Figured I'd share. Pretty similar story to this gentleman. My post is going to be long. Hopefully it is interesting and helps someone.

https://www.reddit.com/r/colonoscopy/comments/1x966y0/was_so_very_scared/

My procedure was performed this morning at a rural Appalachian hospital.

Same-ish Weight + Weight Loss, Age, Sex, Bleeding pattern. I had fatigue and have bled off and on since I was 20, Various amounts from streaked wipe to "so bloody it is silky" toilet water. It was lower back pain that made me go "Oh crap." and schedule a proper spelunking though. I had mine this morning. Been bleeding a long time, one stretch was 4 or 5 months straight. Bled through my pants a few times. Clots, the whole 9. I'm one of those "Smart dumb guys." or "Dumb smart guys." Guess it depends on who you ask.

Symptoms (and my mental state) continued getting worse after the back pain appeared. I "knew" what was coming even though none of the kids from my generation have had it that we know of. C runs in one side of my family starting with a great grandparent.

Some details that may not be important:

I have a spectacular (but stressful) job, 4 kids, and a wonderful wife. My cup is running over every day that I open my eyes... And here I was, depression, dread, sadness, apathy, so much bad... myself and my family endured it for months and months (if I'm honest, a lesser level of it for years and years) because I'm pretty much terrified of anesthesia.

It is my only known phobia. I'll happily jump out of an airplane or go to a warzone.. I'll do both at the same time covered in spiders (just no old world, latrodectus, or loxosceles plz). I really mean that. Anesthesia scares me a lot.

So the lower back and backside stuff was stacked on on top of another relatively-severe-most-days pain that was never really gone, I've lived with it for over a decade, and as it turns out, that one was easily repairable once they got in there. At one point in the last few weeks I was on the porch, had been kinda down with the wife, not too popular with the kids lately, and said "God, heal me or kill me." Not as a taunt, but as me declaring that I didn't care which anymore, I just wanted it done with.

Pulp Fiction Time Hop:

Prep was complete and fairly low effort. With the other stuff that was going on I would call the prep "Moderately Inconvenient." I'm not saying I would do it as a hobby but it is just barely in "embrace the suck" territory. If you're comfortable being uncomfortable it probably isn't going to bother you much.

I started my prep 2 hours early because I wanted to get as much sleep as possible to keep pre-surgery inflammation down. Good for the healin'.

First 4 Bisacodyl at 10AM. It started things off real fast. By 11 I was on the can. Then at 4 I started Miralax in Gatorade Zero Cherry (not my fave but it ain't bad) ice cold. 2 quarts, 8 ounces every 15 minutes straight through. I'm thinking that total I went 8 or 10 times and they weren't really short trips. Had false stops on a couple. Cleaned myself up, washed my hands, and nearly sharted pulling my pants back up. Took great care after the first one, avoided "power painting" the bathroom. Watch that and do not trust a fart, any fart. Festivities had ceased at 10PM with one small squirt of yellow liquid after I got up this morning (6:45).

Suspenders and Existential Dread:

While sitting on the toilet I researched, shopped for, and purchased a metal detector. I guess I'm an old man now lol. Looking forward to playing with it during my recovery from the other part of surgery. Drank about 2 gallons of fluids total during the day. A quart of broth, at least a quart of black coffee, 2 quarts of gatorade (I just topped em up from 28 to 32 ounces with pure water), rest water.

The Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion, and Dorothy:

So anyway, full general anasthesia for my procedure today since I'm getting other work done that required it.

I let my anesthesiologist know my concerns ahead of time (terrified of general anesthesia) in clear terms. Among other things I said, "My face might not be showing it and my words may be careful but I am absolutely terrified right now. I understand that this is necessary for a whole bunch of reasons, and that understanding is the only reason I'm laying on this bed. I know it is probably within your power to take that fear away. I'm tired of putting the brave face on. Give me anything you like."

<morganfreeman>The good doctor looked up at the monitors and seemed to agree that this man was in fact, scared shitless.</morganfreeman>

I also informed him of my (legal) THC use. It is the only thing that has really been able to get me to sleep. It does matter. The more honest and useful information you give to your anesthesiologist, the better they can take care of you.

I've not touched any other "potentially taboo or illegal" drug since my late teens. If you've used anything recently, anything, you should tell your anesthesiologist whether you've told anyone else or not.

Lastly, I informed him that I've had 2 laryngospasms in my life, one sitting at my computer almost 20 years ago, one standing in the kitchen about 5 years ago. No idea what the cause of either was but it absolutely sucked. If it has happened to you before, your anesthesiologist won't be mad at you for telling them.

I have some medical background (Not really anything with this stuff and certainly not on a doctor's level) and he sniffed it out pretty quick, tested me a little, but never once showed his hand. What I didn't know was he had a sinister and quite foolproof plan which had already been put into action when he stepped out of the curtain briefly halfway through our chat.

Before they hooked up my IV, a very sweet attractive young lady walked in and pushed what appeared to be 3/4 of a syringe of what she called Versed into my arm while she chatted with me about nothing in particular. I had no idea what it was, what it did, or anything else really. It was cold, a little cloudy, it felt really nice, then really really nice, then really really really nice. It didn't take long to start doing its magic. If you're an anxious person this stuff is the absolute bomb. Cannot say enough good things. It is like having your mind dust bustered by a french maid.

Pfft! I'm a Genius! You can't Hypnoti:

What seemed like a couple minutes passed, I was still lucid but I had no anxiety, no fear, very little sensation of pain. My inhibitions were still present. It was as if she gave me molly, viagra, and something that really-does fix anxiety. Bad didn't feel very bad. Good felt way "gooder than good." Parts of me began waking up without my full permission. I don't think it was sexual, I think it was because I can't recall ever having felt *that* good. It apparently happens sometimes? I'm not ashamed, you shouldn't be either if it happens to you.

When they told me to lay back, the thought in my head at that moment, was "How does this blanket feel so good against my fingertips?" I was absolutely rolling.

Then this absolute genius of a man puts an oxygen mask over my face and says "Here let me give you some 100% oxygen."

Unplanned Time Travel and a Genius Doctor:

My conscious brain would have normally questioned this moment but the Versed brain was like "Oooooh I wonder what this is going to feel like on whatever they just doped me up with."

I inhaled deeply, held it for just a moment, exhaled, it felt nice. Then I inhaled deeply again.

About halfway through inhaling my second breath of pure oxygen I woke up in recovery. 3 hours had passed, I was quite relaxed and in no pain.

He slipped me a mickey! That wasn't 100% oxygen at all!

I know tricking someone who is chasing butterflies may not be the genius move I'm making it out to be, but the impact on how I went in and came back out was absolutely wonderful. I really just couldn't be happier with how that went.

The Part You've Been Scrolling For:

The other surgery went great as far as I can tell. I have more horsepower in my right arm than I have had in years. No nerve pain.

The colonoscopy went without a hitch. 2 small polyps removed, some very bleedy hemorrhoids, no cancer. My butt doesn't hurt, I'm a little gassy now almost 12 hours after. The only thing on my body that hurts right now is where they waxed my back (I'm a hairy SOB). Not the incision or the staples (maybe stitches? I haven't looked), the wax.

I have no idea why the lower back pain went away, I'm also not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

A colonoscopy is nothing to be afraid of. Even if you're sure that you are a dead man, you're probably not. Go get looked at. We're all in this together.

Hello everyone, I'm on the clear liquids and miralax day. Any tips on what you all do to pass the time when not pooping to get through the hunger pains? What are the best distractions? Thanks so much! 😁

Edit: when I say distractions i mean non drink distractions lol. I mean like activities.

Hey folks apologies for the delayed update.

In the end after initially fearing it was not working I found that they Picolax they gave me went down much better and worked quite effectively. The Senna that was recommended by department staff seemed to help with the preparation process.

Had second colonoscopy appointment in the end a few days ago and I found it went ok (opted for air option and while process was rather painful it was less intense than I thought it might be).

Luckily it turned out there was nothing that the team could detect. One of the doctors thought that they would find haemmorrhoids if nothing else but apparently everything looked perfectly fine and that a successful preparation process had meant that everything was clear to view.

Want to say thanks again to all the folks on here who offered advice and kind thoughts throughout this process, have found it all pretty supportive. <3

I know experiences differ for each patient. Looking for experiences from people who had both air and water immersion colonoscopies unsedated.

Six months ago I had a water immersion colonoscopy unsedated. Moving the scope in and out was mildly painful, overall manageable. Problem is that they had to remove one 2 cm polyp and that one doctor couldn’t do “under water”. She had to remove the water and pump air or CO2 in. That part with polyp removal was really painful. Based on my condition medical team offered to end the procedure and reschedule to a different date when they would do removal of polyp under sedation but I didn’t want to do the prep again and they managed to remove it. I had to grab rails, was crying, shaking. Overall really painful once they started pumping air (or CO2?) for polyp removal.

Six months later, I shouldn’t expect large polyp removal again. I still don’t have a driver and scheduled another unsedated procedure at a different facility assuming that now there should be no large polyp removal hence the “painful” part of the procedure will not apply.

Problem is that l recently learned that the new facility doesn’t use water or CO2. Only room air. They do unsedated but “in rare cases”. Doctor said they “did it before” but didn’t sound like it’s a common practice there.

How much worse can it be with air compared to water immersion? Again, moving the scope in and out wasn’t an issue during the previous procedure.

Hello, I am having my colonoscopy next week and I have been prescribed the dreaded 4 liter peg 3350/electrolytes 236 gm. I am a little worried because everyone says they’ve had horrible experiences with it. My current symptoms are nausea and constipation, I will be meeting with a nurse tomorrow to go over everything but I’m wondering if there are any other options that people may have had better experiences with?

Alternatives that were written down for me were Moviprep, Suprep, and Clenpiq.

I had my colonoscopy & endoscopy on October 1st. Luckily no polyps, just loads of inflammation 😅 which I will be seeing my doctor about on the 31st

I feel like I’m more regular in my bowels movements again BUT I feel like I’m bleeding more. I’m using more wipes rather than dry toilet paper, and it doesn’t hurt to go like it used to when I expected the bleeding

Did anyone else experience this after their procedure?

Hey everyone. I was hoping someone can shed some light on what’s happening in my body as I’m freaking out over the spike in colon cancer in younger adults. I’m 35 M, for the past year I’ve felt a small “air bubble” feeling in my lower left abdomen (sigmoid area). Over this year it feels like the air bubble got a big bigger. I tend to feel it more when I’m seated or laying down. Not so much standing or during exercise. For the past couple months I’ve felt the bubble and recently (2-3 weeks) have had Bowles that vary from diarrhea to not small balls. Also, I’ve noticed a groove in my stool, almost as if someone took an ice cream scoop and carved a groove on the stool. No visible blood not un explained weight loss. Has anyone else had these similar symptoms before? If so can I please have some input? My next step is a to schedule a colonoscopy as that will determine for sure what’s happening, but I would like to hear if anyone has heard or dealt with something similar to my case. Thanks everyone 😊

Has anyone done the new pill prep? I guess its 24 pills rather than the liquid.

I am a crohns warrior and am no stranger to colonoscopies I can’t even tell you how many ive had. Needless to say i am so sick of the prep. I can barely handle it anymore. Last time i would vomit so much. I only drank what i could.

so this time i’m want to do miralax or here its restoralax.

my questions is how much extra do i need to use? I know it says (somewhere) to do more then usual dose.

yes i realize you are not drs but im looking for experience not medical advice.

my dr refuses to let patients use anything else but im gonna anyway cause im a rebel like that lol

wth is that lol

help !!!!!

I just had my first endoscopy and second colonoscopy. Last time I was given sutab, so I was surprised to have the 4L mega jug of Nulytley (PEG 3350) for prep this time. I read too many horror stories about large volume prep, but it wasn't too bad!

I took 2 Dramamine ginger pills 30 minutes before the prep start time to head off any nausea. I had to drink 10 glasses the night before, 8oz every ten minutes. My start time was 4PM, so I stopped drinking at 1PM to have lots of room for all that liquid.

It seemed daunting, but I chased every few sips with apple juice and was able to finish on time. The prep came pre-flavored with lemon and wasn't very strong tasting to me. Overall not too bad! I got some gut gurgles during glass 4, but didn't start going until glass 5 or 6. Sat in the bathroom for an hour and a half until things calmed down, then had to go every 30 minutes or so until I headed off to bed at 10.

Woke up at 4:30 since prep round 2 needed to be done by 6AM for a 12:15PM arrival time. I was surprised I had to go to the bathroom soon after waking up and before starting prep again. I took ginger pills again, but then immediately started my 6 glasses of prep, this time chased with warm water or apple juice. I felt very full after 2 glasses so slowed it down a bit, but still finished on time (again one glass every 10 minutes). The fullness subsided after that which was a nice surprise.

I think it kicked in by glass 3 and didn't last as long as expected in the initial round of bathroom time, maybe 45 minutes. I laid back in bed for a bit and then had to go every 30 minutes or so. I was surprised I had gut gurgles and was in the bathroom right when it was time to leave since I had finished the prep around 5:45, but barely anything coming out for the last two hours.

I knew what to expect at the appointment since I had a colonoscopy before, so no real surprises there. I had propofol that worked like a dream. I have some crazy dry mouth and throat is a little sore, which made swallowing my first meal of scrambled eggs a little difficult. Reddit tells me this is normal and should go away in a few days.

Overall the anxiety for the past few weeks was much more than the actual prep day or procedure, so just wanted to tell you all it's not so bad even if you have a huge jug of prep!

Is there something besides just plain broth that would have a little more flavor and be a little more filling? What are other things to eat that aren’t on the list of recommended items they give you?

45 y/o male here. Over the past couple months, I've had constant lower left quadrant discomfort, like a deep bruise or fullness that turns into painful cramps from time to time. I also have loose stools, which are thin, and a dull ache in my lower back. The abdominal pain is worse when I lay down. My last colonoscopy was in 2019 and was clean, despite having similar symptoms. I have an appointment tmrw with my GI, and I am going to push for another colonoscopy.

For those of you with similar symptoms, how did your colonoscopy turn out? My anxiety is getting the better of me.

Started Colyte 5pm last night, got the first litre down quick. Then had to slow down due to serious nausea. Finished it up though. Didn't have first bm till almost midnight.

Woke at 5:15 to start the morning prep… set alarms every 20min to get it down a bit more slowly. Accidentally slept through a couple but got it down by 8am - the last litre really quick. I'm going quite often right now but it's still pretty muddy looking... Super panicked about failing the prep 😩. My guts are notoriously uncooperative. I have young kids and I'm a full-time university student, it was hard enough to make it work once.

Hey friends, today is prep day and I’m super nervous! I posted about a week ago asking for advice, and got lots of good pointers since I’m nervous about throwing up while taking my prep. I have zofran that I’m going to take about 30 minutes before I start my first round of prep!

My only problem is that I’ve woken up today hungry as all hell but I’m on my liquid diet now lmao. I’m going to run to the grocery this morning to get what I need. I just have a few questions!

I’ve read on some places that hard candies and gummy bears (both without red, blue, or purple dyes) are good. It sounds tempting, but I wanted to ask first. I’m mostly concerned about passing out from hunger, as I’ve had a habit of that in the past. 😭

Also some other remedies for getting the suprep down easier would be great to hear as well! Maybe a little pep talk sprinkled in.

Everyone has been very nice here, so thank you all for being super helpful!

Anyone else on prep now? Eughhh I blocked out how yucky this stuff is. Dunno how I'm gonna get through the next lot at 4am lol