Question about colonoscopy prep

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No reason to be condescending to OP.

Frankly OP we don't know--- but really better to be safe than sorry. And you could be very sorry. I have yearly colonoscopies. Lots of different preps and they affect me differently. It could be an hour or hours. But it isn't pretty when it starts so stick to your house.

Tips-- clear liquid diet for 3-4 days before you begin prep. Lots of Gatorade in a non red/purple color that you like. Designate a bathroom for yourself. Prep H wipes which you don't flush so have a plastic bag in there for them. DO NOT skip any of the prep or think it must be done. It isn't and the worst thing you can do is show up, not have done your prep correctly and have to redo it all.

OP again. Thank you for this. But to be clear my instructions say clear liquid diet for only one full day ahead. Reduced fiber in 3 days prior and no nuts or seeds for 5 days prior. I’ve never heard full liquid diet for 3-4 days and can imagine non-compliance rate would be high.

[Anonymous]

Stay home. Stay close to bathroom. Keep hydrated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No reason to be condescending to OP.

Frankly OP we don't know--- but really better to be safe than sorry. And you could be very sorry. I have yearly colonoscopies. Lots of different preps and they affect me differently. It could be an hour or hours. But it isn't pretty when it starts so stick to your house.

Tips-- clear liquid diet for 3-4 days before you begin prep. Lots of Gatorade in a non red/purple color that you like. Designate a bathroom for yourself. Prep H wipes which you don't flush so have a plastic bag in there for them. DO NOT skip any of the prep or think it must be done. It isn't and the worst thing you can do is show up, not have done your prep correctly and have to redo it all.

OP again. Thank you for this. But to be clear my instructions say clear liquid diet for only one full day ahead. Reduced fiber in 3 days prior and no nuts or seeds for 5 days prior. I’ve never heard full liquid diet for 3-4 days and can imagine non-compliance rate would be high.

Eh this is overboard but the point is to have food in your system that will come out easily. You need everything out and the process to get everything out is made harder if you have heavy stuff in your system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No reason to be condescending to OP.

Frankly OP we don't know--- but really better to be safe than sorry. And you could be very sorry. I have yearly colonoscopies. Lots of different preps and they affect me differently. It could be an hour or hours. But it isn't pretty when it starts so stick to your house.

Tips-- clear liquid diet for 3-4 days before you begin prep. Lots of Gatorade in a non red/purple color that you like. Designate a bathroom for yourself. Prep H wipes which you don't flush so have a plastic bag in there for them. DO NOT skip any of the prep or think it must be done. It isn't and the worst thing you can do is show up, not have done your prep correctly and have to redo it all.

OP again. Thank you for this. But to be clear my instructions say clear liquid diet for only one full day ahead. Reduced fiber in 3 days prior and no nuts or seeds for 5 days prior. I’ve never heard full liquid diet for 3-4 days and can imagine non-compliance rate would be high.

Follow your instructions for your particular prep.

My family tends to eat a lot of fiber (salads, soups, juices), lots of probiotics in the week before the prep. Keep the bulk moving. Hyderate, hyderate, hyderate.

I do not do wipes because with the vaseline you do not need it. Also, you can insert some solidified coconut oil inside and that will help the poop to slide out.

IME - if you have daily bowel movements easily - you will be ok. If you are normally constipated and poop every few days only, you may have a lot of hardened poop in you and that makes cleaning it out not a pleasant task.

BTW - also have some disposable gloves handy.

[Anonymous]

PP here-- it does depend on the prep and your own circumstance. I find the prep easier with a liquid diet for multiple days. I am vegetarian so a lot of fruit, veg, lentils and beans typically. I can't do that heading into a prep.

Suprep for me is not great and sadly my doc likes it the most. I had to do one within 6 months of the last and she let me do the MiraLAX one that was much easier. GoLYTELY is diabolical.

I definitely need the wipes too. I do some Vaseline but holy irritation Batman.

Biggest thing is just have what you may need on hand. Great if you don't need it! But you also don't want to head into your 2 am second dose wishing you had _____.

You will have the best sleep ever and feel so good after then not have to do it for many years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You should not leave your house once you've taken the prep. Either skip the event or change the date of your procedure. If it's just a routine colonoscopy, perhaps you should reschedule even if it's a couple of months out.

Or ask your doctor whether you can start the prep a few hours later. The instructions they give are often a standard printout regardless of whether your procedure starts at 7 am or 10 am, so you may be ok delaying the process.

[Anonymous]

I just had my first colonoscopy two months ago. I definitely stayed home to deal with the prep. One other detail that surprised me… I never stopped going to the bathroom until I got an IV and they knocked me out. I was going all night. It was just water eventually… but I had to run to the bathroom 5-10 times from the waiting room and then once after they put me in a bed. My husband had told me that I would empty out and stop going to the bathroom. Not me! Different bodies react differently to this stuff. I had a decent sized precancerous polyp removed. It was kind of a ridiculous experience, but worth it!

[Anonymous]

OP, once things start moving, there is very little time to get to the toilet. For me, that meant staying around my bed. Bed to toilet, I could make. Kitchen to toilet would have been a mess. Definitely not the time to go out in public.

[Anonymous]

Np here. I’ll be the dissenting voice - I strictly followed the no low fiber, no seeds no raw veggies for a week (maybe 5 days) ahead of time and it wasn’t bad! I had a play I attended the day of clear liquids; so that’s different, but I really wasn’t in the bathroom as much as I thought I’d be during prep. For instance, I between the rounds I had no trouble sleeping and I don’t think it was many mad dashes to the bathroom. BUT I have regular food sensitivities / irritable bowl so I’m somewhat used to having to plan for the possibility of sudden bathroom needs.

[Anonymous]

I took suprep and it worked quickly like within an hour. And I went a lot for the next few hours. You may or may feel ok 3 hrs later but I’d probably plan on not attending the event. Even if you’re out of the bathroom by them you still just feel blah from the medicine and not having eating all day

[Anonymous]

I did three different types of prep over the course of three months last year (two colonoscopies and a surgery), and three hours after prep started was peak bathroom time in all cases.