Anyone ever had a colonoscopy?

I had a CT scan yesterday and they found a 3mm blockage in my large intestines. So now i have to call a specialist next week and have a colonoscopy done. They said they should be able to get to the blockage relatively easy and either remove whatever the blockage is (polyp) or biopsy whatever it is.

For anyone who's had a colonoscopy was it painful or do they fill you full of the good drugs? I know they clean you out really good the day before by drinking a bunch of stuff. What is the worst part?

The prep is much worse than the test, after you drink the "gallon" of "go-lytely" ( a misnomer ) expect to spend much of the evening on the toilet. You will be clean as a whistle. Now as far as the procedure, not only will it be painless, other than the intial IV stick, you won't remember much of it either. One of the drugs that is given to you in your IV cocktail is versed which has a prounounced amnesiatic effect, in other words you will be awake and lucid during the procedure, chatting and talking away but you won't remeber much of it once the effect has worn off. Most people find that losing their modesty is the worst part of the procedure as well as the end when they "deflate" your colon, but remember the prep is much worse than the test, Have Fun!! :wave:

ditto - the "prep" day is the rough part, nothing to the procedure.

iNDiGLo said:

I had a CT scan yesterday and they found a 3mm blockage in my large intestines.

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I am no doctor, but how does a 3mm blockage necessitate a colonoscopy?? 3mm is quite small...

In any case, good luck...hope everything goes well...

JM-99

I'll be having my fourth colonoscopy this coming year. They've switched form the gallon o' cleanser to a half gallon of something else, followed by a laxative. You'll still be on the throne for some time.

I've never been able to stay awake for more than a few minutes after getting doped up. After that I don't remember anything but getting awakened in the prep room when it's over. If you do manage to stay awake you'll be able to watch the whole thing on a monitor.

Make sure you have someone to drive you there and wait for you.

I agree with Nikon, I was awake for "insertion" but within less than 5 or 10 seconds, I was out the entire time. Woke up in recovery. Prep is the worst.

In the olden days the drugs were not that good, and it was rather unsomfortable from all the gas they use to ibflate my colon. Then they decided to knock me out completely.

If they let you stay awake, keep an eye on the monitor. As the instrument travels up my colon, I get a 1st person point of view of the trip - just like the movie Fantastic Voyage but without Raquel Welch. The instrument stops at points of interest. A needle comes out and pokes into the skin for small samples. If they need a bigger sample a crab's claw comes out and goes snip. After the procedure, they let me rest while the gas squeeses out of my colon. Then they give me a juice and sandwich and send me home.

Yep, everyone seems to have a fairly good "snapshot" on the procedure here. Make sure you listen to and comply with the prep (besides the "smoothmove" juice they have you drink, stay away from certain color foods & meats or you may have to go through the procedure all over again! BTW, the most recent test my brother had...he was given a little 8 oz bottle of "something" - drank half and then the other half some hours later...didn't have to drink the gallon of juice like I did. Thank goodness for updated pharmaceutical technology!!).

The way I was "briefed" was that if they only do a sigmoidoscopy or a scan and find a polyp or blockage, then one would need to have the colonoscopy anyway (goes much further in to get a better diagnosis).

They found one polyp during my test - burned it away/sampled some - no sweat.

Asbestos related/colon cancer was the cause of my Dad's death in 1983 at the age of 53 years old (toooooooo young in my book - WE MISS HIM!). It's a very preventable/treatable form of cancer if caught early enough!!

I've had a few of them. The first one, many years ago, was with NO medication at all and it was brutal. I swear the nurse's name must have been Ratchet.

The subsquent two "visits" involved an IV hookup with a medication that knocked me out completely for the entire procedure. I don't know whether this was the intended effect as the nurse said that it would make me "drowsy" but I'm glad that I slept through it.

Like the others have said, the worst part for me was the gallon 'o' yucky stuff beforehand, as well as the anticipation.

Thanks for the replies. I just turned 40 in September so the idea of having a colonoscopy doesn't sound like fun even though once you reach a certain age ( i think 50 ) you should have an exam every 3 years or so as part of a normal "physical".

However, given the circumstances of my CT scan results i'm glad to have one. I've had pretty bad stomach cramps and pains the past 2 months plus i had an Iron Transfusion the first part of November. My doctor said he'd never seen anyone with little/no iron in their blood. He was surprised i walked in under my own power. So i guess whatever this blockage is in my intestines is causing me to not pass all the waste out of my system. In my original post i said the blockage was 3mm but i meant to say 3 cm. The Radiologist said they couldn't really tell what it was, might even be a twist in my intestine but a colonoscopy was the next step.

I hate going to the doctor (I think its a guy thing). But i hate going to the dentist worse. Since i've had 2 root canals i think i can handle having a colonoscopy.

My wifes grand mother had one about a year ago. She was 80 then and had a polyp the size of an orange removed

Getting it done is a pain in the a$$ but it's worth it. I was having gastro symptoms and intermittent bleeding, but it turned out to be a benign annoyance rather than anything serious. Glad I had it done, and now that I know of a clinic where they put me completely out for the procedure, I'm much less hesitant to go back when I need another one performed.

I've had several of these about 5 years ago, and I have to agree that drinking the go-litely is the worse part. The 2nd worse part is the anticipation between then and the actual scan. Other than that, the scope going in the anus is a little uncomfortable at worst, but by that time, the drugs have kicked in and its not really noticable at all. You'll be lucky if you even remember seeing the moniters, let alone the procedure. The anticipation is the worst, no question. Then the go-litely. After that, the drugs they give you will relax you very well.

And then you get to fart on and off for about 30-45 mins in the waiting room :laughing:

Skyclad01 said:

And then you get to fart on and off for about 30-45 mins in the waiting room

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:laughing:

I have had 5 of these procedures done over thew past 15 - 20 years due to my Father having colon cancer. I have had several benign polyps removed during the procedures. I was semi-awake during all of the previous ones until the last one that I had earlier this year.

They used to use a drug called versed (amnesia effect) and Demerol for pain.
This last time they knocked me out completely! It was nice.

As far as the prep goes, instead of "golytely," ask for the other cleanser....can't remember the name of it...but about 1/10 the volume of liquid needed.

Good Luck!

On one occasion they offered me a packet of pineapple flavoring to add to the go-lytely stuff. It sounded like a good idea at first, but I got so sick of the taste of pineapple that I can't stand it to this day! If you have the opportunity to get the flavored stuff, ask for anything other than pineapple!
:lolsign:

I've never had one, but I've had the upper gi scope done. I was sure to ask them for a clean, upper scope and not a used, lower scope.



It was all fine till I woke up halfway through the procedure. Went to thrashing around on the table because I thought I couldn't breathe. Can still remember it, and trying to talk with all that down my throat.

I've been on the "table" 3X for major colon surgery. First time was for diverticulosis- went infected. (Wore a "bag" for 5 months! 2nd time was the re-connect and it infected!) 3rd was with a compitent surgeon and ~8 hours "on the table." It's been over 5 years, and everything "works" normally, despite missing a 3rd of my colon. Along the way, I had a very unplesant colonoscopy under demerol! Dealing with the aftereffects of a "barium" enema rivaled it! Life's a bitcth, then you exspire! Been there/done that (except for the expire part) for those in the que.

Larry

Oh thanks for jogging my memory Larry!! I had a test for a sliding hiatal hernia years ago and forgot all about the "barium bricks"!!

Michael,

Ditto what the other guys said---incredible drugs, you won't feel or remember a thing. Not bad at all. I "came to" feeling great, and my wife got an enormous kick out of me getting on the telephone immediately and trying to talk a bunch of business---I thought I was completely in control, but she says I was making no sense whatsoever (still under the influence).

As StevieRay said, I've likewise heard there's an alternate "prep" solution, requiring a much smaller quantity, but that you have to specifically ask for it for some reason.

Andrew