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Best Colonoscopy Prep methods?

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 6/7/2008 1:24 AM (GMT 0)
So, my first time 10 years ago I drank the tub O salt water and the green bottle of stuff. What are some of you guys prep methods? I get to do this again this coming Sunday. I don't get scoped till 3pm which really sucks, and last time it was first thing in morning.
Posted 6/7/2008 3:37 AM (GMT 0)
My favourite with the least problems is the gallon prep (not anything with added flavour in it or ever with flavouring added..ugh!). I can eat the morning/noon of the prep without having to starve myself.
I'm never nauseated from it....although the last glass is always hard to get down.



My worst prep experience was the Fleet process....gross, nauseating and felt crappy the entire day of my c-scope.

I'm hands down (or thumbs up) for the gallon prep....but with NO flavouring.

quincy
Posted 6/7/2008 3:42 AM (GMT 0)
Fleet is the worst! I threw up about 3 times after only taking half the quantity of it.
I think I did the gallon prep--all I know is that I used Miralax with a lot of Gatorade.
Posted 6/7/2008 4:41 AM (GMT 0)
I HATED fleet phososoda and I will NEVER do it again. I wanted to puke so bad but if you puke it up you have to start over and I wasn't about to do that. Magnesium citrate sucked big time too and was just as gross as fleet. Miralax was by far the best prep I've done. I mixed it with propel and it was very gentle. Good luck :) the prep's the worst!
Posted 6/7/2008 7:28 AM (GMT 0)
I get to do the two bottles of citro-mag (Hate this stuff, Makes you poop water for a good ten hours) and ducolax with the usual liquid diet and fasting on the day of the colonoscopy. Mines also this thursday at 2 in the afternoon. Going to be a harsh day. And to make things even better I get my injection that morning and blood work done one wesnday hahaha...But yea thats the only prep I've ever gotten to try.
Posted 6/7/2008 1:11 PM (GMT 0)
I only has a scope done once so far... I used Colyte.
Posted 6/7/2008 1:52 PM (GMT 0)
I did the Half-Lytley prep kit last month. Had to take two Biscodyl pills and then drink a jug of salty stuff that I flavored with the cherry packet.

I have to say...I was expecting worse. I thought the jug was relatively tiny compared to the bottles of stuff I'd watched my dad drink growing up. And though the stuff was salty and a bit viscous, it was easy to get down. I chugged each 8oz glass like I was competing against frat boys in a beer guzzling competition.

I had psyched myself up for a horrible experience, but I drank the stuff without complaint, sat in the bathroom with an awesome book, and so the prep didn't really bother me.

The hardest part of all for me was not drinking coffee the morning of the scope. I am seriously addicted to caffeine, and so I had an unbearable headache and couldn't really think straight for the entire morning while waiting for the scope. My mom didn't really like me either because instead of talking like a normal person, I mostly grunted in response to her conversation.
Posted 6/7/2008 3:40 PM (GMT 0)
Mag citrate and phosphosoda are both lethal for me. I don't poop water, I poop molten lava for at least 18 hours. By the end of that time, my exit is bleeding. I have absolutely refused to take it. My doc seems to keep updating his prep, and I've had a different one each time. Last one was Miralax. The next time, is it's the Miralax prep, I think I'll lengthen the time period over which I take the Miralax, becaust the last time I was leaving trails of liquid poop. Fortunately the floor is tile, not carpet.
Posted 6/8/2008 3:20 PM (GMT 0)

KaseyF said...
I did the Half-Lytley prep kit last month. Had to take two Biscodyl pills and then drink a jug of salty stuff that I flavored with the cherry packet.

I have to say...I was expecting worse. I thought the jug was relatively tiny compared to the bottles of stuff I'd watched my dad drink growing up. And though the stuff was salty and a bit viscous, it was easy to get down. I chugged each 8oz glass like I was competing against frat boys in a beer guzzling competition.

I had psyched myself up for a horrible experience, but I drank the stuff without complaint, sat in the bathroom with an awesome book, and so the prep didn't really bother me.

The hardest part of all for me was not drinking coffee the morning of the scope. I am seriously addicted to caffeine, and so I had an unbearable headache and couldn't really think straight for the entire morning while waiting for the scope. My mom didn't really like me either because instead of talking like a normal person, I mostly grunted in response to her conversation.

Just got my prep instructions and that looks like what is behind door #1 (HalfLytely & Bisacodyl). 2 liters definately sounds better than what I went through before, lol. What's the better of the flavors?
Posted 6/8/2008 4:57 PM (GMT 0)
I took 4 Dulcolax tablets 2 p.m. Then started 1/2 gallon of Gatorade (YUCK) mixed with Miralax.  Threw up last glass and left a glass in bottle.  No problem.  Best thing to do is liquid or very light diet two or three days before.

ElaineNY

Posted 6/8/2008 5:30 PM (GMT 0)
I took fleet and like judy says it's lethal i mixed mine with lemonade and have not been able to drink it since as it just makes me feel sick good luck hope all goes well
Posted 6/8/2008 5:55 PM (GMT 0)
I actually use the fleet with some success. I take it as a shot (like I was drinking hard liquor), and I only need one dose usually (no diluting). Drink a gallon of water or Gatorade afterwards. But I have crohns so may be it is different. I am also a bloody pooer anyway so that is not a big deal for me, I use some cream if my skin gets inflamed.
Posted 6/8/2008 6:38 PM (GMT 0)
I used the fleet phosphosoda stuff the last two scopes.  It is a bit yucky but not impossble.  I had a headache the day of and after and felt a little nautious.  Many years ago I had a colonoscopy and had this stuff called go-lightly? ....I had a lot of cramping, thought I would die until I went to the bathroom.  Of the two I've had, I'd use the fleet phosphasoda probably.  I just did what the doc said.  Good luck to you.  Bellski

Posted 6/8/2008 9:29 PM (GMT 0)
Why the heck isn't there just several pills we can take and then drink like 2 gallons of water? Doesn't it seem like they could just dry out the crap in the horrible tasting liquids, put it in a pill and then thin it out in our tummies?
James
Posted 6/8/2008 10:51 PM (GMT 0)
I didn't read all of the replies, but I wanted to give you my honest opinion on all of the prep methods.

The gallon of "go lytely" , I couldn't keep down. You have to drink, and drink and drink, until util it's all gone. I threw most of it up, and had to do an enema.

The Fleets Phospho Soda, now that's what I'm talking about! It's a small bottle, like 6 oz's. Over the years, I have found that no matter what you take with it, it's all coming back out! My personal preferance is to take a "shot" of the fleets, followed by a swig of the strongest soda I have on hand, which is usually Dr. Pepper. (Heck, it's all coming out in the end, right)??? I have used this prep for at least 5 of my 9 colonoscopies so far, and will use this one in the future.

The Visicol (sp?) pills. They are chalky, and BIG. And in my personal experience, don't work near as fast as the Fleets. You'll be up all night usiging this regemine. JMHO.

Hope that gave you a litte bit of help.

Hugs,
Norma
Posted 6/8/2008 11:25 PM (GMT 0)

D_A said...


Just got my prep instructions and that looks like what is behind door #1 (HalfLytely & Bisacodyl). 2 liters definately sounds better than what I went through before, lol. What's the better of the flavors?

I only tried the cherry because I'm not really a fan of the other flavors. The cherry tasted like I'd expected it to. But I didn't have high expectations. It reminded me of the gross cherry-flavored medicines they make you take as a kid. Kind of like very salty fruit.

I would definitely do the cherry again next time, if that helps you. But if you prefer one of the other flavors, those might be good too.

The prep really wasn't that bad. It all came out of me watery, but I didn't experience cramping or anything. Definitely get a good book to distract yourself!
Posted 6/9/2008 12:03 AM (GMT 0)
Hopefully this Halflytely is half as bad.
Posted 2/10/2009 10:22 PM (GMT 0)
Just had mine in Jan 2009. Used Fleet 1. I liked it (I know.. I know.. I'm an odd ball). My doc had me mix it with a fruit juice, and split it up into thirds. 1/3 with 8 oz juice, wait 20 minutes, repeat, wait 20 minutes and finish it up.  Was done with the 'blow out' so to speak by bed time. slept like a baby.  ...wasn't fond of the morning suppository.. but at least it went quick.

The worst part of the actual colonoscopy was in the 'pre op' and listening to everybody else have gas! ha!  They put me on Demoral, and I slept thru the whole thing. Woke up yakking away. Nurse had to ask me to 'keep it down'.

Worrying about the procedure was the only bad part of the whole thing.

Posted 2/10/2009 10:28 PM (GMT 0)
GoLitely all the way for me. I hate the taste but I manage it, and without the flavor packs at that because I don't care for those added chemicals. It is by far the gentlest on inflamed innards. The phospho-sodas generate some wicked cramps by comparison. Keep it refrigerated to make it more palatable. I switch to a bland diet two days before and go to broth the afternoon before and that also makes things more gentle. But I do get a nasty hunger headache on prep day and have to take some extra strength Tylenol's to keep headache nausea at bay, otherwise I would barf up the prep. You don't really have to take it every 10 minutes or whatever if you start getting nauseous- in that case take a 30 minute break and resume. Also, if the bowel movements are basically clear, you can stop before finishing the whole jug.  After my scope I am starving so badly it is tough to resist the temptation to go out an wolf down a 24 oz porterhouse immediately, lol.
Posted 2/10/2009 11:52 PM (GMT 0)
I've only had Fleet, which I've used 6 or 8 times over the years. I don't like the taste but it's tolerable. I never had a problem with puking it up. It's never too bad for me.
Posted 2/11/2009 12:01 AM (GMT 0)

kops2da said...
I took 4 Dulcolax tablets 2 p.m. Then started 1/2 gallon of Gatorade (YUCK) mixed with Miralax.  Threw up last glass and left a glass in bottle.  No problem.  Best thing to do is liquid or very light diet two or three days before.

ElaineNY

That was my prep too, ducolax and a whole bottle of miralax. It wasn't too bad, and it worked! My doc made a good suggestion to get the miralax mixed ahead and refrigerate it, but I wish I had made two different flavors because I got really tired of the one flavor by the end.

BTW, I used grape Propel.

Posted 2/11/2009 12:49 AM (GMT 0)

glamourgirl said...
I've only had Fleet, which I've used 6 or 8 times over the years. I don't like the taste but it's tolerable. I never had a problem with puking it up. It's never too bad for me.

I've never had any problems with the Fleet Phospo soda either. It is just a 1 1/2 ounce bottle that you can mix in with a drink of some sort. Now you cannot get the Fleets anymore. It has been voluntarily recalled here in the U.S., I heard two different stories, one was that people were buying it in the drugstores using it as a laxative that were having no procedure, the other thing I heard that my husband found on the net was that it was recalled due to it causing renal failure. The nurse at my gastro doctor's office said they will be coming back out with it prescription only.

I had to drink two bottles of magnesium citrate and take 4 dulcolax. Never again if I can help it. I made it through the first bottle ok. I kept a popsicle by me and took a taste of it after each swallow. I used a fat drinking straw which made it easier to get down. However, the second bottle I did not fair so well. I got 3/4 of the way through it and then threw up some of it. I did not quit using the bathroom from it until 3 the next afternoon. I went 3 times when I got up the morning of my c-scope and luckily did not have to go again, that is until late in the afternoon and the laxative went through me again, after my scope.

Not to mention the magnesium citrate burned my esophagus and guts going down, and I have acid reflux. I'm hoping when I have to have my next colonoscopy, the Fleets will be available again. Don't think I can tolerate anything called GoLytely. I'd like to know where they came up with that name, from what I've heard from people, it does not make you go lightly. I'm wondering about the flavoring packets, if they are colored red like cherries, we are not allowed to use anything with red or grape color. I'm assuming this was clear powder with cherry flavor.

Posted 2/11/2009 2:43 AM (GMT 0)
I'm looking forward to taking Pico-Salax again later this month for my next c-scope. I tried GoLytely, the first time around but couldn't get or keep it down. I had to switch to the Pico, and it was great.
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