge then headed to the hospital. One of the hardest things for me was not being able to have a morning coffee, my mouth was dry and i was tired. A nice coffee would have hit the spot!
Once i arrived at the hospital i was seen pretty quickly and told what was going to happen. The nurse stuck a needle in my hand for the sedative and i signed the consent forms. After changing into a gown i had a quick chat with the doctor who was carrying out the procedure then took my place on the bed, lying on my side with my knees up to my chest as requested. I was asked if i minded some student nurses in the room, which i didn’t. The sedation was administered. I have no idea what this was, but it did the trick! I wasn’t asleep but felt very, very relaxed and comfortable. As a parent of a 6 & 8 year old, i could really do with a regular supply of this stuff...
The procedure itself was as you would expect. Its not nice having a hose shoved up your backside and having your bowel inflated, but it didn’t hurt. It just feels a bit uncomfortable as they manoeuvre around the bends. I watched the whole thing on the screen which was interesting, and having the student nurses in the room meant the doctor gave a running commentary which took my mind off the discomfort a little. On the way out they found one polyp which was removed with a little metal band, i didn’t feel a thing. The haemorrhoids were visible but not touched, these will be “banded” off at a later date. The whole process took about 30 minutes and they got all the way to the end, so nothing was missed. The polyp is being sent for tests so i’ll hear about that in a couple of weeks.
I was wheeled into the recovery room and given a cup of water. Once the nurse saw that i drank this without issue they gave me a (much appreciated) coffee and a couple of biscuits. The nurse ran though the results and told me the next steps and I was discharged at about 11:15, so in total i had been at the hospital just short of 3 hours - no big deal for a procedure which gives me some peace of mind for the next few years. Once i got home i ate a sandwich and went to bed for a few hours, having the best sleep i’ve had in a long time.
All in all i think the worry leading up to the colonoscopy was far worse than the procedure itself. Its quite possible to worry yourself int a frenzy with some of the things written online. For me at least, this was a pretty simple and bearable process. Moviprep wasn’t half as bad as i was expecting, and the procedure was no big deal (for me at any rate). Plus i got a day off work, most of which was spent in bed so thats a bonus too. I’m glad i’ve got this over with, hopefully the polyp will turn out to be clear and i can put this out of my mind for the next 5 years!
To all going through this, good luck!