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The dreaded Colonoscopy

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Crohn's Disease
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Posted 6/8/2008 1:00 AM (GMT 0)
So I've had increased pain and have been having D about once per week and then 5 -10 formed bms a day for the rest of the week which is not the norm for me. I don't usually have any bm issues I just vomit when in a flare. My disease is scattered throughout my small intestines and has only every been seen via a capsule endoscopy. This started about a 6 weeks ago (a week after my remicade) and came on so suddenly I thought that it was a bug or something I ate. I went to the GI 2 weeks ago she did new bloods and my inflammatory markers are on the rise and with the symptons she thought stricture and sent me for a CT Enterography. After puking my guts out for a few hours from the contrast the test showed nothing. I've been having black bms since the enterography so I went back to the GI yesterday and its not blood but I have a tremendous amount of abdominal tenderness. She wants to do a new capsule test (last one was 2.5 years ago with a different doc) but insurance won't approve it without doing an endoscopy (yesterday showed nothing) and a colonoscopy. So I go for the scope next Monday. Because I have such an awful time with the prep (I vomit way more than I poop) she wants me to start on Saturday with clear liquids and a fleet enema followed by more clears and 2 ducolax at noon on Sunday and then Miralax followed by another enema. I think that I'm gonna cry. Why is the insurance company going to put me through this and waste all this money forcing me to have useless tests to finally get approval for the test I need?
Posted 6/8/2008 2:54 AM (GMT 0)
I don't know what makes insurance companies tick....they don't get it at all. Bet none of them have CD.
I do exactly as you do with the colonoscopy prep...I throw it up ...everytime. I have to call my GI on Monday to schedule an endoscopy and colonoscopy....not looking forward to either.
Wanting to wish you good luck .... I am keeping you in my prayers! You have been having such a difficult time and I guess the worst is still to come.... but this too shall pass. ! You will make it through by hook or by crook.... hopefully things will go more smoothly for you this time around. Have you ever tried taking the prep with 7 up or gingerale.... or maybe taking gravol a while before starting the prep. ? Just trying to figure something out for you. Let me know what works...I'm next.
Bon Courage!(that's french for be of good courage?).... 'Many prayers!
Mary.
Ps. Let us know how you are doing. I for one will be thinking and worrying about you.
Posted 6/8/2008 3:57 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Jody,
So sorry you have to go through this. I vomit the prep up too and feel nauseous just talking about it. I had to have the prep three times last year and am hoping not to have any this year.
I was in the gastro's waiting room on Friday and overheard the receptionist explaining the prep to a patient, I happened to look up and see the prep packets and my mouth dried up and I felt like gagging - such is the effect it has on me.
Good luck for Monday - my thoughts are with you - keep us posted.
Joanne
Posted 6/8/2008 4:25 AM (GMT 0)
Why are you folks vomiting from the prep? Are you taking Fleet's Phosfosoda (or equivalent)?

Jodi, have you ever used Miralax as prep before? It is completely different than Fleet"s. I just mix it with Gatorade and you can't even taste it. It causes less cramping and you don't end up sitting on the toilet all night (at least I didn't) and I was done in about 3 trips to the bathroom. I've had 3 colonoscopies and I will never use anything but Miralax again, even if the doctor tells me to use Fleet's.

Clean is clean, it doesn't matter how you get there.
Posted 6/8/2008 5:12 AM (GMT 0)
My GI would only allow me to use that golytely guck. Which would also make me throw up. I hate that prep! He wants me to have another one in a few weeks, but I'm planning on cancelling it. It wouldn't change how he's treating me, and he just wants to "see what's going on". Well after a month on prednisone I'm sure he won't see much! I refuse such invasive testing unless it's really needed for my treatment. Not just for his "look sees". The prep is just too nasty to go through otherwise! Good luck to you, I feel your pain!
Posted 6/8/2008 6:06 AM (GMT 0)
I used Pico-Salax last time and it was fine, didn't taste bad at all.
Posted 6/8/2008 8:17 AM (GMT 0)
Fleet Prep was awful. 6 hours agony before anything happened at all. 12 hours D. Shakes, fever, cramp in legs and feet, and I had taken in pints of fluid. I couldnt take the second bottle, so they did an enema instead. It didnt clear as much but was much less traumatic.
Posted 6/8/2008 12:37 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks for all of your kind wishes. I don't know why but any test where I have to drink some sort of prep or contrast starts me puking. The last colonoscopy that I had was done by another GI using Go Lytely and phospo soda and I was not clean at all. Knowing my history my current doc doesn't want to take any chances. My doc really needs a good look at my entire small intestine to see whats going on. She thinks maybe the Cade isn't working anymore, but I don't think thats it. I've been doing great on remicade and 6mp for 2.5 years all of a sudden less than a week after my last infusion I ate a fruit salad and had a cappucino (both normal for me) next thing I know within about half an hour I'm puking, have D and bad pain. The puking and D lasts all night, pain and D on and off through now. I'm also always bloated and gasey no matter what I eat. I tried a low residue diet for a couple of weeks and it made no change. I just don't feel that the Remicade could suddenly stop working like that. I really feel that I picked up a bug that is inflicting craziness on my digestive system.
Posted 6/8/2008 12:38 PM (GMT 0)
That golytely guck is the only stuff I ever used to prep that made me throw up too. That was the very first scope I ever had done
8 years ago and I swore I would never use that stuff again. And I havent!!! LOL
I usually prep using the Fleet's Phosfosoda and that has worked good for me. However this scope I'm having July 3rd my GI
has me using the Miralax. I havent gone this route before so hopefully it will be ok.

Dawn
Posted 6/8/2008 12:49 PM (GMT 0)

Sergeant Bob said...
Why are you folks vomiting from the prep? Are you taking Fleet's Phosfosoda (or equivalent)?

Jodi, have you ever used Miralax as prep before? It is completely different than Fleet"s. I just mix it with Gatorade and you can't even taste it. It causes less cramping and you don't end up sitting on the toilet all night (at least I didn't) and I was done in about 3 trips to the bathroom. I've had 3 colonoscopies and I will never use anything but Miralax again, even if the doctor tells me to use Fleet's.

Clean is clean, it doesn't matter how you get there.

Sergeant Bob, could you tell us exactly how you were told to do your Miralax prep. What I have found thru the years since my first and only encounter w/a Lytely prep is that there are various prep instructions even for the same prep. Many of them just plain overkill.
Posted 6/8/2008 1:22 PM (GMT 0)
I'm with Sargeant Bob- Miralax is not that bad, mixed with Gatorade. Gi #2 introduced me to it and when my husband had to have a colonoscopy he asked his gi if he could use that because Fleets Phospho Soda was horrible for him. The only problem I had was drinking all that cold fluid
Posted 6/8/2008 1:33 PM (GMT 0)
My instructions say to mix it with 64 oz. of the clear liquid of my choice in the morning and then to pop in the fridge for several hours.
Posted 6/8/2008 1:38 PM (GMT 0)
I just had a colonoscopy in April.  I 'cheat' and take 1 bottle of citrate and then 2 dulcolax........it works for me! I, too, think they overkill...fasting a day ahead of the prep cleans us crohnies out anyways.

Posted 6/8/2008 8:27 PM (GMT 0)
Just reading this post brought back my feelings of having to throw up from taking a prep-lol! I can't handle most of them either, and I dread the event with a passion now. Just the smell sets me off with the citrate. I have an appointment to see my GI soon, and I'm expecting he'll want a scope...and I'm dreading the prep. The scope itself is a piece of cake. The prep has me so sick...vomiting, headache from hell, cramping...that the scope is a relief...knowing that I can go home and rest and recover. It's interesting that some people have no problems with some of the products that make me deathly ill. I only wish I was the same way.

I sure sympathize with you Petittarte! I hope it won't be as bad this time for you!
Good luck,

Bev
Posted 6/8/2008 8:53 PM (GMT 0)
Before the pill preps were on the market I just did my own with clear liquids and dulcolax, as posted, clear is clear and it doesn't matter how you get there. Now I refuse to have any test unless the doctor will order the pill preps. Either osmo prep or visicol. you still need to drink a lot of liquid but it is a liquid of your choice and the pills work just fine. I had to have about a dozen colonoscopies last year and there is no way I would have survived all those preps.
Posted 6/8/2008 8:59 PM (GMT 0)
I do the fleet prep as a shot and while it is nasty tasting stuff, one swallow you are done. Please make sure you drink about a gallon of stuff afterwards, but this is what works for me.
Posted 6/8/2008 9:01 PM (GMT 0)
I'm with the Miralax crew. I could never stomach the other stuff. then two colonoscopies ago a doc suggested Miralax. It was terrific and thank goodness the cramping was minimal. I actually adopt the liquid diet for longer than the say i have to. I think the prep is easier on my body if i've been on clears for 48 hours. It's worth the trouble for me!
Posted 6/8/2008 9:32 PM (GMT 0)
The citrate comes in cherry flavor now so it doesn't taste that bad......guzzel it and it helps.

Posted 6/8/2008 9:40 PM (GMT 0)
Hi,

I vote for the Fleet Enema.  They all taste terrible so I figure the quicker its down the hatch the better.  Does your insurance company want your GI to do biopsies?  As for your other symptoms, I know I was told by my GI that Remicade can  cause narrowing higher up in the bowel.  I have never had a capsule endoscopy, how did that work?  For pictures etc.?  I have always had to have a colonoscopy.  I'm just glad they now use a flex scope and not the old gravy baister (thats what I call it) lol.  I to would be thrilled to take a pill.  Take care and let us know how you make out with your test and prep. 

Julia

 

Posted 6/9/2008 1:21 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Jodi I don't have too much of a problem with the prep. I just get it down maybe the thought of the after effects bother you . I know having the BM's all evening is a little tiresome for me. Seems the insurance your on must like paying out if it decides what you must have done. Doesn't make much sense to me it should be the GI's call not the insurance's field so to speak. Do hope you get threw it OK .lol gail
Posted 6/9/2008 10:50 PM (GMT 0)

Julia - I assume my GI will do biopsies but don't expect them to show anything.  My first & only other capsule was 2.5 years ago.  That was how I was diagnosed.  I know that there is a chance that the capsule with get stuck but as my GI pointed out if that happens at least me know where the problem is.

Gail- I've only had one scope before and started throwing up about 15 minutes after starting the prep.  I didn't have too many bms cause I was to busy throwing up.  I've always had a real sensetive tummy and tend to throw up very easily.

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