My colonoscopy experience - without sedation

bsizzle said...
I had a flexible sigmoidoscopy without sedation and it was the most uncomfortable feeling in the world, I hated it.

I then got a colonoscopy with complete sedation and it was marvelous. I had minor cramping afterwards but that was it.

I recognize there are risks with sedation, but they are minor, and there's also risks with having a tube up your butt. I also acknowledge that a lot of it is probably mental, but I personally would never do it without sedation UNLESS I experienced something like pulmonary arrest or creepy memories, etc. that made my mental priorities shift.

I would suspect the extra pain/discomfort from having a full conoloscopy vs sigmoidoscopy to be minimal to none. The most uncomfortable part is actually navigating the sigmoid colon, which is two sharp successive turns.

I've never been sedated for a scope, never had a problem, and wouldn't do it any other way.

I have only had one colonoscopy so far and I was so scared to death that I thought I'd honestly not wake up. I have severe sleep apnea, very overweight and I thought the apnea for sure would lead to a complication. It was performed by a surgical proctologist and he assured me I would be o.k.

I had considered going with no anesthesia but my rectal area was super inflamed and a couple weeks earlier he did a finger exam and as soon as he started to insert it the pain was so bad I almost passed out and I screamed. he immediately stopped and said he didn't want to hurt me and that he could visually see there was heavy irritation to the rectal area.

Anyway, they used a drug called propofol I think its called. During the colonoscopy the Dr. noted that the procedure went well and the patient had no problem tolerating it. I remember laying in the room after they wheeled in my bed and the anesthesiologist was making a few jokes about how I was only his 3rd patient and he just recently graduated. He knew I was really scared cause he had visited me in the holding room earlier to ask me some questions and he saw me crying and praying with my family. So I realized after it was over that he was distracting me with the jokes cause as were were talking he was messing with my IV and then next thing I knew, I woke up in the hallway being pushed back to the room by a nurse. I looked up at her puzzled and said "are we going back to the room?" She told me yes, it's all over and I was stunned cause I didn't remember anything and it seemed like I had just fallen asleep for like a couple minutes.

My stomach was a little messed up the rest of the day, I remember it gurgled a lot and I had a lot of gas but nothing was painful and my rectum didn't feel any more sore like I thought it might. Went to bed that night and that was it, don't know why I was so scared. Now my GI Doctor wants to do his own colonoscopy in a month to re-examine me and he said he wants to see whats going on for himself even though he looked at the images from my previous procedure. I'm not gonna be scared this time, thank the Lord!

I used Suprep the day before to clean myself out. It was 2 bottles of liquid and a 16oz. cup. Had to put one bottle in the cup and mix with water to the fill line and drink. Then over an hour or something I had to drink 2 more 16 oz. cups. Then wait 3 hours and repeat the process, fun times lol
It actually wasn't as bad as I imagined, the nurse had told me the stuff was cherry flavored but was still strong so I could add some juice to the first cup to help swallow the prep down. I didn't have to, I just held my breath and gulped it quickly. Then I swished water around to clear the taste out. My Dad said to use cold water cause tap water would be a lot worse and his advice was spot on. I had put 2 gallons of water in the fridge the day before.

I started my prep at 3p.m. and by 10p.m. I was still having to go to the toilet but around 11 I finally got to sleep. Had to be at the hospital the next morning at 5:45 am for the colonoscopy. Ended up waiting 2 hours for the Dr. to get there and I had one more bowel movement an hour after I arrived but it was just a little liquid and pretty clear. Dr. noted in the report that he had no trouble viewing the colon during the procedure and that it was clear.
My procedure was on a Monday morning and I did fast all day Sunday. In fact my last meal was Saturday night at 7 p.m. so I didn't eat anything for about 34 hours prior to the procedure. By the way, the first round of prep wasn't hard to gulp down but by the time I started the second round I did have to force myself to drink the extra two 16 ounce containers of water. The last cup full was hard to get down but I just psyched myself up and then stood up and gulped it down. Felt like I wanted to throw it up for just a few seconds and then it passed.

I know not everyone is different and some might not tolerate anesthesia well but that's my experience. My next colonoscopy might be different with this new GI doctor so we will see. I'm certainly not as scared anymore about the anesthesia but I still don't take it lightly. I know there are always risks and I just have to rely on my faith in God and my family to get me through it.

EricWee

Anesthesia with colonoscopy is standard in the US although it can be done with an anesthesiologist present (highest quality procedure/highest cost), or a nurse anesthesiologist, or no anesthesia (rare).

One of my other doctors (dermatologist) told me he would never have anesthesia for a c-scope due to inherent danger of that. I said that was the best part of it but understand his opinion.

The greatest danger is for elderly due to degradation of mental abilities from anesthesia but problems can happen at any age. That is why I do not have frequent c-scopes, only as needed.