<p>This made me laugh. DH has had multiple polyps so has annual screens. He tolerates the prep well but I have to deal with him post-test. The drugs hit him in an almost recreational way (had mine same place, same meds, and went home crabby an nauseated). Last year heinsisted that we stop for fried chicken (not something that we do)…I drove through and ordered a 2piece meal. He was shouting “12 piece bucket”. It was like dealing with a rowdy 14 year old.<br>
Of course he had no recollection of this later, even after seeing the bones in the trash.</p>
<p>So, YMMV on the fun part of the anesthesia. Same drugs, very different reaction.</p>
<p>I read on some Internet forum a recommendation of mixing the flavor packs for the gallon jug, so I had cherry-Lemon lime. I also kept a glass of crystal lite with me to wash away the taste. Frankly, I would do the big jug again, not the stuff you have to get up at some ridiculous hour. </p>
<p>My funny colonoscopy story is I was scheduled for mine last 10/29, which was the Monday that hurricane sandy hit. I just knew the storm was going to be bad the week before and called the center on Friday to reschedule because of the weather. They laughed and said they never closed. Based on weather reports, I elected NOT to take the prep on Sunday night. Good thing, as we got a call at 9am on Monday the surgical center was closing for the day )& they ended up losing power for 10 days). I would have been one unhappy camper if I had done the prep and then couldn’t have the procedure.</p>
<p>So true that people react differently to the anesthesia. I came home and crawled in bed for several hours. H was energetic and said it was relaxing and understood why propofol was Michael Jackson’s drug of choice.</p>
<p>I did sort of a hybrid approach – fairly soft foods for a couple of days before the “liquids” day (no high fiber, limited fruits/vegetables) and started the liquid prep about 12 hours earlier than called for. Mine was pretty uneventful, even the prep was not terrible. The actual procedure was just a very restful nap. I had an awful job at the time, and when I went back to work found myself wishing I had another colonoscopy scheduled so I could miss a couple more days (that is when I knew for sure I had to get out of that job!).</p>
<p>Yeah, people love the propofol, and they often say they now realize how MJ got involved with it, whereas before they thought he must have been some kind of total nutcase.</p>
<p>The thing is, in spite of the perception that you have gotten great sleep, you really aren’t sleeping in the sense that you need to sleep (restorative REM). That’s why it is NOT indicated for insomnia. What MJ didn’t know was that he was killing himself with the lack of REM sleep. </p>
<p>I heard an interview with an expert on sleep who said that because MJ had gone 60 days straight with no REM (because he was depending on the propofol for his “sleep”), his body was dying. His brain wasn’t getting what he needed, his cells weren’t regenerating and rebuilding as they do while we are sleeping. That’s why he began to act strange, became extremely weak and uncoordinated, and he couldn’t process things well anymore. This expert said that even had he not died of an overdose, he would have died within a couple of weeks anyway just from lack of sleep.</p>
<p>A little humor to start out. I really wish that the doctor who did my first colonoscopy had told me the trick about a light liquid diet. As it was, they said I couldn’t eat anything after noon of the day before. Well, if that’s the case, I reasoned, I better have a large meal. So, I went to Chipotle and got a large beef and bean burrito and ate it before noon. That was also in the days of the one gallon prep. It was not a fun evening because it worked! Unfortunately the doctor discovered the first round of Stage 2 colon cancer. I was 49 with no family history.</p>
<p>I have had five since then. I have no idea what kind of prep I have taken. I know that the first two were the gallon variety and once I wasn’t able to keep it all down. That was only a problem because they discovered another tumor (Stage 3) and because the prep wasn’t clean I had to stay in the hospital for an additional week. Since then it seems like the prep has been less (more like a quart) and I haven’t had any ill effects from the prep.</p>
<p>I am also a nag and try to get friends to get themselves checked as soon as they turn 50. And I really get after them if they are significantly older. During my first round of chemo, there was a young woman also doing colon cancer chemo and she was only 28. I have told my son that he needs to get checked at a much earlier age, but I have never heard what that age should be until I read these posts. I am now almost seven years from my third (and hopefully last) colon cancer operation, so wish me luck.</p>
<p>One last humorous colonoscopy story. I have a good friend who was way past the time to get a colonoscopy, but good sense finally prevailed and he had the appointment set up at a hospital about a three hour drive away. He did the prep and showed up for his appointment and the admitting nurse asked if he had driven himself to the appointment because nobody was with him. He said “No.” She then asked if somebody was going to drive him home and he said “No.” She asked him how he proposed to get home and he said “Fly. I flew up here.” (My friend is a pilot with his own plane.) There was then a big confab with the my friend, the nurse, and the doctor because my friend really wanted to get the colonoscopy behind him (so to speak), but the doctor wouldn’t let him fly after the anesthesia. The doctor’s compromise was to administer the colonoscopy without any anesthesia, which my friend agreed to. He did get to view the process (and even tried to help with directions), but he has assured me that next time he will plan ahead.</p>
<p>Yes, we both got our colonoscopies together, H and I. My sister drove us there and back home. H tends to get VERY dehydrated from the prep, so we will have to ask about having the procedure earlier in the morning because his vein rolls and is tough to insert an IV into when he’s dehydrated. He gets poked several times–poor guy.</p>
<p>I only schedule it for when I am the doc’s first or second one of the day. Better I should be done by 10:00 AM that have to sit around all day leaking and feeling crappy.</p>
<p>I showed up at 7:30 AM for my colonoscopy and was told that they ONLY took PPO patients and since I was an HMO patient they could not perform the procedure. After fasting and prepping, I wasn’t sure wheter I was more p***** off or confused. I said, “then why did I get an appointment reminder call from your office?”. They said that no one checked on the insurance until I was sitting in the waiting room. (It turns out my primary care doctor THOUGHT I was on PPO insurance when he obtained the referral.) The office person was very understanding and did some hoop-jumping on my behalf. This all took SEVERAL hours, as I sat in the waiting room, and finally my insurance company gave their approval.</p>
<p>At 12:30 PM I get wheeled in and IVd and they start me on some med administered through my nose (which I have never had done in my 2 previous colonoscopys). At this point, the doctor was backed-up with patients and just trying to fit me into a gap somewhere. I started getting nauseous from this med, so the nurse said she would change me to a “better” med. When I woke up from the procedure I was “dry-heaving” and they kept me for observation for at least another hour in recovery. Sure wish knew which medicine it was that made me nauseous? </p>
<p>At 3:30 PM, 8 hours from when I first entered the waiting room, my wife was taking me home.</p>
<p>I made arrangements for my D2 (hs senior at the time) to drive me, wait, and drive me back. Specifically scheduled for a day when I knew she did not have school. Then… when the clinic calls to finalize details two days before, they tell me I have to have someone stay with me for 24 hours after the procedure. This was NOT in the info they had mailed, so I had only made arrangements for D2 in the morning. And she had a playwright friend who desperately needs her to come to a rehearsal during the afternoon window (play picked for performance with very short notice). She tells him she can’t (and why), causing great drama (and some embarrassment on my part, I explained to her about phrases like “medical procedure” that could be used to preserve a bit of privacy…). Eventually it is resolved, but a kerfuffle leading up to the procedure.</p>
<p>Then D2 comes down with awful stomach flu overnight while I am doing prep. We were a pair… I call the clinic in the morning to see if they have any volunteers who can give rides. Nothing doing. Ex-H has a huge meeting he can’t skip, so he can’t. Neighbor is working… and cab fare is about $50 each way. So there is nothing for it, I get D2 out of bed and she drives me there, then curls up unhappily on the floor in the waiting room. The nurses end up telling her she can’t stay there if she isn’t well, and she goes out and waits in the car until I am done and phone her. It was a logistical headache, for sure.</p>
<p>I had one a few years ago and made the mistake of eating chicken from a fast food place that puts monosodium glutamate in their food. My husband bought a big amount of chicken so we ate it for a couple of days. I get really sick on MSG so I actually had a bad reaction even before I started taking drinking the stuff the night before. So don’t eat food you are allergic to before a colonoscopy.</p>
<p>Did anybody have the colonoscopy without sedation? Y’all convinced me that a colonoscopy is a good thing, but I would never allow anybody to put me to sleep.</p>
<p>I thought some one had done it without sedation. Search old posting maybe able to find it.</p>
<p>As I understood, there are two kinds of sedation, one is partial, one is full, you may want to do the partial one as it will be VERY uncomfortable or downright painful if a full colonoscopy is done without sedation. Would you like an amputation of your leg without sedation, providing it is necessary.</p>