Postby SueSueSue » Sun May 03, 2009 12:52 pm
I was prescrived MoviPrep before a colonoscopy recently. Of course it tastes nasty, it seems all preps taste bad. I consumed the first half of the prep in the specified time period (one hour). Nothing happened. My abdomen did not even move, no grumblings, no pain, no gas, no bowel movements, etc. I waited for the alloted time period and started the second half of the prep. I could not get it down. I kept throwing it up after I'd drink it.
I called my doctor and told him what happened. He said he had never heard of someone having NO reaction to the first half. He told me to go the pharmacy and buy a bottle of _______ citrate (I can't remember what it was so I don't want to give the wrong info). That bottle worked like a miracle. It looked like a glass soda bottle. I drank it at room temp and it worked like a charm. Compared to the moviprep, it tasted good!
So, Moviprep is horrid. Even my pharmacist asked why my doctor would prescribe this prep? I had to go to a few pharmacies to even get it because no pharmacies around me kept it in stock.
My suggestion to getting it down: Mix it the night before and chill it over night so it is as cold as possible when you have to drink it. You can not add ice cubes to chill it, so this is the best way to chill it. Drink it in a glass with a straw and chug chug chug. Drink 8 oz. every few minutes over the course of the hour to get it down. Pinch your nose if you have to (to supress some of the flavor). Don't think about what this is, just drink it while you're watching TV to distract yourself.
Good luck to anyone who is trying this. It's not fun, but we all have to do it sometime or another. Tomorrow will be over before you know it. Everyone says that, I know, but it's not as bad as all of the hype. The hype is worse than the procedure or anything else. Conoloscopys are not fun, but it's not nearly as bad as I was expecting.
Oh, and I did the colonoscopy with no anesthesia. Part of the reason I did that is because I read stories where people said they were bruised from ruff entry of the tube and things like that. I didn't want that. My doctor actually YELLED at me for not doing any anesthesia. How rude. He threw his arms up in the air, etc. Guess what? He was able to do the entire colonoscopy anyway, with the exception of the final 1" of the large intestine. After the procedure was over (10-15 min max) I asked the doctor how far he was able to go, he would not answer but yelled that he could not do the whole thing because of ME not doing anesthesia. After the doctor left the room, his assistant came over to me and whispered that he actually did almost the entire thing and that the doctor was even surprised at how far he went, but he didn't want me to know that.
It was painful, very painful, the pain I felt during the colonoscopy is the pain I feel every day anyway, so that is why I was able to handle the pain of the colonoscopy so well. I don't recommend no anesthesia to anyone, only if you can handle it.
And my doctor told me I HAD to go home and rest after the colonoscopy but he would not give me a reason why. I asked at least four times for a specific reason why, he would not give me one. So, I left the office and went right back to my work. I drove myself - I had no drugs in my body. And I'm a 38 year old woman.
What people don't tell you is what happens AFTER the colonoscopy. After the colonoscopy, for a few hours, you run to the bathroom and have tiny bits of fluid come out of your colon. You feel like you're going to have diahrrea, but you don't - there's nothing in your bowel, so you can't have diahrrea, it's just the fluid from the procedure coming out. It happens a lot and the amount of liquid each time is tiny. But, this is the only reason why I would say it's best to stay home after a colonoscopy if you have no anesthesia. If you do go back to work, wear roomy pants and bring a couple changes of underwear. It's almost impossible to keep your underwear clean for the first couple of hours after the colonoscopy. I'm not talking a true "mess" in your underwear, not at ALL, it's just little drops that come out and it's nice to have a fresh pair of underwear available.
After the colonoscopy, also, you have a great deal of gas. They put air into you during the procedure so they can see the lining of your colon. The gas has no odor, it just sounds like gas. For me, the gas lasted a few hours. For my close friend, the gas lasted over two weeks. I guess it just varies.
It's been two months since my colonoscopy and my bowel movements are not back to they way they were before the procedure. Before the procedure, my bowel movements (when solid) were (not to be graphic, but...) long "logs". Now I have only marbles. My current bowel movements are within "normal" range, but they have not been the same for me at all since the colonoscopy.
Best wishes to anyone who is preparing for this. The flavor of the liquid prep is the worst part of this entire ordeal.