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Colonoscopy Prep

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Irritable Bowel Syndrome
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Posted 10/18/2006 3:12 PM (GMT 0)
Hi All,

I am having my first colonoscopy next week and was looking for advice on the prep.  I have the choice of taking the pills or the Miralax power mixture.  Does anyone have a preference? 

Thanks.

 

Posted 10/18/2006 3:21 PM (GMT 0)
I have crohn's disease and IBS and I have had three colonoscopies. I threw up the small bottle of stuff (I forgot the name of it, mental block I guess) the first two times and took OsmoPrep tablets the third time. I threw them up too but I will probably try the pills again the next time. I have not tried the Miralax. A soft food diet the day before the prep day can be helpful too.
Posted 10/18/2006 5:07 PM (GMT 0)
Pills. I've heard that the Fleets phosphosoda stuff isn't too bad, but I had the golyghtly stuff with my colonoscopy and there aren't even words to describe how completely and totally God-awful that stuff was. So I no longer trust powders or drinks. I had a nurse try and turn me off taking the pills because you have to drink a glass of water every 15-30 minutes, but who cares??? I drink 124+ ounces a day; you think drinking a glass of plain water is going to be some sort of pain? Better the plain water than something with a horrid taste and thick, salty texture like swamp swill! (and you can always make your "water" lemonade or tea if you don't like plain water).
Posted 10/18/2006 6:50 PM (GMT 0)
bluemeanies is probably referring to phospho-soda, it's a small 45ml bottle that tastes horrid but I've managed to find a way to not throw it up anymore, I only mix 1/3 of the bottle at a time into a full glass of clear cold pop and drink it as fast as I can, doing this 3 times in total helps get the whole bottle down without throwing it up...( I have CD and IBS as well).

I've never used the things you've described though, only the fleet phospho-soda...regardless, eat light, mostly liquid diet a couple of days BEFORE doing the prep, this will cut way down on bad pain and cramping from the stuff you do take rushing everything out of you so quickly, make sure not to drink or eat anything red, purple or brown as this sometimes appears like there's blood through the colonoscopy when infact it's not but instead from the coloring in the food/beverages...orange, green, clear is okay.


good luck! :)
Posted 10/18/2006 6:52 PM (GMT 0)
I don't have Ibs and I'm from the Uc board but I too recommend the pills 100%. You have to take like 20 zillion of them but it's better then that horrible stuff they make you drink. And yes, the Fleets phosphosoda is just as horrible! Even the lemon/ginger flavor. Think Vernors but pure syrup ugh, nasty nasty nasty stuff. Good luck with the scope!
Posted 10/19/2006 12:35 AM (GMT 0)
They never gave me a choice except between the one you drink gallons of and the phospho soda. They said the pills didn't always disolve. I agree about the Phospho it tastes like some dropped a salt shaker in a glass of oil. come to think of it that is probably what they did. I will try it like someone suggested a little at a time next time. I had to get up in AM and take last dose since my procedure was in afternoon and it was not nice to face in AM.
Posted 10/19/2006 5:31 PM (GMT 0)
Yeah, that nurse trying to sell me on a second colonoscopy told me that the pills don't clean you out enough. I looked her dead in the eye and said, "I have diarrhea every day; how much help getting cleaned out do I need?" She didn't have an answer to that. I ended up canceling that procedure because I didn't have faith in the GI anyways; she didn't explain to me why it was necessary given that I had no symptoms of UC or Crohn's. She didn't even want to do a blood test or stool sample first; just jumped straight to an invaisve (and profitable) procedure. (I ended up fixing myself with calcium!)
Posted 10/19/2006 7:29 PM (GMT 0)
I heard the same thing about the pills... they don't work as well. I took the Phosphosoda. It wasn't so bad. Definitely WAY better than that Golytely gallon stuff. It was easier to drink the phos with Sierra Mist. Each time I drank a little bottle I mixed it with a new drink. Then I just chugged it.
Good luck, Kelly!! Let us know how the scope goes.
Posted 10/23/2006 3:29 AM (GMT 0)
I had a my first colonoscopy last week and was scared to death of the prep. I tend to get extreme gas pains from drinking anything other than water and fennel tea. My doctor had me take the miralax and he said to put it into a gallon of yellow gatorade. I was sure it would kill me but after drinking half a gallon of it I was fine. It didn't taste like anything but gatorade. I then came to find out that I only needed to put the powder into half a gallon. The next morning I used 1 bottle of honey ginger phosphosoda in half a glass of water. It was not the best tasting stuff but I'm sure it could have been much worse. I couldn't believe how much better I felt with my system cleaned out. My ibs seemed to be gone at least for the moment. Of course the air they put into your system during the colonoscopy just about killed me and stayed in my system for almost a week. Good luck.
Posted 10/25/2006 1:54 AM (GMT 0)
I had Mirilax the last time I had a colonoscopy.  It was the best thing I have had yet.  No taste to the powder at all.  You mix it with your favorite flavor of Crystal Light.  The GoLytely and Phosphate Soda were awful.  Good luck!

Posted 10/25/2006 3:57 PM (GMT 0)
A few people up in Canada said that they have a drink up there, Pico Salax, that actually tasted good; they said it tasted just like Tang. You could probably get it through an online pharmacy if your doctor won't give you something decent to drink.
Posted 10/26/2006 6:04 AM (GMT 0)
Was watching The View today and B. Walters was talking about her colonscopy and said she had the pills this time and it was so much easier even though she had to take a bunch. Joy Behar said her Dr. (a renowned gastro DR. she said) would not let her do the pills as they did not work as well. B. Walters said her Drs said she was cleaner than she had ever been. It was more than we needed to hear but thought it was interesting that these people that can afford the very best and probably most prestigious of Doctors still find there is a difference of opinion.
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