Postby astrosteve » Fri Apr 19, 2013 1:07 pm
Hi, I just finished with my first colonoscopy, age 55 male. They found 5 polyps 2-3 were small and 2-3 medium sized. He said they didn't look cancerous yet so depending on the lab results I'll be back in 3-5 years, possibly 10. Thanks to this and other forums I certainly learned a lot and was was a little more at ease and tailored my prep more to my liking. I was ready for the worst but have been pleasantly surprised about how well the prep and the exam went! I also asked if my colon was clean and they said it was. My appointment was 11:00AM Thursday and the prescribed prep was Monday begin a low fiber diet, Tuesday- low fiber diet and 8 glasses of water no solid food after midnight. Wednesday, clear liquids, 8 glasses of water, 2 Dulcolax at Noon and 8.3oz of Miralax mixed with 64oz of Gatorade or PowerAde or clear juices, water and none of these red in color. Didn't say specifically blue purple orange or the like but I avoided any colors like that. Things I read on the net recommended starting a low fiber diet and smaller meals earlier, so here's what I did (DISCLAIMER, what worked for me may not work so well for you). On Saturday I ate normal and had a small steak, salad etc. Sunday had a fried egg sandwich on white for lunch, baked chicken, mashed potatoes with a little butter & sour cream and canned green beans. Monday, fried egg on white again for lunch, Supper was baked flounder with mashed potatoes with butter&sour cream again, no veggie of any kind that day. Tuesday, yet another fried egg on white for lunch, snack of a bowl of yellow cream of tomato soup then for supper all I had was 1 good sized pancake with a little butter and maple syrup. All of these days I tried to drink as much water as possible with some juice, I'm trying to dissolve a large uric acid kidney stone also so have been drinking as much water as possible anyway and also trying to lose some weight so small meals fit the ticket too. Now is the fun day, Wednesday, drink 8 glasses of water through the day and take 2 Dulcolax at Noon. I was pretty hungry but drinking water and juice in the AM and a can of chicken broth at noon certainly took the edge off. The Dulcolax was supposed to work in 6-12 hours according to their site but about 3PM I had to go, maybe would of had to go then any way. I then took a shower and put a very liberal amount of Bag Balm around the area that was to get sore. There are lots of other choices besides Bag Balm but that's what I had and a friend of ours recommended it. I then mixed up the Miralax into the drinks so it would be ready. The clinic instructions said to mix it all with 64oz of the liquid of choice in a large pitcher. Now that sounded awfully monotonous to drink that much of one flavor that is not beer so I divvied up the Miralax between some lime Gatorade in one jar, some cherry PowerAde in another jar and some white grape juice in another. Now at 4PM it's time to take the first 8oz of the concoction then another 8oz every 15minutes until gone. After drinking a glass full I would drink a couple swallows of water to cleanse the palate a bit and also had a couple banana Popsicles in between at times. It was 70 minutes from the first drink for me before it was time to go, not terribly urgent but it was time. So much came out so fast that the toilet flushed by itself! Then it was every 20-30 minutes to sit on the toilet but never had to run to the bathroom. It only took a minute or so to squirt out what was needed then went and sat down in the living-room again. After about 2 hours (7PM) it was another hour before I had to go again then another couple hours and that was in until the AM. I had very little problems getting sore or raw. I read somewhere to use baby wipes, I used one and that hurt the most so quit using those and reapplied Bag Balm then just dabbed with the softest toilet paper I could find. No reason to wipe hard, hardly anything to wipe. Bought some Aloe Kleenex to use but wasn't needed. Now it's the morning of the colonoscopy. The instructions say 4 hours before the procedure to take 10oz of magnesium citrate and 10oz of water and that's all that is allowed until after the exam. Up until you take the citrate you could drink clear liquids and your meds. I'm not on any meds that I couldn't skip a day or wait until after it was done so put off the AM meds. If you need your meds then by all means take them, may want to ask your Dr. just in case there's a reason to take them earlier or? I was worried about needing to go to the bathroom on the way to the clinic after taking the mag citrate and asked the nurse about that. She said for some people you need to go 30 minutes after taking it and others just before they leave home, but if I was worried I could take it sooner. Again I worried too much, took it at about 4 1/2 hours before the exam and about 2 hours it was time for the bathroom and again in another hour or so. Maybe I'm just good at holding it but I never felt like I had to run to the can and even the last time I'm sure I could have held it for the 15minutes to the clinic.
Wife drove me to the clinic and shortly led into a room to check blood pressure, questions&answers, sign the consent? form and then off to the bathroom one more time (just a little came out) then the recovery room to get undressed down to my socks, put on a robe laid down on the little bed and cover up with a sheet. I was then rolled to the exam room talking to the nurse and got the BP&pulse machine and IV put in. She said I was dehydrated and started a saline drip, (suppose I should have had a glass of water when I got up in the night). I asked a couple days ago what I was getting for drugs, Fenanyl & Versed she said. Spent some time surfing those and read some horror stories and some praises. I knew it was a conscious sedation but thought I would be more out of it and not remember. I watched the screen and was aware of everything but was a bit groggy, I felt some pain off and on but not too bad, I'm guessing if it was worse they would have given me more drugs. Can't believe it could have been a large dose because I felt pretty good an hour or two later, especially after having something to eat. The nurse showed me the polyps in the jar and wheeled be back to the room, made sure I was OK then got my wife from the waiting room. Suppose I laid there for 20 minutes at most then stood up with the nurse there to see if I was steady enough, got dressed and left walking. A bit weak and not totally steady but wanted to walk to try and work some of the gas closer to the exit. The gas was probably some of the worse pain for the whole two days and it wasn't all that bad either. I was worried the the laxatives would give me cramps but that wasn't the case either. Got home, ate a 6" Sub, sat on the toilet, passed a bunch of gas and felt like a new man, just a bit tired from only getting about 5 hours sleep, nobody's fault but mine, late to bed and worrying for no reason.
Things I would do different for my prep. The Miralax can be mixed in lots of liquids, I'm sure they recommend GatorAde and the like because it's good for you and I would still have a bunch of it but when my wife has this done in a couple months and my next time we will, Have less less white grape juice (it was kind of heavy and too sweet, apple juice is the same way), mix a little in some chicken broth (not sure how it would taste but would be nice to have something completely different), coffee may work too for others than me (can't stand it), have a sip of broth or something different between glasses to get a different taste in your mouth, others suck on hard candy. Reason I say this is because what I had was too sweet and too similar and it will be quite some time before I have any GatorAde, PowerAde, white grape or apple juice! Not worry so much.
Sorry this got soooooo long. In my searches I had a hard time finding what to expect what happens when you take the Mirolax and never did find anything on Magnesium citrate. Also read that I would be living in the bathroom but it wasn't like that at all for me, just needed to go there quite often. Also If I had found exactly what a person ate in the preceding days I may have just followed it. The food lists I found were pretty good but did contradict sometimes. REMEMBER, this is what worked for ME!! It may be a disaster for you. Some people need to start a low fiber diet sooner or start a clear diet sooner. Just do what your Dr. says. After reading horror stories I just wanted to post a more positive one, wasn't fun fun joy joy but not bad either. I'm probably 50-60 pound overweight but otherwise in pretty good shape. Steve
Thank you so much for posting all the information - it's awesome information especially for people who never had a colonoscopy yet. (me) Good luck to you!!!!