Colonoscopy prep: Golytely vs. Moviprep

[chrisca]

I just had my 10-yr. follow-up scope post-treatment. Good news, it was clean. But I'll say I didn't have the best experience with Moviprep, the newer bowel prep prescription. In the past, I used Golytely which other than irritation to the anal area had no other issues. With Moviprep, I was instructed to do the split dose with half in the evening and the other half the following morning. After the evening dose was finished, I developed facial swelling. It was sudden, and happened in the upper jaw just in front of the ear, with a sharp pain not unlike TMJ pain for those who've experienced that. It went down after an hour or so, but persisted at a low level most of the night. The next morning after the second dose, the pain returned though not as severe as the night before. I looked at the instruction sheet with the medication and facial swelling was listed as a possible side effect so I reported it to the manufacturer the next day. I also think the irritation was worse with Moviprep and there was some light rectal bleeding two days after the exam with the first BM but that resolved after a day.

I do have a history of allergic reaction involving the face due to a bee sting I got in the ear, but oddly it was on the opposite side to where the swelling happened. I don't think Moviprep improved the process of drinking the solution enough to deal with the side effects. If it had been much worse, I would have ended up in the ER the night before a colonoscopy, not a good place to be. Word to the wise.

[CRguy]

Congrats on the clean scope !
and commiserations on the prep issues

Thanks for the heads up

Cheers
CRguy