PICO-SALAX

Sounded good - looked up the website - if it tastes as good as it says.  Only it also says ....

4. YOU MUST DRINK BETWEEN 1 ½ TO 2 LITERS OF WATER

OR CLEAR FLUIDS OVER 4 HOURS FOLLOWING EACH SACHET.

So that could bother me to drink so much no matter what the flavor without food.  Anyway, not available in US yet.  It does work fast according to instructions!

ElaineNY

Hi.  I'm also in Canada and Pico Salix is the only prep I have ever used.  It is not difficult to get down.  It has a salty citrus flavour.  It is important to keep drinking water or clear fluids after you have taken the prep solution in order to keep hydrated and to make life easier for the kidneys.  1.5 to 2 litres over 4 hours is not an insane amount.  Its the equivalent of 3 to 4 bottles of water (500 ml each).  The prep tends to act in a rather explosive way - little warning  -- so hang out very close to the toilet and be prepared to spend some time there.  Your bum will be sore as towards the end of the process of elimination the liquid burns as it comes out.  At the end of the day, any prep is gross.  Blegh.

Hi, I would like to alert anyone taking Pico-Salax to what happened to me quite recently. My doctor gave me a copy of his own rules on colonoscopy prep. I was advised to drink 250ml. of liquid ( juice, Gatorade,etc.) EVERY 10 MINUTES as long as the effects of the prep. lasted!!! I started doing this about 9 AM the day before the procedure, once I started having results from the 3 Dulcolax tabs I had been instructed to take. I continued drinking the above suggested amounts of fluids until Noon . I then took the first packet of Pico- Salax mixed as suggested and carried on with the fluid intake every 10 minutes. By 4 PM I was feeling unwell & at 6:30 went to the Emerg. I was vomiting severely and admitted. Blood tests showed that my electrolytes were out of kilter and my sodium levels were dangerously low. In addition, and this was really scary, one of my cardiac enzymes was elevated and the doctors thought I was having a cardiac event. Subsequent cardiac tests showed that my heart was OK & that my symptoms were likely the result of drinking too much liquid as prescribed by my doctor.
I think the instructions that come with he Pico-Salax should have been followed.

I loved the Pico-Salax. I was told to use Go-Lytely, but you have to drink at least 2 gallons of briny swill. The Pico was a fizzy orange stuff and you didn't drink much, maybe 500ml or 1litre I can't remember. Then you just drank water the rest of the day. Easy. I will do it again for my next prep, no need to find anything better. It does require more lead time, but the colonoscopy is going to take two days anyhow.

Confirm this for me please, this prep is currently not available in the U.S.? Not even a generic form of it?

If there is a generic available that only Pharmacists know about and it's behind the counter, I'd at least like to try it. I need another colonoscopy this summer and used to rely upon the Fleet's Phospho Soda but I heard that's either been pulled from shelves or only available behind the counter. The Fleet's was terrible tasting but I'd always chase it with a glass of grape coolaid, followed by brushing my teeth and then chewing a piece of gum (and hoping to God I wouldn't accidentally swallow it).

May05 - what a very frightening experience you went thru. My doctor always recommends I consume at least 72 ounces of fluids. I keep a running tab on my liquids all day long. But once I begin the prep, I usually experience mild nausea so I try to get the bulk of my fluids in earlier in the day.

Dreading what prep my doctor will recommend for my scope later this year.

Angylglori - whenever a generic product comes out it must have the same amounts of the same active ingredients to be considered equivalent to the brand name product. So it should work just as well. That being said, the instructions for Purg-Odan are slightly different from those in Pico-Salax (mainly in that they don't stress enough how important it is to drink fluids). I think you'll do just fine on the Purg-Odan, but please - fluids, fluids, fluids! The instructions for Pico-Salax can be found online, and I would follow those recommendations in terms of the amount of water you drink after each dose.