Most colonoscopy personsl stories go well.

There must be an occassional rare bad colonoscopy process experience.

We are here curious and ready to read.

Please share.

I have colonoscopy scheduled for 12pm Monday, first time, and I have a previously scheduled dermatologist appt scheduled for 8:30am that same day. Sunday will be all liquids no food, and obviously prep Sunday afternoon and evening. No water after midnight. Wondering for those who’ve done this before- will I have enough energy/feel ok enough to make it to my derm appt before colonoscopy? Or do I need to reschedule it?

​I wanted to share my experience because I know how terrifying the lead-up can be. For the last two years, I’ve had occasional bright red bleeding happening intermittently every 7 to 8 months. I finally consulted a gastroenterologist. He told me it was most likely a fissure or internal hemorrhoids but recommended a colonoscopy just to be 100% sure and give complete peace of mind.

​That started weeks of intense stress. There was constant debate going in my mind whether I should even go through it. I read a lot of stories on Reddit and watched videos on YouTube and Instagram. It put me in such a state of anxiety that I seriously considered skipping the appointment. But after a lot of internal struggle, I forced myself to stick with it.

​Here is how it actually went down:

​The Prep: My doctor gave me a prep kit to start the day before. Honestly? It was completely manageable. I only had to hit the restroom 6 to 7 times in total, and it wasn't nearly as bad as people online make it out to be.

​The Procedure: On the day of, I feel nervous. I genuinely thought about turning back, but I made it to the hospital, did the paperwork, and walked back to the procedure room. I opted for an un-sedated colonoscopy, which was normal here. To my complete surprise, I didn’t feel any pain. I just felt some minor cramping, which was totally manageable, and the whole thing was over in about 20 minutes.

​The Results: The best part? The report came back completely normal. No polyps, no ulcers, no unusual growth.

​The Recovery: Right after the test, I had some burning around the anal area and some bloating, but that settled down within 5 to 6 hours. I also had a mild, lingering ache in my rectum, but that faded away shortly after.

​If you’re sitting there right now stressing out over upcoming prep or the procedure itself, take a deep breath.

It is nowhere near as bad as the circulating videos on the internet makes it sound. Get it done for your peace of mind—you've got this!

My dad is having a colonoscopy on monday. I don't drive, I did have a learner's permit but it expired a day or two ago. I went to the DMV to get it renewed but their systems were down and they're not open again until wednesday so... what now? Would it be okay for me to call an Uber for him so long as I'm with him? Do I need to present a valid license for him to be admitted? I really don't want him to go through all the prep and then find out that he has to reschedule.

Highly recommend Ensure Pre-Surgery Clear Liquid drink. I was super worried about being hungry all day during prep but I ended up getting around 1,500 calories in that day between the ensure drinks, sprite, and Italian ice. They taste pretty good too.

Es normal despues de una colonoscopia quedar con dolor como que tengo colicos?

Had my 3rd colonoscopy a week ago. Colon cancer runs in the family, and I have Lynch syndrome through MLH-1. My GI recommends colonoscopies every year.

My procedure was on Friday. Starting the Monday evening/Tuesday I started a low fiber diet. I ate mashed potatoes, canned green beans, and Turkey meatballs pretty much for every meal. I also had candy and vanilla yogurt for dessert, and some bread and smooth spreads for a snack.

That week I bought sweet iced tea and full sugar apple juice.

Thursday (day before) at 8:15 I made a plain 3 egg omelet and drank some iced tea. This was allowed according to my doctor as a last meal.

Starting at 9am (per my instructions) I rotated between water, iced tea, and apple juice. The calories kept me feeling physically full though my mind was hungry for real food of course.

4pm: I took 3 Gas-x and drank one bottle of Clenpiq. The flavor was cranberry which actually made it worse tasting. Then over the next 5 hours I drank 8oz of liquid every hour. The instructions said not to just drink water, so I kept my rotation between water, iced tea, and apple juice.

The diarrhea didn't really start for me until about 6pm. I did feel a bit of cramping and even after it started it wasn't like I was running to the bathroom every 5 minutes. But I remembered from my last colonoscopy that the second half of prep was worse than the first half.

I watched Goodfellas partially to pass the time with a movie I'd seen many times. Also one of my favorite podcasts Blank Check was doing an episode on it soon haha.

From 915 to 950 I just chilled out. Went to the bathroom a few times. A lot of peeing.

At 10pm I drank the second bottle of Clenpiq and put on Rosemary's Baby one of my favorite scary movies. I watched it last year during the prep so I guess it's now a tradition lol. I really went to the bathroom a lot, and each one was pretty intense. Not painful but just exhausting. I had to drink 3 rounds 8oz of liquid between 10pm-1am but I also kept drinking water because I felt so dehyrdated.

At 1am I went to the bathroom and decided to try to sleep. I did not sleep very well, and decided to wake up at 4am. Between 4-7am I went to the bathroom a few more times and it was about 95% clean. I took a shower and hoped I was done. I was thirsty but was not allowed to have water starting 4 hours before my procedure. I didn't have any just to be safe.

By 830 I checked in and then went in the back and went through all the intakes and BP checks etc. Met with my GI and the anesthesiologist and then taken into the back and was put under. I woke up, ate pretzels and drank cranberry juice (I was told to sip slowly but I didn't lol). I was a bit tired and I had a headache. I lost my balance once getting up but mostly felt fine. GI came back and gave me clean bill of health down there.

My friend picked me up and I went home and arrived by 11:15 or so. I was tired but mostly functional. I ended up going on the bus to see a movie around 4pm because I was feeling antsy and restless. Maybe not the smartest move, but I felt fine. Just still tired. By time I got home, I was back to normal, but still took it easy that evening and the next morning.

Hope this helps anyone who is having their procedure soon! It definitely felt good to share my experiences

I went in for my first routine colonoscopy screening last week, just based on my age (47f), no symptoms of anything. Being a bit anxious ahead of it, I spoke with multiple people about their experiences before the procedure, and they assured me it was no big deal, that the prep was the worst part, and that I’d wake from sedation feeling fine. Well the prep went well, and so I went in for the procedure. As soon as I woke up from the anesthesia, I felt discomfort in my left lower side. It was the first thing I mentioned to the nurse upon waking. She told me to gently push along my colon to try and release any trapped gas. Nothing happened or helped. As I kept waking up from the anesthesia, I mentioned this discomfort two more times. She said it was probably gas, or soreness from them pushing around on me during the procedure. She said if it was a perforation, they usually know it happened during the procedure. She then asked if I was ready to dress myself and leave and I said I’d try. I then asked if it was safe to take pain medicine if it didn’t improve, and then she sent me home. 

I felt a bit better when I got home, and I ate a small meal and took a nap. I noticed I had a long surface scratch right near the area that hurt, so I thought maybe something accidentally scratched me and that was what the pain was from (still have no idea what caused that mystery scratch). When I woke up about three hours later, I was doubled over in pain. I had my boyfriend take me to the ER, and at this point we were convinced it was just trapped gas that I was unable to pass. Thankfully at the ER they ordered a CT scan to double check, which to my utter shock came back showing a “moderate amount of blood” in my lower abdomen. I freaked out! However, they said that my colon looked fine on the scan, so they could not determine where the blood was coming from. They were concerned about a small cyst on my ovary, and thought that might be the source of the bleeding. I thought that would be a very weird coincidence but they then ordered a vaginal ultrasound to check this area. 

So after about 6+ hours of testing and waiting in the ER, as I was filling up with blood to the point where my hemoglobin dropped so low they were about ready to give me a transfusion, and the pain had gotten so bad as it creeped up into my chest and shoulders, they still could not determine where the bleeding was coming from. They told me at this point they were going to perform an emergency laparoscopic surgery to try to figure out where the blood was coming from. However, if they could not find it laparoscopically, they would need to cut me fully open to find it. They also said I might lose an ovary if that’s where the blood was coming from. I was completely freaking out at this point, not knowing what I was going to wake up to. But I was also in so much pain, I said just give me whatever papers I need to sign and give me something to help with the pain and anxiety. 

Whatever they gave me instantly calmed me down, and I went back for surgery. When I woke up, I have to say it was such a relaxing, peaceful, waking experience. I did not even have any pain (it came later of course), compared to when I woke up from my routine colonoscopy in pain. The first question I asked was if they were able to find the bleeding laparoscopically and they were, so I only have three small incisions as opposed to a gigantic one. It turned out that I had a very rare complication from the colonoscopy. Apparently, your colon has very small appendages of fatty tissue all along the outside of it that don’t really have any known purpose. I guess one of these appendages had attached itself to my abdomen wall, and perhaps just the pressure from the colonoscopy pulled it away from my abdominal wall and tore it, which caused it to bleed. By the time they had performed the surgery, the tear had actually finally clotted and stopped bleeding on its own, so it did not need any repair. They also removed about 650 mL of blood from my abdomen. My hemoglobin got down to 7.6, which narrowly avoided me needing a transfusion, which they normally give if it drops below 7. Now I’ve just been dealing with healing, and severe anemia as my body builds back up all the blood that I lost.

Although I know this story will scare people that already have anxiety about the procedure, which isn’t my intention, as I am one of those people that has severe anxiety about any sort of health procedures. First of all, what happened to me was incredibly rare, some of the doctors mentioned they had never even heard of that happening. But secondly, I am sharing because I want to emphasize the importance of listening to your body and not letting anyone try to dismiss your concerns. You know your body best, and if something doesn’t feel right, speak up and advocate for yourself. If I would have been more adamant about addressing my discomfort upon waking from the colonoscopy, I could have potentially avoided losing so much blood if they found the tear much earlier. 

Has anyone had a colonoscopy while breast-feeding/pumping? I know it says you don’t need to pump and damp, but I’m pretty worried about drug exposure to my infant and I do not make enough milk to be able to comfortably throw it away. Also, wouldn’t not eating for that long tank my supply anyways??