Colonoscopy party comming right up, sir!

You need to ask your doc about any meds you plan to take before your procedure. If they let you take the clonazepam, make sure you remind everyone that comes near you that you took them. Your doc is the only one that can tell you what is safe for you to take since your doc is the only one that knows what they will be giving you during the procedure.

Colon cancer can have no symptoms at all in the early stages so having or not having symptoms won't tell you anything. Bright red blood can be caused by a lot of things and most of them are not cancer.

Frenchster - or should I say jokester? LOL

Well this is a new twist on preparing for a person's first colonoscopy. Humor. Keep it handy, the prep isn't fun. The actual test is nothing to be nervous about. I was though, for my first procedure. I would not listen to anyone (doctor, prep nurse, etc.). I was shaking like crazy going into it. But honestly, it really was nothing to stress out about. You are sedated and do not feel a thing.

Over here in the US, doctors recommend a prep type and schedule they prefer. Some have you start the laxatives at 1 pm and some at 5. Sometimes a patient can work a full day, the day before a procedure but they must remain on a liquid diet the day before (which may be difficult while trying to work, I get an instant headache if I do not eat each morning). You might want to try a soft diet the day before your prep so the prep doesn't have to work as hard to clean out the colon. Keep track of how many fluids you consume the prep day, once I begin the laxatives I am nauseous and do not want to keep drinking. So I try to consume the bulk of my liquid intake before the first laxative dose starts.

The day of the procedure you cannot have anything by mouth (NPO), you can brush your teeth but with minimal water. No gum, no mints. You report for the test, change into a hospital gown, are given an IV. They will ask you your medical history and a lot of questions. Write down any meds you've taken recently, this is important info. Also any symptoms the GI doctor would need to know. You are wheeled to the procedure room and given the sedative in your IV. Sometimes I ask for Phenerghan (sp?) in my IV because I am usually very, very nauseous and headachy going into a procedure. This med settles your stomach and induces a drowsy effect (another benefit!). Once you are given the sedative, they begin the procedure. The next thing you know you're waking up in the recovery room, sometimes wondering when they'll start the test. It seems as if mere minutes have passed by. My advice is to easy on liquids, they will offer you juice, water, soda drinks. I downed an entire class of Coca-cola once but it all came back up 10 minutes later, after of course I had dressed to go home. What a mess. Now I sip water (about 1/4 cup at the most). A nurse told me once to wait until the IV bag is almost empty, this helps in rehydrating your body too. I have pretended to be sleeping while this bag drips and empties. LOL Once I know I'm not going to be physically sick, the bag is empty, then I dress and my husband drives us home. I also pack a chilled water bottle and a small zip lock bag of Club Crackers to sip and munch on the way home. Both - small amounts of water and small amounts of saltines really help with my nausea problem. Bring sunglasses too. I go straight to bed when I get home but keep a tall glass of water with ice or Pepsi with ice and a small bowl of more crackers by my bedside. I tend to wake up every 30 min. or so. Each time I sip and eat some more. After a few hours I'm ready for a light meal - I prefer 1/2 turkey sub or sandwich and a small bowl of soup. Then resume napping. By dinner, I am ready for a full sized meal and am more alert.

You will also pass a lot of gas after the procedure, all normal. It feels like regular gas but it's not. No odor. Quite embarrassing. Some people like to go out to eat after a procedure. I have never felt that good or comfortable with passing this pent up air that they pump into the GI tract to see better, in public. I'd be mortified if we were sitting near other people and I was letting this gas just rip. LOL

So this is how I prepare, get thru prep, recovery and the resume eating after a procedure. I've had about 10 of them.

I wish you my best.

Mary

Hi Marsky,

Nice to meet you!! yes, haha, well, jokester, yes, in a way, and, I use my humour sometimes to, lets say, try to find courage, but, believe me,
i am not always funny and my humour in bad times doesn't always work, Oh non!! . specially about this Colonoscopy thing AND, even worse, WHAT
the Doctor can find!! in fact, I am terrified just thinking at WHAT he can find,,,

But, euh, i try to encourage myself thinking that, with my symptoms, that its only bad cases of Piles and maybe also Fissures that I had a
few times in the past! ouch! and also, like Dagger said: Bright red blood can be caused by a lot of things and most of them are not cancer.

So, I am thankful of your encouragements.

So, as i see, Marsky, you had your share plenty in this subject eh? I find you very courageous! and, by your clear explanation, I see that the PREP
is worse than the procedure, eh?! I thank you very much for your explanations, advices and encouragements!


ibs-help-online, Thanks a lot for your link on the colonoscopy, i will go peek!

Also, i wonder if some other members of this forum had the same symptoms as me and if they had it official that it was only piles? of course, I also
understand that EVEN if my problem is only Piles, that the Doc can find polyps and take them out on time... sheesh.. i hope so!

Thanks to all of you here, I appreciate very much!


Frenchie