flexible sigmoidoscopy

I've had a two.  One was without notice (they decided while I was there to do one).  Obviously there was no prep or warning for this.  I was not numbed in any way.  It was not pleasant but it was fast and I was not sore afterwards.  The second was much better - I was sedated through the whole thing so didn't have to experience or remember anything.  Unfortunately, I had to do a colon cleansing prep for this one.  That's never fun, but again there was no pain afterwards.  It's not so bad - your doctor should let you know if you need to do anything ahead of time.  Some places may give the option of whether you want sedation or not.  I think it varies depending on where you are.

Just curious, but why would they only do a sigmoidoscopy instead of doing a prep and doing a full colonoscopy? Do you only have activity in the rectum and/or sigmoid area?

I've only had colonoscopies, so I don't know what one is like.

Maybe you can ask your doctor to give you something to help you relax? Sometimes if you ask, you can get something. I would think being relaxed during the procedure would make it easier to deal with.

Have you had a colonoscopy recently? If it were me, I'd rather they just put me to sleep and look at the entire colon and my surgical area (mine is at the terminal ileum and cecum) to make sure there's nothing going on there as well.

It might be helpful for you to have them remind you where exactly your disease activity has been. Some of the posts here, people describe their symptoms based on where their disease activity is, and symptoms and possible solutions, from what I've seen, differ based on where your crohn's has been active. Also, just in case of emergency it would be good for you to know where exactly you have had surgery.

If it is more in your colon, especially if it is in the sigmoid or rectal areas, a sigmoioscopy would make perfect sense, just to peek in there and make sure nothing is going on there.

Also, if you've had other tests that showed nothing explaining your symptoms, maybe that's the reason for the choice of test. I like to understand why my doctor makes the choices she does before testing...that's why I asked.

How soon is the test scheduled? I'd like to know how the test is, just in case I should ever have to have one in the future.

Also all my medical history form says is ileocaecal bowel resection.