Colonscopy prep - Advice needed!

So as some of you know, I was just diagnosed with Crohn's about a month ago, but it was done through a barium enema. My colonscopy is scheduled for Tuesday, so tomorrow I have to do the dreaded prep. Last time I did the prep, I took Pico-Salax, which I've heard is the easiest to take (I'm not sure if they mean to drink, or easiest on your system). However, I threw it up immediately after taking it so took about another 1/3 of a glass of it to try to counterbalance me not keeping it down. After about 30 minutes, I had pain so bad I was in tears and thought I was dying, dizzy, chills, fever, vomiting, and so on. The effects lasted for almost 6 hours for me on just the first glass, so I was unable to do the second. Luckily, it cleaned me out well enough to do the test, but I'm afraid of repeating that experience.

After I got the results of my barium enema, I was finally referred to a G.I. She started me on Pentasa which has sort of worked... it has improved my nausea a lot, and my pain occurs less often, but tends to be more intense when I do get it. No D either! Anyway, she scheduled me for a colonoscopy just be sure and take biopsies. I told her about my prep experience (neither her or the radiologist really reacted to it when I told them). She told me that she was originally going to suggest that I do the Pico-Salax, but she told me that I could try Golytely instead, but because of my small size, start it at 10 in the morning instead of at 4 PM. She also told me to take some Gravol before, to help with my nausea. She said that if I couldn't finish more than half of the prep, to take one envelope of the Pico-Salax instead of two.

So basically, I have heard a lot of really bad things about Golytely. Due to my size (I've gained a bit of weight back since I can eat again, but I'm still hovering somewhere between 90 and 95 lbs) I am worried about the large volume, and of course, I am not very thrilled about the prospects of drinking something that apparently tastes as bad as Golytely does. What I am wondering though, is if Golytely is even easier on the system? I am worried that if I reacted so badly to Pico-Salax, I may have an even worse reaction to the Golytely.

I am considering just doing the Pico-Salax prep, knowing what to expect this time, and hopefully not having to take an extra amount from vomiting. Part of me wonders if the extra 1/3 of a cup that I took was what made me react so badly in the first place.

I am just wondering what everyone here would do. Would you take the good-tasting prep that you reacted to badly once already and just suck it up, knowing what to expect at worst this time, or would you take Golytely and suffer through the bad taste and large volume, still having the possibility of having just as bad (or worse) of a reaction.

Thanks!

Yeah, my hope is that the gravol will at least help me keep it down so I'll have one less symptom to deal with.. I've been vomiting less in general anyway, so I'm not really too worried about that. My G.I. is actually on vacation until Tuesday, which is why I had to wait to get the test done, so that option is a no-go too. I wish I had asked though, I'd rather take pills than the liquid any day.
I will definitely pick up some popsicles. I also heard that you can mix the Golytely with Gatorade or Crystal Light somewhere, not sure how much it helps though...

Do you know if Golytely is any easier to tolerate? I'm not sure if it would logically have less side effects or not, considering it's such a huge volume, it may be easier on the system, but it isn't from what I've heard. I think my biggest concern is that I'd react even worse to the Golytely than to the Pico Salax, especially considering that the extra 1/3 of a glass I took last time could have been the reason why I reacted so badly..no one ever told me why it happened.

I was also sort of wondering if it could have had something to do with my size - maybe I should only take 1/2 a glass of Pico Salax at a time due to my weight? I'm pretty run down at the moment. It says for children 12 and under, to only drink 1/2 a glass at once of it, and I'm just about the size of a 12 year old, hah. I don't know!! I'm also wondering if I could do half a glass at a time, but 2 hours apart instead of 4. I don't know if it would still work if I did that, but if it did, it MUST be easier on my intestines.

Hi I used the pico to and it wasn'y so bad because I knew it was just one glass then I drank a glass of water every hour..Maybe as you say you might not mind it so much now ...I just drink it and get it over with .. Zanne has a good idea there..good luck and let us know how you do.. lol gail

Hi I mixed the pico with one glass of water then I drank it and some clear water then after that a glass every hour.. It might be better then trying to drink alot of water at one time.. lol gail

Good luck Val...
You have a good plan...
You should be fine...

The Golytely tasted way too disgusting for me to drink. I knew there was no way I'd be able to finish it after about 3 glasses so I took the Pico-Salax instead a few minutes ago.. Hoping it'll go better than last time. I only took about 3/4 of it this time as an experiment, if it works well like that I'll do the same for my second satchet of it. I'm hoping taking slightly less of it will help to avoid what happened last time. I know they say 1/2 a satchet for a 12 year old, so I figured 3/4 would be good for someone my size. The Gravol is working wonders though, I wanted to throw up after taking the Golytely and it didn't seem to want to let me, hah.

It's really going smoothly this time. I managed to take a nap and when I woke up, things finally started moving, but I've only had 2 liquid BMs and 2 solid ones all day. (It's been 6 hours since I took the Pico Salax). No pain whatsoever though, other than being a bit sore, so I'm really glad that I didn't force down more of the Golytely stuff, haha. I'm not being cleaned out anywhere near as fast as last time though, last time after 6 hours everything was clear, but it also started working much quicker. I'm just hoping it cleans me out well enough!

Thanks for the support everyone :) The cleanout didn't go as well as I expected, I was still not totally cleaned by 1 in the morning and I had to get up at 5 to drive to the hospital, so I just hoped for the best, haha. Not sure why it didn't affect me as much as last time, but it was good enough because I was able to complete the colonoscopy successfully. I was so nervous about getting the IV, I had never had one before. It was weird though, because the Versed and Fentanyl did absolutely nothing for me, and apparently they gave me a really strong dose. I was 100% alert and normal throughout the procedure and after it was over. Apparently I'm getting a little bit better, but my ileum still looked pretty bad to me. I'm going back in 2 weeks once the biopsy/blood test results are back (I had blood tests today for my Iron/CBC/B12/Cholesterol/Triglycerides/Liver function and about a million others). She wants to start me on blood transfusions most likely as well. I told her about all my nasty side effects I've been getting from the Pentasa too, and she seemed pretty concerned. Luckily she wants me on Entocort instead anyway, so hopefully I'll get less side effects on it than on the Pentasa. One thing that concerns me a bit is that I have tachycardia pretty much all the time - my resting heart rate tends to be in the 130+ range. Hopefully that'll change! lol. All in all though, not as bad as I expected at all, the procedure went pretty smoothly, the only pain I felt was from the air really. I definitely won't be nervous next time!