Travelling to hospital for colonoscopy after taking laxatives. Advice please!

Hi,

Any advice would be amazing I am really quite scared about my colonoscopy/ polypectomy next week.

Firstly I would need to take two buses by myself for about a one hour journey into central London (so very busy) to get to the hospital next week. Is this a good idea or should I get a taxi? Will I need to stop on route to go to a toilet? Taxi will probably still take a good half hour. The problem is it's only £2.60 for the bus but about £25 for a taxi and having had so much time off work for over a year now I can't really afford the taxi especially as I will need to get one home too. (It's a whole days wages but I havent even worked for a few weeks now). What do people think?

Also I they tried a flexible sig a few days before Christmas but they had to stop after just 10cm because they already found 5 sessile polyps and a large tear and said I would need to come back after Christmas under a stronger anesthetic to have a polypectomy and colonoscopy, as although I said I was fine to carry on (and didnt complain about pain at all) they said they didn't want to put me through it as there would be no point, especially a few days before Christmas. Has this happened to anyone else? Is this usual?

Also I spent a lot of time in hospital last summer (age 29 years) with severe adominal pain in the right hand side of my stomach. They were ready to take out my appendix but then decided it must be a gynae cause... after countless tests they only found cysts on my ovaries and a twisted fallopian tube and said I must have had a larger cyst which had twisted the fallopian tube around as it burst although they had nothing to back this up. So after a week in hospital I was sent home with painkillers and medicines for STI's which they later confirmed I never had anyway. They now say they think it is Chrohns Disease but are not yet sure... does this sound familiar to anyone else on here?

My Grandfather died of Bowel Cancer ten years ago and my Dad, my uncle and my aunty have all had polyps removed. (I also get diarrhoea and severe and multiple mouth ulcers regularily since I was a young child).

Given that the polyps found so far are on the opposite side to where the pain is normally the worst should I expect that they will find either damage or more advanced polyps on the right hand side?

What will be will be, I would just like to be prepared mentally so that if I see more on the screen as they do it I dont get upset because I have prepared myself and know that it is to be expected. Equally if they find nothing on the other side then what could be causing such severe pain? Has anyone got any similar symptoms that they could share? Am I worrying for no reason?

I would also point out that especially over the past few weeks the pain has increasingly got worse again to the point at which I stopped eating any food at all for several days at a time and only managing to sip a protein/vitamin can of drink and have lost about two stone in weight since last year. Also after not eating I felt SO much better! I even had two days where I had more energy than ever before and went to work buzzing despite having an empty stomach. Thankfully yesterday and today I have managed a couple of light meals

Very long post so thank-you so much if you have taken the time to read it. After spending most of the last year in pain and in bed and being single I dont see many people anymore and haven't shared this with anyone and am probably just over worrying but any advice would be amazing.

Thankyou X

Thanks CrohnieToo!

No I've never had a full colonscope before... they tried a flexible sig (which only goes in half way) just before Christmas but had to stop almost straightaway as there were too many polyps. Do you happen to know if people with Crohn's tend to get more polyps? I guess I'm worried because I've read that cancer risks are increased and its in my family aswell... It worries me also that as they have never looked at the far right side (or even mid left and centre) that it might be too diseased as thats where most of the pain has been the last year... but maybe its just an allergic reaction to something... or something :-S

Yes well the hospital made it very clear that I had to have someone to take me home and that if there wasn't someone at least on the phone to call when I was ready to go that they wouldn't go ahead with it. But they didn't have to be there to begin with... hence why I wasn't sure if that meant I would be fine to travel there alone or not. Or if I would be too weak? (That has been a major stress in itself because two people have already cancelled on me and each time I panicked I wouldn't find anyone else but I have now found a third friend tonight who has agreed to come to the hospital and help me home but will have leave in the evening as she has work in the morning- the hospital said someone must stay with me for 24hours (do you think this is over-precautionary?) and im not in until 2.30pm for a 3.30pm onwards scope depending on emergencies... I think I'm better having it though than risking it getting cancelled... I don't think I'll tell them she can't stay over night... its all very stressful as I dont have anyone else to ask really). I plan on staying in bed anyway! And I can leave bottled water/ packaged food/ vitamin milk shakes by my bed I figured in case I dont have the energy to go downstairs to the kitchen and I'll have my mobile phone to hand also.

Yes I am nil by mouth all day on Tuesday and on a highly restricted diet on Monday also and yes I have two stages of prep to do... I am going to get a taxi home (with my friend) but I guess I was just trying to save money on getting one there aswell especially as I have already been told I will almost certainly have to have a second colonoscopy/polypectomy to remove the remaining polys soon after this one as the doctor thought it would be too much to remove in one sitting. And I have a lot of debt money wise :-/

Yes I think I will be awake and most likely forget it all... to be honest I'm awake but forget everything most days anyway!!! Lol! I've been told this is down to being borderline anaemic... something I've been trying to improve on with tablets. The last one the TV screen was right in front of my face and I think they forgot to ask IF I wanted to look or not but I didn't mind because I did want to look and I also wanted to get it over and done with! Also having researched and watched youtube video's I recognised sessile polyps immediately. It was a shame they couldn't remove them then... especially as that part of my bowel was completely clear.

Thank-you so much for taking the time to reply... I think I'll ask the hospital if they can recommend a cheap taxi service and treat myself as its my first colonoscope and seems like they will be a regular part of my life from now on!! It's the not knowing that is harder than the pain right now... I just have to be patient... in both senses of the word!

Thanks again X X

Thanks RiddleMeThis!

Yeah its only one hour bus not two but having said that it has been known to take two hours in extreme circumstances! I live in south London so no tube much here! I think I'll see how I feel on the day cos I'll be leaving just after 1pm so no rush hour... maybe I'll get the first bus as it goes a few doors from my house and see how I get on- I can always jump off and hail a black cab if needs be! Ive not taken the prep before so its good to know there is a stop to it so to speak! And if I manage it I can put the money towards a holiday in the summer when I'm feeling better :-D And picture that holiday while lying in the hospital bed too!! Last time I went in there was a lady really stressing in the bed next to me on the verge of having a panic attack over what was about to happen... I spoke to her briefly on my return from my final toilet trip and said imagine you are on a beach and block everything else out... I hope she didn't mind me saying that, she did smile. I have a lot of people I've met who say positive thinking can be such a strong healing power in itself and I was quite unsure of what they meant at first- I mean how can thinking power cure a physical illness? But it gets you out of bed and it gets you exercising and eating healthy and being proactive instead of crying and raising your blood pressure stressing so I am really trying to be as positive as possible... what's the harm?

Thanks again for the reply... I was feeling incredibly lonely yesterday and I've never met someone with crohns before as far as I know...

Hope you're all having good days :-D X

Thanks CrohnieToo appreciate your advice, I really do
(Just need to stop worrying about it now)

Hope you've all had a fab weekend X

Thanks Juliet! Well Im starting it 18 hours before I need to leave the house so hopefully thats more than enough time... It's easy to over think things and get all worried isn't it!!
I'll just try to not go too crazy whilst under the influence :-p
Have a lovely week X

Thanks for all your advice everyone
Good news is they don't think I have Crohn's but I wasn't completely clear so they couldnt say for sure
Bad news is they removed 7 sessile polyps and said they think I have more and were worried that a couple of them seemed quite big and it was taking too long to remove them. (I dont remember much of it really). They said they were much more worried about bowel cancer...
Im only 30 so its unlikely they were in there for too long and they are now dealing with it so... fingers crossed.

I am just so so so thankful that people choose to become doctors, nurses, surgeons, consultants, researchers, scientists etc because I dont think I could do their jobs and I think each and every one of us on here owe some kind of debt to these people Could be worse, we could have been born 100 years earlier (or not even that!).

X x

Thanks... yeah actually the prep was fine, not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I took some laxatives years ago but was left in excrutiating pain after so I think that was another reason why I was worried but I had three lots to take for this time and they were fine, effective very quickly! But I had the day off work and the house to myself for the most part so not a problem. Just very faint but to be expected! Annoying I wasnt as clean as they had hoped though... I did all they said to do... I'll ask for an additional enema or extra laxatives next time...

The results were not that unexpected, I already knew I had too many polyps for one sitting and they had also told be that it is not IBS as there there are too many symptoms that dont fit it. So they had told me to expect a diagnosis of crohns, colitis or cancer... I've always suffered with mouth ulcers so in my head I had already illiminated colitis and had thought therefore it was highly likely to be crohns, maybe both... whatever it is im being seen by a good hospital here in UK and im lucky that we get free health care too because I've read on a lot of websites that some people cant afford to have the tests done and I would most certainly fall into that caterogy!!! So I am very lucky, if they are cancerous they can treat me and if they are not then it has been prevented so I'm lucky they found them.

The next scope will be soon, maybe two months? Depends on waiting list again I think... I need to ask them again about my notes because I'm not sure if they removed one of the big ones or if they lost it :-/ They said they lost one, not sure which one!! :-S Oh what a beautiful subject!!!

I had already planned to do a fundraiser in memory of my Grandad who passed away from bowel cancer so while I wait for my results I'm going to distract myself with that. I may not be rich but as a performer by trade I can put on a show with some of my friends!! Already had venue confirmed a few weeks ago.

On another note... I'm new to this website and I was wondering how it works? There are only two threads for cancer and they are gender specific. I see you are a moderator, does the website owner need moderators to open a new section? Obviously there are many types of cancer- do you think it is likely they might have a section for other types of cancer? I looked through FAQ and couldn't see anything...

Thanks again!

There is no difference in prep based on how the anesthesia is planned for the scope. You need a clear bowel regardless.

I cannot understand how you can take the final part of the prep on the morning of the test. In my experience, the scope is scheduled for the morning, so I've already taken the whole thing by midnight the night before. That still leaves me having my last bowel movements in the wee morning hours before I have to get to the outpatient clinic for my procedure.

Both times I've been scoped I've ended up on IV fluids before my scope begins because the prep has sent me into a dehydration tailspin. I did not drink any water because of the NPO restrictions.