anyone else had a colonoscopy?

I apologize if this subject offends anyone, but I was just wondering. I had my first on Monday. The prep was the worst!

I have NO recollection of what happened from "We need you to lay with your left arm tucked under a little more" to the point where I woke up in my own bed with a Diet 7-up in my hands, wondering how in the world I had gotten there! Seriously, that is frightening! I have a vague recollection of being in the bathroom with a nurse as she helped me dress, and telling her, "It is very nice of you to help me." :rolleyes: :eek:

My mother is a colon cancer survivor, so my doctor was insistant that I have a colonoscopy when I turned 45, rather than the normal 50. It was a good thing, since he removed a fairly large pre-cancerous polyp. I spent several hours thinking what would have happened had I NOT had the procedure done? Would I have lived to 50??!!?? :eek: I am fine now, knowing that it is gone, and realizing the need to have one done every 2 years now, as my doctor has indicated.

So, any other stories of colonoscopies... or anesthesia stories out there that you would like to share???

Haven't had one myself, but have helped my Dad. There are 2 difference methods for the prep. One is to drink some horrid stuff. The other is to drink soft drinks with pills. Everyone recommends the second method for seniors as easier to handle.

the preps are awful and are the most important part, cuz any remaining stool on the colon wall prevents the doc from seeing everything. when i had my upper endo in december 2005, my last sentence was...hey my feet are warm!
i woke up talking to the doc after i said something that made him laugh. eileen later told me that i asked him if he found many heads up peoples' behinds....he had a big laugh....

I had a colonoscopy a couple of years ago and I also had about 4 very small pre-cancerous polyps removed. I remember them giving me drugs....good drugs.... and don't remember anything until the nurse was helping me wake up. All in all the test itself is a piece of cake.

However I took the previous day off work because I spent most of the day in the bathroom. I have to agree that the prep is much worse than the test itself.

I'm 54 and still haven't had one. I know I should, but keep putting it off. I have Title 19 so I know it'll be covered. Call me chicken, I guess. :p :rolleyes:

Yes I had one and agree that the prep is the worst part. I had to drink awful stuff that actually, as I recall, had a salty lemony flavor. UGH! If it tasted better it might have been easier to get down. Then, of course, you dare not venture too far from the bathroom after drinking that. :o The feeling afterward of hearing the words "everything was fine" is worth all of it though. Moosmom, please don't put it off. It will be over before you know it and, as others have said, the testing itself is done while you are in LaLa Land. :)

I had one. The prep is the worst. I don't remember anything about the procedure, except my friend said I was pretty funny afterwards.

I'm with you Donna - call me chicken! I haven't had one yet, and I'm turning 54 next week. I was with my husband when he got one a couple years ago. He was SO loud in the recovery room - The nurses came & got me, he kept shouting he was hungry and wanted a coke and a burger from McDonalds! I told him to quiet down and he goes "WHAT, AM I TALKING TOO LOUD?" looking very groggy. Poor guy. The prep seemed pretty awful. The prep for my hyst. was bad enough!

There is a new colonoscopy method...just coming into Canada, so it's likely in the USA already! :) Read about it in MacLean's yesterday.

It's a Virtual one, using CT scan technology. Try putting 'virtual colonoscopy' into Google and see what happens!

Those of you who are afraid of it or just think you don't have time.... This test is NOTHING compared to being told you have cancer, just go ask a cancer survivor.. Time? You got time to die?

My brother put it off and it cost him his life, just when he was the happiest that he had ever been. His death was needless and such a waste of a great person. He was only 55 years old when colon cancer killed him.

I had one years ago after finding blood in my stool.

The stuff to drink to clean you out prior was the worst part for me. That stuff was nasty and I had to choke two glasses down.

I was awake during the procedure and other than some cramping, it wasn't too bad. :)

with a virtual colonscopy you still gotta go thru the prep if they 'see' something on the colon wall and need to do a biopsy. for what it's worth

Yes, but they use external scanning to view the colon; they don't put an "anal probe" into you, which is the worst of it for many people.

I did prep for my surgery, and it wasn't so bad. I think it's more the thought of drinking the cleanout gunk than anything.

I had a CT scan too, and had to drink a solution over a period of two hours. It tasted exactly like dusty water.

Never had one, never hoping to have to have one, here in NZ you only get them if they suspect something is wrong and you visit a specialist, i know however certain tests are available as standard as having a smear in a lot of countries, just waiting for that to happen here, tell me is the stuff you drink anything like the one you have for a barium meal test, i have had that and it was ghastly.

The virtual colonoscopy has not been confirmed to be as effective in assessing risk, and if anything is found, you still have to have a regular colonoscopy for biopsy or polyp removal.

So...unless you really can't, you should have a regular colonoscopy. Its a small price to pay every 5-10 years (depending on your risk) for peace of mind.

Just make sure you get sedation for your test. You don't want to do it totally awake.

Jake's mom

I don't ever want one :( Not ever, ever, ever!!! I almost hate to get older because then I might actually need to get it done. It is good, however, that they sedate you for it, as I can't imagine anyone would ever get it done while awake. :eek:

:o Shame on me. You'd think with all my surgeries, I'd be diligent. I'm not afraid at all. I just haven't made the time with everything else going on. Thanks for the thread and reminder. I have a doc appt coming up, so I'll ask for a script. "An ounce of prevention...."

I can't believe that I am reading this thread. Just today I attended my Rotary meeting and the speaker was one of our own members. He had a colonoscopy PARTY for his birthday. Yes, you read that right - it was his birthday present to himself.

He explained that he knew he should have a colonoscopy because of family history. So for a very important birthday, what he did was ask his very best friends to have one too - as their gift to him.

He is a very funny guy, and he went into great detail about the prep - and that he thought he had time to do some errands. WRONG!

He said he was on the bathroom floor and his buddies were text messaging him from THEIR bathrooms. They all gave him a really bad time.

But right afterwards, he had a huge party for the eight guys.

He wants to start a trend - because guys are famous for not having these tests - and have to be dragged to the Dr's. office.

I missed it, but apparently the whole thing was on our local news.

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Originally Posted by Jakesmom

The virtual colonoscopy has not been confirmed to be as effective in assessing risk, and if anything is found, you still have to have a regular colonoscopy for biopsy or polyp removal.

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Then. God forbid, you need to "drink the stuff" again to have those polyps removed. No thank you. I'd choose to only have to do that once. :)

Gini, good for your friend! Yes men are the worst culprits when it comes to taking care of their health. Your friend is an inspiration and, yes, I can relate to him sitting on the floor in the bathroom. As I said before, you don't want to go too far after drinking that stuff. :o

I, too, lost a friend to colon cancer. It then spread to her kidneys. She died two months before her daughter was to give birth to her little granddaughter. She was 54.

For anyone who is feeling scared or does not want to have one, just remember you are one of the lucky few that are able to have this procedure done, it is NOT available in my country as a standard test, you cannot just go to a specialist either and ask for one, perhaps if you have a family history,maybe so,and of course if you are having problems in that area, i cannot wait until this country of mine starts offering these type of tests as regular yearly things, not that i would look forward to the procedure at all, but i sure would like the option to say yes or no.

These are available in the UK,Australia and obviously the USA,so i am not happy that NZ is not offering this.

One of my sisters had her colonoscopy this week also. Hers was fine, no polyps. And.... apparently they had an equipment malfunction and had to change everything out while she was in there! She remembers none of it! ;)

I know that many of you are afraid to have the procedure done. But seriously, it is not that bad. The prep is not pleasant, but you just need to plan to stay near (or in!) :eek: the bathroom for the day. And there is NOTHING to the procedure. You won't even remember it. The fear is in the prep and knowing that a probe is going to be inserted.

My mother is a colon cancer SURVIVOR! She was diagnosed in 1999, had to have a colostomy that same year. She was so scared going into surgery to remove the tumor in her colon...that they found with the colonoscopy. She didn't want that "bag". But the tumor was too close to her anus to resect, and she had no choice. Had the doctor not done the colostomy, she would have been dead in 6 months. Today, my mother lives in Florida, goes boating as often as possible, swims, lays around the pool, goes dancing with Dad, and is very active in her American Legion. She will turn 78 this August! Her bag is now called "junior" and it is a family joke! She adapted. I am so proud of her.

Wouldn't you rather go through a little uncomfortableness than to die... or live with a colostomy for the rest of your life?

I am sorry to be so blunt, but that is what my family has learned! I have 4 older sisters, and we ALL have our colonoscopies as we are supposed to. Please, please, do the same for yourself and your family.

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Originally Posted by joycenalex

i woke up talking to the doc after i said something that made him laugh. eileen later told me that i asked him if he found many heads up peoples' behinds....he had a big laugh....

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OMG! That is hysterical!!! :D

I called my doctor's office today and they're going to set it up for me. I KNOW it's gotta be done, but I'm looking forward to it about as much as chewing glass!! :p

donna, the prep isn't chewing glass ya know.... ;) :rolleyes: :) . and thanks for doing it, we love you and want you here with us for a looooooong time

This has been pretty funny AND healthy to read. Mine is due - hubby has his next week. At my next followup. I know my doctor will *remind* me and request the test.

At my first (and only) colonoscopy, I was sedated and pretty out of it. But, when they went to stick the scope in, I woke right up yelling "S***!!", which I thought was quite appropriate :o

I will tell hubby about the "find many heads up there?" comment that joycenalex posted - and maybe he will remember to use it :D :D