The Colon Club

Occasional reader, first-time poster...
Yearly 'scope on Friday... I'm doing Phospho-Soda prep tomorrow.
Just idle curiousity -- can I have a beer? It looks clear to me!

I'm in an HNPCC family. My father died of colon cancer at age 50; his mother died of colon ca at age 40; her mom had uterine ca; her dad had kidney ureter ca; five or six cousins have had colon/ureter/uterine ca; youngest died at age 25.

--
laney
7/13/93 (age 37) -- dx IIIc ovarian cancer + dx stage 1 uterine cancer
radical hysterectomy & lymph node dissection (14 of 78 lymph nodes positive)
6 monthly chemo tx - cisplatin, carboplatin, cytoxan, doxirubicun, etoposide
HNPCC gene identified ~ 2001 (MSH2)
now 52 yrs old -- 15 years NED

Laney, I can,t be certain but I would think not. Beer has too much stuff in it. Hopefully someone else would know.
You,d certainly be ..happy..going for your colonoscopy if you could have beer!
Janey

I would say yes - BUT, alcohol also tends to dehydrate you - not a good idea when you're doing a colonoscopy prep. And since you can't eat solid food while doing your prep, the alcochol would hit you much harder than if you were eating. I know my surgeon didn't want me drinking red or purple gatordate, jello, etc. as part of my clear liquid diet - not sure if that would apply to dark beers or not. Lastly, I don't know how long alcochol stays in your system, but I don't know what affect the alcohol would have with the sedative you receive for the procedure. I'd save the beer for after the colonoscopy.

I am not a drinker, but my nurse said some people even had a vodka w/ their prep. So, I would say yes, but the other precautions noted are real. The biggest thing to help you on the day of your scope is not to be dehydrated---it means more sticks to find a vein. Good luck.

It was my understanding, no alcohol 24 hrs before a procedure and no alcohol 24 hrs following a procedure. I'm not a beer drinker, but I believe it falls in the alcohol family.

Lee

Beer is one of the main food groups isn't it ??????..... only kidding !

Not to be a party pooper or anything...BUT I would not have any alcohol within 48 hours of an anesthetic, which is just my personal bias here. However, if your conscious sedation uses any of the valium type drugs (diazepam, midazolam, diazemuls etc.) you should have been told that alcohol is a specific contraindication for these drugs. That is...don't drink alcohol. Check with your own Docs just to be sure.

Probably just another minor point....aren't I just a bundle of joy today ?....would be that microBrew beers or unpasteurized beers or home brews, can all fill your innards with lots of microrganisms which probably shouldn't be there while your guts have been so disrupted by the preps. Normally there wouldn't be a problem, because of normal gut microflora being able to contain the little beer beasties. When the normal balance is upset you are at risk for developing a superinfection of one specific kind of bug which overgrows the rest and can cause problems.

Cheers
CRguy

Oh well, I guess I really knew I shouldn't have a beer tonight -- it was just part wishful thinking, part kidding around.
mmm... microbrew... okay, on Saturday night -- with nachos!
On with the prep -- good times today!

Anyone else feeling "preppy" today? Maybe I should start another thread...

i would drink it

i think ppl have it backwards i would rather be drunk in a hosp
than a bar