Colonscopy Prep Suggestions?????

I feel your pain sister...   That stuff is TERRIBLE

I hear there is a pill you can swallow now instead of drinking that devil water

phospho-soda is a breeze...you pour only 1/3 at a time into a full glass of CLEAR cold pop and drink it as fast as you can, since you are suppose to guzzle it quickly anyway, doing this 3X in a row gets a whole 45ml bottle down without tasting/smelling or noticing the oily consistancy, then follow with plenty of water, a few hours later 4 dulcolax tabs with lots of water, this is how I've always been instructed to prep and it works like a charm...better then drinking gallons of the other stuff.

:)

pb4 said...
phospho-soda is a breeze...you pour only 1/3 at a time into a full glass of CLEAR cold pop and drink it as fast as you can, since you are suppose to guzzle it quickly anyway, doing this 3X in a row gets a whole 45ml bottle down without tasting/smelling or noticing the oily consistancy, then follow with plenty of water, a few hours later 4 dulcolax tabs with lots of water, this is how I've always been instructed to prep and it works like a charm...better then drinking gallons of the other stuff.

:)

You have no idea how thankful i am for you response. I tried drinking that Fleet crap last time and it was SOOOO bad and salty! I didn't mix it with anything though. Did you fast for two days? Or just the day before?

The pills are called Visicol.  Ask your doctor for a prescription.  They have no taste.  You have to take 40 of them, five at a time with a clear liquid of your choice, but again no horrible taste.  I can not drink any of that stuff at all.  I would rather not eat for an entire week than drink any of that stuff again.  Good luck. 

I have used Miralax with gatorade. Its the same stuff as Golytely but much more tolerable (in my opinion), maybe its the gatorade. But the pills do sound better. I know someone who used them and had no complaints. However, not all gi offices are using this prep for some reason.

I had all kinds of tips from my first gi doc office on how to get the Fleets phospho down. They worked for me but my poor husband could not get that stuff down and ended up losing most of it in the wrong direction. He had no problems with miralax and gatorade.

I used the pico Salex and thats all i will use now, 2 glasses of this stuff (tastes kind of like warm tang) and thats it. I found that the urge to go wasnt as urgent and hardly any cramping from it

I have only used the pills for the last few years. Both Visicol and OsmoPrep(?). They have cut down on the number of pills you need to take to 28 from 40. I had about 8 colonoscopies last year alone so I know about the pills, they really are soooo much better than the vile liquid. For me, it takes a bit longer to work, but still I would much rather take a pill. I usually have to demand the pills, my doctor prefers the liquid preps, but I just can't get the liquids down. You may have to be forcefull to get what you want. Good luck.

My wonderful, too-good-to-be-true new GI just prescribed the Osmo-prep pills.  The fun commences tomorrow morning.  Ahh...can't wait.  Going on a shopping spree tonight for some mags, extra-soft TP, baby wipes, and Epsom salts.  The only way to go.

I'm also a big fan of popsicles (don't eat red, purple or orange - the dye's bad for the colonoscopy). It feels great to have something to "chew" a little bit after all those darn liquids.

I guess I am a contrarian on this thread, but I am a convert to using the 4 liters or whatever of the "go-litely" or "nu-litely" PEG drink because I find it MUCH gentler (less cramping, less vioence) on the cleanout than the phospha-sodas. The sodas are small but violent. Also, if you google the issue, you'll see that there is a real concern that those with UC can be vulnerable to emedical emergencies from the dehydration and possible kidney failure in rare cases, caused by the phospha-sodas whereas this is not a danger from guzzling the PEG drinks. Last but not least, see if your GI can use a pediatric scope for the actual cscope. I happen to be on the small side so I reckon my colon is smaller and narrower too, but regardless, a pediatric scope is narrower and easier for the operator to maneuver and hence less violent during the actual scope- even if you are well doped up that should improve the post procedure recovery a bit.

Oh yeah I forgot to add also that I was fully cleaned out after only 60% or so of that Nu-Litely (and therefore stopped at that point, so I didn't have to drink the whole awful thing), I think partly because I shifted to a bland and then clear liquid diet about 24 h earlier than the official instructions, so there was less to clear out. Starving is the toughest part of the scope prep for me.

ill only do the visicol pill prep or the miralax/dulcolax combo. i mix the miralax in koolaide and you really cant taste it, plus i didnt get any cramping from it at all.