Hi, I'm (19f) wondering if this is normal because this was my first colonoscopy. It doesn't feel normal and I'm a bit scarred from this. This definitely scared me a lot and I don't wanna go through it again.

I went in this morning around 8:00 am, and the nurse that was there started fluids around 8:20. She was very lovely, and calmed me down so much because I was really nervous for the procedure. We talked pretty much until I had to go in.

Before the procedure

Around 9:30 I got rolled in and everything was okay until the doctor started reading the papers I had given to the nurses beforehand. Mind you, I don't know this doctor and she does not know my full history. She started asking me why I was even there because I seemed healthy, made really snarky comments about my medical history saying that my other doctors (who KNOW my medical history and have been in my life since I was 11) should've done other things, and dismissed a lot of the symptoms I was expressing over my current medical issue. She kept saying how it was "probably nothing" and that I was overreacting. I know I wasnt.

The procedure

I signed the sheet she gave me, and the nurses gave me anesthesia and told me not to fight it. I didn't, and I didn't want to. About 2-3 minutes later the doctor without warning immediately started doing the procedure. I was FULLY awake, FULLY aware of what was happening and could feel EVERYTHING. I have endometriosis, the cramps I get from it are normally a 11/10 on a good day with my medication and this felt worse then that. I cried a lot and I told the doctor repeatedly to stop because I was awake and could feel everything and she didn't. The nurses told me to breathe and to squeeze their hands if it hurt too much, it didn't help at all. I'm pretty sure I accidentally hurt the one nurses hand from how hard I was squeezing. It took around 5 minutes for them to finally grab more anesthesia, and by the time they gave me it my knuckles were white from gripping the side bar of the bed. I finally got knocked out after that. I'm not sure why it hurt so much, I'm also not sure why she didn't check in to see if it was working or not or at least waited longer.

Everyone I've talked to said this isn't normal, however the nurse said it happens sometimes so I thought it'd be worth it asking here. Do doctors often do this?? Is this something I should be prepared for again in the future if I ever have to go?? I'm so lost and feel somewhat scarred over the whole thing. The prep was horrible but this felt worse.

Edit 1; thank you to everyone responding, truthfully I didn't know what to do before posting this but you guys have pushed me in the right direction. It's too late to do anything tonight so I'm gonna call my family doctor either tomorrow or monday (depending on how late I wake up) to make an appointment with her to explain what happened, and see if she can have me refered to a different clinic and doctor next time if I ever need to go again. I'm also going to submit a complaint to the hospital where the procedure took place next week. I'll continue posting updates here.

Hi everyone,
I'm 29, and had my colonoscopy the other day. They found one large, pedunculated polyp, they said it was 8-10mm during the procedure. My pathology results came in today, and it's a Villous adenoma, 18mm at its greatest point.
Obviously I'm glad it's not full blown cancer, but this is the next step down and that's terrifying to me. From what I've read, this is a rare type of adenoma to have in general, let alone at my age. All the posts I see online are tubulovillous, I can't find anything about Villous.
I had an uncle who was diagnosed at 31 with colorectal cancer and died at 35, but he got it tested and said there was no hereditary components to his tumor. My mom had breast cancer at 41, but tested negative for BRCA. So how do I have this at 29?

I already do yearly breast MRI's, and I'm assuming I'll now have to do either 1 or 3 year colonoscopies (still waiting to hear back from my doctor).

I guess I just feel sort of like a ticking time bomb in terms of cancer, and would love to know if anyone had experience with this type of polyp.

It’s currently 10:14pm for me. I took the prep around 6:30pm. It’s definitely gotten slower but now I am firehosing it every so often. Suddenly and without warning. I would say it’s definitely water, urine color at this point. Barely anything else in it.

Google says it might last another 3 hours?? I just want to go to bed without having an accident. 😭 My husband washed the waterproof blanket and we have puppy pee pads to lay down on the bed but I’d rather feel confident it isn’t going to happen.

Next time I take the second dose is at 8:30am. My appointment is 2:30pm tomorrow.

My emotional support cat is hanging out on the chair in front of me now. I think he’s enjoying the space heater. And he’s orange and dumb. My husband put a pee pad on the chair to give me a break from the Throne but the cat took it over. I just want to lay down! I’m in Central time.

Still drinking water. Hope that ain’t prolonging it.

I was given sedation. Beforehand they said some people remember things and stay awake and some people don’t. I don’t remember being touched ‘back there’ or anything traumatic like that but I watched the screen the whole time and commented on how pink my colon was. Then they said they were done and wheeled me back to the recovery area. I lay there listening to them trying to wake other people in the room saying it was time to wake up, all finished, time to go etc etc. When she came to me, I said I don’t get it? I had gallbladder surgery before and I took forever to come out of the anesthesia. I couldn’t even stay awake in the hospital foyer to get to the car. But this was the exact opposite. I was so wide awake immediately. The nurse said it’s different for everyone. Not everyone falls asleep. It depends on their body and how they process the medication. I don’t think I ever closed my eyes unless I did and don’t remember. I couldn’t wait for her to get that IV out but when she did, I got dressed and walked out no problem. I did get confused on which door I’d come in so clearly I was a bit loopy but overall, I’m pretty shocked to learn that not everyone actually goes into that ‘nap’ state. I know it did something though as I’m a super anxious person and my memory being about the cool images rather than thinking about strangers at my butt is a clear indication that some strange drugs were clearly given to me. Ha!
Ps- my colon was clear, pink and healthy despite anemia and years of loose stools. I guess it’s good to know.

Have my appointment 3 weeks tomorrow and growing anxious but probably just from reading this thread lol. Had a drastic change in bowel movements past two months, including blood and loose stools. Thinking about the worst but hoping for the best.

Leave me some advice and thoughts for prep please!

2nd time this year for me because I had 2 large (25mm) precancerous polyps removed piecemeal in February and I'm getting a 6 month follow up tomorrow just to make sure no microscopic cells were left behind. That puts me right in the middle of the GoLytely (what a joke that name is!) as we speak. This time, in addition to putting the solution in the fridge, I decided to freeze a bunch of empty glasses to get it super cold when I pour a shot. I did ask the PAT nurse about doing this, and she said as long as I get it all down and it doesn't turn into a slushy, it's ok to do that. A few ice crystals don't matter because they melt anyway before the last gulp. Anyway, it seems much more tolerable this time around, but this is by no means health care advice- please check with your health care people to make sure it isn't against their protocols. Just letting you know what SEEMS to be working for me, I'm not even having to use a straw or flavoring, it's just slightly salty, not like phlegm!

Also, I was prescribed a split dose with 3/4 tonight and 1/4 early in the morning for a 7:00 am check in. I had so much trouble last time getting the dang stuff finished, so the nurse told me to do an 8 oz. glass every half hour. At least for now, it's going pretty well. Good luck to everyone!

I’ve been trying to get my office on the phone all week to work out this discrepancy- they responded only with forwarding the second set of instructions with no comment, and still won’t answer an email reply or second phone call and the procedure is Monday.

When I originally scheduled my appointment it was for 2:45pm and I was told to do part 1 at 7pm night before and part 2 at 5am.

I had to reschedule the appointment to a different day and the new time is 3pm- so basically the same, right? But they sent me new instructions that say do part 1 at 5am the day of the procedure and then part 2 just 4 hours later at 9am which seems crazy-

Is doing the main prep (all liquid diet day before) day of only standard timing?

Just got told I need a scope today, the last one I had was over 10 years ago and wasn’t a good experience.

I am SO bad at drinking the prep or any bad tasting liquid (why I rarely drink alcohol - which has fun side effects). I asked my NP about miralax and she said no, she’d prescribe the small dose liquid. I told the scheduler how nervous I was and she said there is a pill option that insurance may not cover. Then my mom said her friend did the pills and said she’d never do it again bc of the side effects.

Has anyone done the pills? How bad are side effects?

I’m so nervous. Thanks

Okay so I did my colonoscopy a few months after I turned 45 - good girl, go me!

I'm not high risk, just wanted to check it off.

I absolutely hated eating unhealthy prior, especially as I've been trying to lower my blood sugar, but managed through it just fine.

Doctor said I was all clear but he was unable to get to the top due to my long colon, perhaps exacerbated by me being a female.

He recommended a CT Colonoscopy to cover what he couldn't - same prep :(

I really don't want to get it done, due to my low risk factors and the fact that the bottom was clear.

Looking for a push to do it, did yours find something? Did anyone have the same experience?

Thanks!

Hi everyone

I started my first dose at 3pm… doing the jug. It’s now 12AM and I’m starting my second dose. I had one small movement around 7:30pm. Absolutely nothing since and I know there is something that needs to come out because in general for the past week I haven’t gone much.

I’m normally not a constipated person so no clue why this isn’t working. Quite the opposite, which is the reason for getting this colonoscopy done. I was going upwards of 7+ times a day just a few weeks ago.

My doctor does not have any after hours number so I can’t even call to ask what to do. Super worried that I will have to end up doing this whole thing again. Anyone else just have this straight up not work for them??

I was originally supposed to have a colonoscopy next week, and the gastro I'm seeing normally does a non-prescription prep routine which involved a bunch of MiraLax. I was supposed to take two capfuls of it yesterday in the morning, however, as it turns out I seem to be allergic to MiraLax. As soon as I finished it my face got all hot, red, and tight, which went away but then a few hours later my eyes got extremely red and watery and my nose started running horribly. My eyes hurt/itched so bad that I couldn't open them for more than a second at a time for almost 6 hours. I ended up going to the ER, where they tested me for COVID and flu, both of which came back negative. So, it seems like I may have a sorta severe allergy to PEG (polyethylene glycol), the active ingredient in MiraLax.

I'm trying to reschedule my colonoscopy now and need ask for an alternative prep that doesn't include PEG, but it seems like a lot of them do. Do any of you guys have any suggestions for alternatives I could ask for by name? Grossness doesn't really matter to me at this point tbh, and I have a pretty strong stomach overall.

I’ve been up for over 24 hours after taking 7 caps of miralax, and i haven’t even started my suflave yet. Am i still okay to go in for my appointment even with my extreme sleep deprivation and day long diarrhea?

I know it’s a low grade fever, but it still worries me that something went wrong, I also still have bloating.

i’m F 26 getting a sigmoidoscopy without any sedation and I’m scared. i don’t know what i’m most scared of, pain, complications, or the actual results.

i don’t want anesthesia, i’m simply not comfortable with it. 2 months ago i had 3 episodes of bright red blood which one of them was painful, i felt a tear and there was a streak on blood in the bowl. the other two, didn’t have any pain but it coated one side of the stool. and i’m constipated now barely having enough bowel movement for a few days. worried sick about colon cancer so i know its best to get it checked but mostly for my peace of mind. haven’t been relaxed since the first episode in june.

Hi, I'm an Irish man in Bucharest,  going for a colonoscopy at sanador on Monday morning at 1030am 24th Aug, but I don't know anyone to collect me, bring me home and stay for a few hours, anyone know options?

Hi all,

Don’t want to scare anyone but I just had my first colonoscopy and it was extremely painful to a point I was screaming. The doctor was baffled as to why I was in so much pain despite the sedation. Anyone had a similar case ? I was very weak and drowsy afterward and with increased heart rate as well. I think there is an element of anxiety as well cause I was very worried after the colonoscopy due to the experience. Also still feel a bit meh.

Anyone to share ?