Colonoscopy and Sedation

I like @SwitchableSusie and that's something she is just going to have to deal with, put on her big girl panties, and suck it up. That's as mushy as I'm getting.

LOL Just for the record, I am not afraid of the prep (it certainly cannot be any worse than the BAD reaction I had to Trulicity!). I am more annoyed by the whole thing. I am not even afraid of the procedure (other than the embarrassment of it all). I am more afraid of waking up like my friend did. I am worried about pain, should I wake up in the middle of the procedure. Like I said, I don’t wanna know nuthin’!!

Just do the damn prep already and move on with your life! Or skip the test entirely and possibly end up with preventable colon cancer. Your choice.

Breeze, do it or one of the other options. I understand tha you're scared of the pain, so maybe go to a doctor that uses propofol as I believe that is a more reliable "out" as it is a general anaesthetic. I have seen colon cancer and it is painful and not at all nice.

Get back on topic and just admit that hot yellow liquid squirting out of your bowels for 24 hours is considerably worse than getting an IV with some propofol and sleeping through a 15 minute colonoscopy.

Really - 24 hours shit fest? I did the entire clean out in less than three hours and got a good nights sleep. Get real!

. . . . admit that hot yellow liquid squirting out of your bowels for 24 hours is considerably worse than getting an IV with some propofol and sleeping through a 15 minute colonoscopy. . . .

A good thorough colonoscopy does not take 15 minutes. It takes 30-45 minutes when an experienced doctor does it and carefully looks around.

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Really - 24 hours shit fest? I did the entire clean out in less than three hours and got a good nights sleep. Get real!

Three hours is pretty fast for the clean-out from the time you start drinking. Three hours of shitting is more like it, but definitely not 24 hours.

Three hours is pretty fast for the clean-out from the time you start drinking. Three hours of shitting is more like it, but definitely not 24 hours.

So I exaggerated - so did KC Patient!!!!

KC Patient was not the one that compared a colonoscope to child birth it was SwitchableSusie. Seems she is always looking for an opportunity to stir up shit and start a fight... and here we go again. Thanks SwitchableSusie.

Sounds like somebody has an issue....Susie was just stating how minimal a colonoscopy is compared to childbirth or other traumas. Someone else was stirring the shit and looking for a fight.

I’ve had two colonoscopies in my life (just turned 60) and the wife has had one. The prep is inconvenient yet easily doeable. The doctors know this is unpleasant. Their main concern is for him/her to do the best job of screening for their patient (you). Sedation, my guess, is two fold. One, comfort of the patient. Two, need for the doctor to totally focus on the task at hand. Imagine a dedicated physician attempting a colonoscopy on an unsedated patient. The doctor now has to be concerned of the patient’s comfort when he (and the rest of the staff) are there for one purpose, giving you the very best screening they can. Any distractions from their work (a patient flinching, talking, complaining, etc) has no place in the operating room when this can be totally avoided with sedation. My first colonoscopy I did wake up towards the end of the procedure. I felt nothing.

As I understand the patients are often still talking and flinching, they just can't remember it so the doctors don't have to be as careful and the patients aren't as scared and they don't freak out.

The only way I would have it done is unseated personally, but that's because I know the drugs mess me up. I'll deal with controlling myself and finding out what will happen so I don't freak out.

I don't know about colonoscopy in specific, but for surgery they started sedating because they had some patients who didn't know what to expect who went into shock (per a book on local and regional anaesthesia).

The hospital I went performed it under sedation on all patients, but I asked to do it without sedation because that day I had to work and after a little arguing on risk of cancelling it if I could not endure the pain they accepted. For me it was not a big deal maybe 5 min of discomfort, 1 min of real (tolerable) pain, and I could watch on monitor everything.

When scheduled for my first colonoscopy some five years ago, I requested that it be done without sedation, since I'd be driving (in Ontario it is not legal to drive within twenty-four hours of having a total anesthetic - although I've done it on several occasions). The doc agreed after I'd told her I'd once had scar tissue surgically removed from my urethra without sedation (for the same driving restriction). Interesting as it was to watch her progress on the wide screen TV, it was a very painful process to endure and I did not complain. The pain occurred when the instrument was inserted the full length of my colon, until the sphincter of the small intestine came into view. Until that occurred, perspiration was pouring off my head, neck, and shoulders and I tried to be nonchalant about it.

I can't imagine childbirth in most instances as being more painful than that experience was. That is an argument that can't be proven and women who use it know it. Women comparatively are far less likely to experience the extreme types of pain many men are subjected to, including work-related industrial injuries, combat injuries, and torture as POWs.

Have had a few colonoscopies without sedation and found them no problem at all . The prep in my opinion is worse than the procedure . I found being awake and watching very interesting . Although my last one a month ago I was put out as had the throat done as well . Have no fear of going without sedation , better for you in the long run keeping those chemicals out if your system .

When scheduled for my first colonoscopy some five years ago, I requested that it be done without sedation.... Interesting as it was to watch her progress on the wide screen TV, it was a very painful process to endure and I did not complain.

Some guys have had it done without sedation with a lot of discomfort - but not terrible pain. I don't think the insertion part would be painful - but they do inject air to inflate the colon. Probably depends how much air pressure they inject. You may have been inflated more than some of the others who didn't experience terrible pain.

I can't imagine childbirth in most instances as being more painful than that experience was.

You and I will never know that for certain. Given the choice -I'll do a colonoscopy without sedation. 30 minutes or so of discomfort/pain versus 20 hours of labor, transition and delivery.

Women comparatively are far less likely to experience ........

WTF?? I would strongly recommend you delete that paragraph before the girls read it!!!!!

As someone who works in Endoscopy the reason why colonoscopy can be uncomfortable/painful is two fold. First the colon is relatively deflated, and fecal matter is moved along by peristalsis ( wave like motion). In order to perform a colonsocopy air or carbon dioxide is used to dilate ( inflate ) the colon in order to visualise the lumen and walls of the colon. This inflation can cause discomfort/pain especially if you have diverticular disease.

Secondly the colon is not a straight tube , it has bends/loops and when the colonoscope goes around a bend it can cause cramps/pain, as soon as the scope passes the bend , the endoscopist can straighten the scope and the pain/ discomfort is alleviated. The major bends occurs in the sigmoid colon , the splenic flexure and the hepatic flexure .

In addition the actual colonoscope can form loops, the most common loops are alpha, reversed alpha, n loops, gamma loops and transverse loops.

We use Olympus scopes and Olympus have developed a Scope guide which shows the position of the scope inside of the colon during the procedure, so you can see loops where and when they form. In addition the endoscopist can feel these loops by how the scope behaves. That is why people are asked to change positions or pressure is applied to the abdomen to help guide and prevent the formation of these loops.

In the UK we use Conscious Sedation or Moderate Sedation, which requires that the patient maintains a purposeful response to verbal or tactile stimulation and does not require intervention to maintain airway patency .

So we use a combination of a sedative and an analgesic ( pain killer). We used Versed ( Midazolam) and either Fentanyl or Pethidine ( Demerol). In addition we also used Entonox ( medical nitrous oxide and oxygen mixture) also known as Gas and Air which provides pain relief without sedation ( for those that have no escort )

Well, gwhap, I'm sure the colonoscopy varies according to varying factors, including the experience of the doc performing the procedure. The object inserted is not so small and the colon has many twists and turns, unlike how the typical physiological diagrams tend to illustrate. The pain occurs when the instrument doesn't readily follow the turns and is pushed against the colon wall. The ink was barely dry on the certificate displayed by the doc who performed mine. As for pain, I once made a left-hand turn into heavy traffic just as lighter fluid from my lighter spilled over my left hand and caught fire and remained burning for several long seconds, until I was settled into the traffic flow and could put it out. The extensive burn was second degree and was no more painful than the colonoscopy experience, nor did it slow my day. Severe pain is not new to me and I can readily suck it up.

Yes, we never will know about the childbirth issue regarding relative levels of pain, but how is it that pregnant Southeast Asian women can routinely work in a rice paddy, drop the baby, strap it on her back in a sling, and immediately continue working? Women in Amazonian tribes similarly make little to-do of bearing children. Western women seem to have conditioned themselves to expect the experience to be naturally painful.

When did I say men were better drivers than men? I've known many who were better drivers than men! . . . and I'm sure the great majority are, at least, equally skilled.

I did not say women in the work force, civilian and military, did not suffer grievous injuries just as men do. I did say that [historically] men are more likely to; however, that is changing as women pursue work that once was in the male-dominated employment sector. Re-watch the opening scene of "Saving Private Ryan" and tell me how many women you see. (BTW, my uncle saw action on that beachhead on D-Day and survived with many German kills to his credit.)

As a four-year vet with two Nam deployments to my record, I'm happy to be able to say I'm much luckier than the two from my unit who were guests of the Hanoi Hilton for six years apiece - but I'm sure you'd know nothing about that. A third fell into Soviet hands, was tortured, and ultimately executed. To what "North area" do you refer?

My point has been 1) My personal colonoscopy experience - just as having my urethra scraped clear of scar tissue without sedation and recovering from rectal surgery with sedation (you will know what pain is for the week following that each time your bowel function occurs) - was a very painful issue. If yours is/was not, you're in the lucky group; 2) I think most men are simply tired of hearing women complain about that age-old saying they like to throw at us of not knowing what real pain is compared to childbirth.

Pain is common to all of us, regardless of who we are and of the circumstances that cause it. C'est la vie.

Severe pain is not new to me and I can readily suck it up.

Different people have different pain tolerances . Sounds like yours is high.

When did I say men were better drivers than men?

That was intended as a joke.

As a four-year vet with two Nam deployments to my record, I'm happy to be able to say I'm much luckier than the two from my unit who were guests of the Hanoi Hilton for six years apiece - but I'm sure you'd know nothing about that.

I was a Navy pilot during Viet Nam. I lost several friends during that conflict. My son is a Green Beret Officer with multiple combat tours and has experienced the same. I do know something about that. Being a Viet Nam Vet has absolutely no relevance to this conversation.

I had one when I was eleven. I don’t remember anything because they didn’t tell me I was actually getting it done. I’d had to get endoscopies in the past and I’d found out over the internet that there was something called a ‘lower endoscopy’ or a ‘colonoscopy’ I remember being suspicious before they put me to sleep because I heard one of the nurses mutter something about a lower endoscopy under her breath. I questioned my mom and she said I was just getting a regular endoscopy. I only realised when I woke up without my underwear on. I was so upset and embarrassed I felt betrayed and I couldn’t stop crying. There wasn’t any prepping for me (unless they did it when I was asleep).

Wghap, I see you've edited one or more statements of your earlier post(s), including your referral to some "North area."

My reply was in response to your own convoluted statements, non of which had been implied as being "a joke."

On our mutual subject of pain, I mentioned being a vet in reference to experiences suffered by men I served with.

OK Cowboy it's time to buck up, be a man and get it over with. Let me assure you dying of colon cancer is going to hurt a hell of a lot more than a colonoscopy.

In my case, two nights before the prep, I had to take a double dose of Miralax. BIg deal. Not allowed any thing to eat on prep day except clear liquids, my choice was GatorAde lemon lime. I was to take 3 bottles of Magnesiium Citrate, at 12, 4 and 8.

The secret to getting this stuff down, and keeping it down, is chill it, stick a straw in it, put it in the back of your throat and suck it down as fast as possible. Follow by as much liquid as possible and I mean lots. My husband and I even managed a good round of sex in between doses.

The next day, they take you in, ask if you want to be sedated, or you can watch your butt getting probed if you chose not to do so. Give me the drugs.

Wake up with some cool color pics of your guts. No problem

At least I was not done live on national television like Katie Couric.

@northernguy46

I see you've edited one or more statements of your earlier post(s),

There seems to be a lot of editing going on including entire parts of this discussion. That's the way the game is played here on ZB unfortunately.

I was sedated. I did not want to rember a thing. A friend of mine had a colonoscopy with out sedation and it was not good at all. I woke up early (briefly) while she was cleaning me up. It felt kinda good to have her padding me.

Women comparatively are far less likely to experience the extreme types of pain many men are subjected to, including work-related industrial injuries, combat injuries, and torture as POWs.

I changed my initial response to this to simply recommend you delete this statement. It's degrading.

Many women have had horrible injuries in car accidents that are comparable to industrial and combat injuries. Women in North Korea have been tortured by the government in similar fashion as POW's. Women in the middle east are stoned to death for getting raped. South African women go through horrible genital mutilations. Men don't own extreme pain.

BTW - the name is gwhap, not Wghap

Gwhap, you seem to have difficulty in plain English language comprehension and are again misquoting me. I have never made the statement, "Men don't own extreme pain." Those are your words, not mine. My words . . .

"Pain is common to all of us, regardless of who we are and of the circumstances that cause it. C'est la vie."

I also stated that traditionally men are/have been more likely to experience serious pain due to occupational hazards of the past.

Are you qualified to say circumcision of males is not genital mutilation and is not painful?

BTW, women in your own U.S. of A. undergo genital mutilation as well, but it is rarely reported outside of the muslim community. If that is an important issue to you, why not publicly condemn it?

@northernguy46

I've better things to do than banter back and forth with you.

Have a great life!

I am and thank you!

From what I've heard and read this seems to be the basic facts:

Sometimes it hurts, other times there are periods of discomfort and it gets better. Skill of the doctor is a important part, you want a doctor that has experience, ideally with unsedated colonoscopies, as they might not be as careful or have as much finesse working on sedated patients because "they won't remember"

Another part is the sensitivity and layout of your colon. This is difficult to change.

Third is your attitude. Relaxation is important, find out what is going to happen so you don't worry.

Fourth: reactions to the drugs are also individual. Last time they gave me any of those there were long term impacts and I was loopy for 3 days. My dad, on the other hand, was apparently back to normal 2 hours after having his done. I would consider the nitrous route, had that before (went through a very anti-needle phase, and my dad (a dentist) needed to do some work. There was some discussion, and he said we could try it with just nitrous instead of local but he'd stop and put a local in if needed. The nitrous was fine and no effects once it went off).

Last DO SOMETHING. I have watched two people die of colon cancer and it is pretty bad. If you can't/won't do a colonoscopy do a virtual colonoscopy/CT colonography, sigmoidoscopy, occut blood test or even a barium enema.

If you want to do something that a particular doctor doesn't "ordinarily do" be respectful but firm, and be aware that you might need to shop around.

I had a flexible many years ago and it was not at all painful. I've had 2 colonoscopies with sedation with no problems. I had asked if they would do the 2nd one with out sedation and the doctor refused.

For my 3rd colonoscopy I found a doctor who was willing to do it without sedation. Also I went to a colon therapist for prep instead of drinking the nasty stuff and spending several hours on or near the toilet. I had a friend administer several 3 qt enemas 2 days before the event, went to the colon therapist the day before, and had a high enema early in the morning before I showed up at the hospital.

The doctor gave me a C- for prep as he had to use a bit of water to flush some fecal matter our of the far end.

As I enjoy anal play and enemas, I was expecting this to be no big deal. It was surprisingly painful from the sigmoid bend and the 2 bends which follow. At one point I thought I'd have to bail, but once it was all the way inside, the pain subsided to merely somewhat uncomfortable and that might have been because my colon had been traumatized. I think had he taken more time getting through the sigmoid bend and used warm water instead of air, it would have been less painful. I've played with colon tubes and sometimes I get through the sigmoid fairly easily and other times it is quite painful and I stop for fear of perforating the colon.

Once I got home, I was so high on endorphins etc that I had a profound play session and high enema, it was quite amazing. So the residual effect was quite salutatory.

I will definitely do my next one in about a year with out sedation. A local doctor offers using his colon therapist to do the prep, so I'll try that.

Have had two under IV sedation - do not remember anything. No pain or discomfort experienced after the procedure.

Here in the UK, for a colonscopy, there are 2 types of 'sedation' available.

First is a deep sedation. You don't know what is going on. The downside is that you will need to be in hospital overnight and you need someone to drive you home and look after you for 24 hours. It can have side effects.

The pressure on hospital beds makes this generally unavailable.

The second is to be awake during the procedure. You have a mixture of gas and air, called Etonox. You just draw on this gas when the colonoscopy becomes uncomfortable. This is the way I have taken with the colonoscopies I've had.

If you don't want sedation this is the way to go. You can just use it as needed.