I had a colonoscopy in late November – first time for me. There isn’t a lot of experiences about this on the site when I searched, so I thought I would share my experience. I had this done with a draining seton in for a fistula and I still have an area that is tender from my January LIS.
Overview of the prep - Called Miralax/Gatorade
-Couple of days of low fiber diet. I did call the GI and said I could take me fiber supplement since I was scared about hard BM’s. So I took my normal Ѕ dose of Citrucel before bed.
Day before (THE BIG FLUSH) – liquid diet. I had enough Jello to last me a year. About noon I had to take 2 dulcolax laxative. Then I mixed a 13 oz bottle of Miralax with 64 oz of Gatorade. Had to drink this over a 2 hour period.
Day of the colonoscopy – Had to 10 oz drink magnesium citrate 4 hours before. This stuff was just nasty……..
The BM weren’t too bad since the diarrhea was non acidic. I used a ton of Vaseline to protect the area. I would go to the bathroom and then recoat since there was no holding when I had to go again. I was on the toilet so much I can’t even guess a count. The worst part of the “flush” for me was at one point I felt like I had the flu – chills, vomiting, and diarrhea of course. This passed in about 1.5 hours for me. Then I just continues with diarrhea through the night.
The day of the procedure- I was really paranoid about going in my pants on the way to the GI since the mag citrate flushed the system again in the morning. Luckily, I made it ok. The colonoscopy was painful at first. I guess the first turn it is common to have cramping. They gave me another shot of drugs and then it was good from then on. Weird sensation the gas being blown in….
Afterwards was actually the worst for me. I had tissue bioposies taken. So afterwards I was still having diarrhea with blood mixed in. This burned like hell no matter how much Vaseline I put on.