'Ready' for colonoscopy?

Soo I have my 2nd ever colonoscopy scheduled for tomorrow, 7:30 am. I know I need to get through this to see how far my disease has progressed and get on a medication that will help me. But m going back and forth between feeling so ready to take this on and dreading the whole thing.

I've been on prednisone 40 mg for almost 2 weeks and I was hoping to be close to remission by now but Im not...im doing better than i was 2 weeks Ago but honestly feel that in the past few days i regressed a bit. Still going about 6 times (mostly at night), loose (for a while-there was some form!), and bleeding (but not nearly as heavily).

My 1st scope, 2/2012, was in a flare but much, much more limited than this one. Im terrified that the prep/biopsies will send me back into a full blown flare. Anyone go into this from a similar situation and come out without getting worse? Anyone think the prednisone will help it from getting toooo bad? Or not really since it hasnt gotten me better yet.

I've stocked up on lemon ices-tried to get myself something enjoyable. Ill be doing Prepopik prep-seems to have good reviews on here and seems better than drinking the endless Moviprep i did last time!

I've got my iron IV today and then I'll probably be back on here later...glad I have this forum where i can talk to people who get it!

Some get increased symptoms after a prep or scope, but many - including myself - have not had symptoms increase, or flare worsen after a scope.

good luck

Preps never set off a flare for me, either. In fact, I can usually count on one or two poop-less days after the prep. A very welcome thing for me. Good luck with your scope!

Thank you guys also for your thoughts. :) and thanks again to everyone here-it went well :) Hardest part was gettiing the IV in me(as usual). waking up from the propofol was the nicest feeling ive had in a while!

Jujub-hoping for similar results!
Glogirl-Prepopik was great, if a colonoscopy prep could be called that, haha! Just the amount itself was much better than the moviprep that i did before. I will definitely be asking for it in the future (hopefully a couple years down the road!). Next time i might do it earlier tho so i could get some sleep.

Anyways-results of the scope:
No polyps, my major fear. as suspected, my whole colon is involved. Annd the doctor said it's severe. i mean i knew my symptoms were really bad but I was hoping it would be defined as moderate...sounds less scary I guess. The doctor also mentioned doing an immunosuppressant + a biologic -before we were just talking about the biologic. Guess Ill know more after the follow up next week.

Hey iPoop,

so after a little freaking out I got into my research, read studies about the safety and efficacy of immunomodulators and biologics, and reconciled myself to the idea, haha.

-i saw the doctor today and she went over results from the stool test (fecal calprotection >1000) and colonoscopy pathology report--she said the results of the pathology report show moderate inflammation, but again, involves the entire colon. so i guess that-moderate pancolitis-would now be my official diagnosis...

-i discussed the risks/benefits of the immunomodulators and biologics with her. like i said, i had already decided on remicade, I'm definitely in need of faster-acting relief as prednisone as got my flare down but not out. Also, since it's been around longer I feel more comfortable with that, ive read more success stories with tit, and it seems my insurance would cover it (i don't have a prescription plan but discussed with a rep that the infusions would be covered).

the doctor was great--did not push me in either direction. she said, a few years ago she would have pushed both because biologics were limited to infliximab, so if you developed antibodies you'd pretty much be out of options. now, she said we have the option of trying another if this doesnt work or if i develop antibodies. however, i'm kinda thinking of the long term here. I don't want to be back on this grueling cycle of flaring/trying to find something that works in 1-2 yrs. and, if it becomes an issue, she did say we could go off the immunosuppressant. so, we decided on 50 mg azathioprine, basically not using it to treat the colitis as much as to prevent the antibody formation.

I based much of my decision on this review, that showed much less anti-tnfa antibodies with concomitant immunomodulator use in different studies: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2991013/

-I'm definitely still very nervous. The lymphoma risk is small, but definitely linked to the use of the immunomodulator + anti-tnfa. there was one type in particular, hepatosplenic (?) lymphoma that is particularly aggressive and fatal-i saw this being reported as more likely to happen in "teenagers and young adults", but i also saw that reported as "young males"--i'm a young woman, soooo that's 1 outta 2. that of course worries me but i figure i'd cross that bridge if i came to it, just like i've had to cross this and make decisions that i couldn't see myself making a year ago. also can't have children on these, which i did want to do in the next few years, but i'm totally single so-i'll worry about that later- if i ever get there, haha!

and then of course theres the risk of infections and such. skin cancer also, but i figure i'll just cover up in the sun and begin to see a dermatologist for checkups (it would be more easily detected/treated than lymphoma, so even tho possibly more common it doesn't scare me as much, maybe it should, who knows?). i spoke to the hematologist i've been seeing for my iron infusions and i'll keep seeing him to monitor my bloodwork as i know i'll be doing plenty of that in the beginning.

-So i'm nervous but i think this is the best option; at this point i just need to get my life back as i've barely been able to go to work or think about my life outside of my disease. this treatment has risks but i'm ready to take on those risks so i can try to control this disease while i can and then hopefully live my life. i started the azathioprine today, waiting to get insurance authorization for remicade.

and i just wanna say, thank you so, so, so, much for being so rational and understanding! it really helps to be able to ask these questions/voice these concerns to someone else whose had to make the same decisions. :)

Thanks, I'm really hoping for the best here and definitely want to live my life again already.

That shouldn't be too bad. Mentally it'll be sad--I have light skin but love getting a nice tan, carelessly falling asleep on the beach! But hey, at least I might be able to get to the beach (not an option anywhere near my current state!). i'll just switch out the tanning oil for sunscreen.

Yeah, I've looked into the safety profile of these drugs for pregnancy only a little bit, as is something that concerns me, just not immediately. Hopefully by that point I'd be in a solid remission and be able to have a little more freedom with these things. But again, I'll cross that bridge if I come to it. UC has prevented any dating/relationships for some time now so let's see how that goes first, haha.

Wow, glad they got into remission. Thanks again. I'll be keeping everyone posted once this gets started...just waiting on insurance authorization for the remicade infusions now.