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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Hi all.  I'm (over)due for my first one (42 with family history) but have been avoiding due to fears of the prep, the procedure, and feeling horrible afterwards.  So I'm interested to see this thread - does all this talk of liquid mean there is no enema? DH had one years ago and he had to have enemas, which just sounds horrible, horrible.

Also, how awful is it afterward?  I've heard the cramps are miserable.  Do you get medication for them?  Or during the procedure?

Thank you![/quote]

I had a colonoscopy last spring due to sudden rectal bleeding (large amounts).  Turned out to be nothing at all, but I had to do the colonoscopy.  The prep wasn't too bad.  I was mostly concerned about drinking such large quantities of liquid, as I don't tend to drink much in general.  The Miralax/gatorade prep went better than I expected--it did not taste bad at all.  The magnesium citrate afterward was what I found practically unpalatable.  It tasted awful and after drinking all the Miralax I felt like throwing it up.  But I managed to do the entire prep, although I felt a bit nautious and weak in the morning.  I think the key is to have your colonoscopy scheduled as early as possible.  Mine was at 8 am and I felt yucky then after a night of prep/diahrea.  If mine had been at 2 pm or something I would have been feeling miserable all morning.

The diahhrea part wasn't bad at all.  I thought I would be literally running to the bathroom but I was always in control of my bowels.  Just watery.

No cramps afterwards at all.  Just some flatus but not as much as I had expected.  I think my husband and I went out for lunch right after, I had no nausea and felt completely fine.

And as an added bonus, the colonoscopy reset my bowels.  Previous to the colonoscopy, I had really bad IBS (irritable bowel) flares (totally unrelated to the rectal bleeding that necessitated the colonoscopy).  After the colonoscopy, no more IBS.  [/quote]

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