colonscopy advice for prep...PLEASE!!!

Hi momangel,

I don't know if this is a possiblity but when I had my colon removed this past summer (colectomy-for severe constipation:colonic inertia) my prep consisted of 4 ducolax followed by 1 bottle of miralax mixed with 64 oz of gatorade.  This prep worked pretty well but I was also using miralax 4x's a day, lactulose 4x's a day and amitiza 2 x's a day; before that any bowel prep I tried for any colonoscopy never worked; one stayed in my system for 10 days. 

Miralax has no taste so you really only have the taste of the gatorade.  It's worth asking your GI dr.

I wish you the best .

Judy

Pico Salex is supposed to be the best, but I think its only avail in Canada, not sure where you are.

its an orange flavor drink, that tastes like tang apparently
Also, you have to drink a lot less of it

I just did some reading up on the pico salex. K..is sounds like you are right about it. I just need to know where to get it. It is prescribed so I would have to get my GI to agree to it. I will definitely inquire. Thank you all for your help!

I had a colonoscopy done over the summer and used the pills. It was tough drinking enough water, but I couldn't have imagined it any other way. I want to say there were six pills and I took some around 7 at night with a large amount of water and then i took one per 15 minutes or half hour or something. I am vague on details, but i hadn't heard a warning regarding the kidney problems.

Had you talked with your doctor about the pills, or just read about the kidney problems? I am sure there are disclaimers on everything, but so far, I have not had a problem. It is possible that they don't recommended using the pills if you have to have more than one of these done in a short amount of time or something.

Best of luck. The prep is the worst part. Liquid diet and for me, no red dye in food.
Aimee

There is a company that used to be called E-Z-Em. They have another name now. Anyway, they make a product called Lo-So Prep. You drink one cup of liquid, it has an awful aftertaste but it's only one cup. You then take 4 pills 2 hours later. The next morning, you use a suppository. I've used it 6 times and it was WAY better than the gallon of stuff. You still have to drink a lot of liquid all day but it's clear liquid of your choice and you can spread it out.

You don't need a prescription to order it. It was about $5.00 plus shipping. I don't know how much shipping was because I always ordered it with their low-residue food kit that they discontinued.

To be honest, I don't know if they sell it anymore because they stopped making the Nutra-prep kit so I didn't even ask about the Lo-So prep.

Momangel, I took the pills described above before an EGD and had no problems but it may have been because this prep only requires 4 pills.

My last GI refused to do my tests if I didn't use his prep, he wouldn't even consider mine. I finally agreed to do his then I did mine anyway. His nasty nurse told me after the procedure that I should be glad I used their prep because I was so clean inside. I loved the expression on her face when I told her that I actually used my prep, not theirs. I don't recommend this but I knew my prep worked for me because I had used it 5 times before and had pictures to prove how clean I was.

Hi Carolyn,

The ducolax is in pill form.  My surgeon is the one who gave me my prep.  He is very current on things.  He gave me an epidural for pain control following my surgery which helps to not slow down the intestines after surgery.  He was also voted one of the nations top surgeons.  So it might be worth asking your GI about the ducolax/miralax prep...it was so easy to take .

I'll be thinking of you,

Judy

Momangel,

If you wind up having to drink the nasty stuff, (I have the same problem with drinking nasty stuff) drink it steadily. Do not drink a glass and wait 15 min. My GI doctor said the best way was to make sure the mixture was ice cold, and just start drinking and keep drinking until it was all gone.

Best
Marburg

Hi Momangel,

Yes. It made me a lot more sick. I had to take the prep twice last year. When I drank a glass every 10-15 minutes I wound up vomiting after taking about half (even with the antinausea med). When I drank it steadily until gone I didn't have the issue.

Marburg

Hello everyone

I just want to let you all know how my procedures went. Yesterday I had the 2 scopes done.  Had a small sessile polyp in the sigmoid colon. Benign. Everything else in the colon was fine. Thus...officially have IBS.  No congrats necessary! Had a polyp removed from stomach, benign. Esophagitis caused by GERD.  Hiatal Hernia.  Allot to process, but relieved that it is not worse.  As for the prep...it was actually the best I could have asked for. I did the 2 dulcolax pills and then the Miralax in Gatorade.  It was the right decision for me.  Truly it had no taste at all, and only had to drink half the amount that the other terrible methods require.  I made it easier by doing a low reside diet and liquids for a day or 2 before the prep. That way there was not as much stool to evacuate. There was no pain, cramping, vomiting or anything else to make it miserable. Thanks for all of the suggestions. Right now, 1 day post op, I am not feeling very well. I have terrible pain in my left UQ.  I know that there is probably some trapped gas because there are some ungodly noises coming from that area.  But I also feel very sore. I have a call into the Dr. just to ask him what I should do. I understand that sometimes the recovery can take a few days, especially if there were biopsies and polyps removed. I did have biopsies in the stomach and esophagus.  But my pain is pretty much left sided.  Anyone have any comments on their experiences?  Also, when I got home for hospita I started sneezing, followed by full blown cold symptoms.  No warning signs that it was coming. Could the procedure, because of oxygen and invasion of the body, have stirred this up? Or is this just a coincident?

Thanks for your response!

Carolyn 

Hey there,

Thanks for your input.  I did speak with my GI. He said that it probably is gas and since I had 2 scopes the aggrivation and CO2 combined with the IBS is most likely causing the pain.  He said to take some GasX, but it hasn't fully helped yet.  I do feel like I have had  some relief, but I do feel like I have been bruised also. I have read where people take a few days to recover. I guess it is different for everyone. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. I am just a little concerned. My friend had one done a couple weeks ago and she ended up in the hospital for 3 days with some kind of infection.Things happen. There are no guarantee's. There are always risks. I just pray that this is going to be okay. When I had my gallbladder out in Oct. the gas pain was horrible, but it was okay the next day.

When I drank my prep yesterday I would drink it as fast as I could and then drink a sip of warm broth behind it. I also added crystal lite instead of the mixes that came with it. I think I will never look at lemonade the same way again !!!

Can someone tell me the difference between ulcerative proctitis and proctitis? I was told that I have proctitis and I'm trying to do some research before I go for my appt with the follow up.