Please do. I cannot fully describe the difference in the suffering in our household. Me, trying to prevent myself from puking the massive quantity of disgusting liquid, and my husband just drinking a little bit of soda flavored stuff. I can’t believe they still try to get people to drink that Golytely crap!!
Second the above - if something other than golytely is an option, take the option! I don’t have to go back for 5 years and I’m already dreading the 4 litre drink. Blech.
Ugh, why do they prescribe that stuff if there are alternatives?!
I third that movement … I mean motion.
Ugh, swimcatsmom, I have to go back in three years (about two years from now), and I will not do that golytely garbage again. Even though I think I figured out how to do it in the easiest way possible, why force yourself to drink massive quantities of such disgusting stuff if you don’t have to? It’s crazy!
My new MD pushed the golYTELY, saying it does a better job. When I do the next in 5 years, I certainly hope he’s changed his opinion.
One criteria I had was to pick a doc who did the procedure at a surgi center that offers transportation. I didn’t think to include the question of what stuff you have to drink.
I liked the Prepopik too, if that’s an alternative!
@Madison85 that sounds like a more involved prep than I had! I wonder if the doc had a reason for changing the prep for you?
@romanigypsyeyes, the choice of prep is often based on the experiences a given doc’s patients have had. The Golytely, nulytely, and half lytely generally get great results and have been proven over time. The lower volume preps don’t ALWAYS do so. If you get a doc who had a patient who claimed to have done everything exactly as ordered, and they don’t get cleaned out, the doc is less likely to order that prep again.
Reasons why some preps don’t work as well as the high volume preps:
The patient has slow bowel motility.
The patient did not follow the instructions to the letter about diet and/or prep (this happens a lot more often than patients like to admit).
The patient was unable to finish the prep or vomited it up.
Moviprep is higher volume than suprep. Suprep, according to my patients, tastes really foul, but there isn’t as much to drink (I think it’s 2 10 oz. bottles over the course of many hours). My patients have had good results with this.
Prepopik is very low volume (5 oz. times 2). Docs may be very hesitant to use it alone. They may prescribe a dulcolax tablet to take after doing the prep or a bottle of mag citrate the night before the prep. I used this and was very careful to eat low residue a day or 2 before the prep, and I did the mag citrate the night before starting the clear liquids. I got good results.
Good luck! I hope you get good news.
My doc (two and a half years ago) prescribed five – yes, five – Dulcolax tablets and then a bottle of magnesium citrate. I was very well cleaned out, but in retrospect I think I was extremely dehydrated. I remember having the shakes in the middle of the night. It may have been too much for me.
@veryhappy I was told to drink a lot of apple juice. I felt drained but not dehydrated.
In retrospect, I should have had a lot more to drink. I didn’t realize it until later.
Afterwards I couldn’t drink apple juice for a month! LOL
I think my doctor just told me to take the Golytely because that’s what they always do. I was not fully cleaned out for my procedure, though I drank every drop of that crap. Might have been the five chocolate chip cookies I ate right before I was supposed to fast… 
When I made the appointment for my husband, I asked them why they didn’t offer the Moviprep, and why he had to request it, was there something wrong with it? The answer was that sometimes insurance doesn’t pay as much towards the Moviprep and it can be more expensive. Well, don’t you think we should be able to make that choice for ourselves? If cost was important, I could have asked the pharmacy or my insurance. Both of us were very weak, and it was difficult just making it there without passing out. More soup and juice next time.
Doctors have preferences that are certainly based on their personal experience, but am I cynical to think that their recommendation might be strongly influenced by their relationship with a particular vendor? 8 or 10 procedures per day, 5 days per week… how many years? (I joked with my doc, asking him what it’s like to only see his patients once every 5 or 10 years). That’s a lot of prep. I had to have a person come with me and stay and drive me home. Dr office required it.
@surfcity: About 25 years ago I was told I had slow bowel motility, so I requested 2-day prep.
In my experience, no, the docs are not getting kickbacks or trying to please a certain vendor. They want their patients CLEANED out. They also consider insurance and price. Certain preps cannot be used if the patient has high blood pressure, kidney disease, or is on certain meds. Other health issues are taken into consideration. If a patient does not get a good result, they cannot tell the patient in all honesty that they do not have a cancer or a bad polyp brewing. If patients are not sufficiently “clean,” they have to come back within a very short time frame, or depending on how much the doc was able to see, in a far quicker time than they would normally. A patient of mine last week did not follow the instructions for his diet and prep. The doc told him he needed to re-do the the whole thing within the month.
Having to have a driver with you is standard procedure unless you did NOT have sedation of any kind. We do have patients who refuse sedation, but they are in the minority.
GI docs are not doing procedures five days a week, all day. They see patients at their offices, they make rounds at the hospital, surgeons do surgery, etc. Our docs are only in the facility 1-2 days a week.
That’s standard. You’re pretty stupid after the anesthesia.
Not to mention gaseous!
^^^^^Well, that’s air that’s been injected, not “gas” as one would normally produce themselves…so has fewer unpleasant effects, if you get my drift. 
At my facility, the vast majority of physicians inject CO2 instead of free air during colonoscopy. This results in negligible flatulence, gas retention, bloating, and discomfort.
There are only 1 or 2 who continue to do it the old school way. I can always tell if a given patient was scoped by that particular doc, as they are the only ones in the vicinity who are making a racket after the procedure.
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^^but it sounds the same!