u/honda-nissan

Finally went under for my first colonoscopy Monday morning and now that the good drugs have worn off wanted to share some helpful details about the prep and what to expect.

First off, understand that everyone's bowels are different so what worked for me might need to be tweaked and adjusted for you. Unlike most people who are doing it for colon cancer screening, mine was ordered as they were concerned that my IBS-D and abdominal pain was actually microscopic colitis (a form of colitis diagnosable only by biopsying tissue samples). My food clearance time during daylight hours is insanely fast, and anything that I eat for lunch will probably be making its way out less than 6 hours later in watery format.

A week before the procedure they informed me I needed to go on a low fiber and residue diet. I cut out all of the lentils, raw veggies and fruits and switched to the shutin diet of eating frozen pizzas, chicken nuggets, fish sticks, pasta with alfredo sauce, reconstituted mashed potatoes, and canned vegetables. Hilariously, the low fiber and residue diet greatly improved my IBS-D symptoms.

Someone on here claimed that abstaining from solid food for 48 hours before your procedure would greatly enhance your prep experience. For me, this was true. I did not adhere to a total 48 hour fast but Saturday I only had 2 chocolate chip cookies and some leftover canned carrots to eat the entire day. Sunday morning at 5 AM (>24 hour before the 10 AM monday procedure) I ate my last meal before the procedure (2 eggs over medium and leftover powdered mashed potatoes). The rest of the time I was only on a diet of powerade, sprite, and sparking water. One thing I wish I had done was stock up more (literally) on broths and clear soups for the days before to keep the hunger away. Since I had mostly stopped eating so early all Saturday and Sunday I was dizzy with hunger pangs right up until Suprep filled my stomach with liquid.

Since I had to pick someone up at the airport the same evening I actually started Suprep a few hours late- did not get back until 8pm even though the instructions said 6pm. I found the generic Suprep (Lupin manufactured) to be tolerable- lemon lime flavor that was salty with a bitter aftertaste. I grew up eating bitter melon soups in the winter so it wasn't terrible, but your experiences will vary. 15 minutes after chugging the Suprep I was already on the toilet with my first water spray of the evening. I experienced minimal rawness and burning by making sure to apply petroleum jelly before the first shit. My toilet also has a bidet attachment, which is a great investment for these ordeals.

Overall, I had less than 10 watery shits that evening from the first prep. They were mostly just flushing out what I had drank earlier, since I had already mostly stopped eating and there was not a lot of solid waste to process. Back in May, the spicy orange chicken at panda express gave me such bad food poisoning the night before my alaska cruise that I was up from 2 AM - 6 AM with 20+ pure water spicy diarrhea shits. In comparison, the prep was far more tolerable and much easier to manage.

After fitful sleep I woke up at 5 AM to take the second prep dose. Another thing to keep in mind is that I had a gnarly chest cold the entire time so I was chugging red dyed robitussin DM and melatonin gummies right up until the second Suprep. I found that the Supreps were able to flush out the red dye out of my colon entirely (the watery shits progressively went from beet red to yellow over time) but YMMV. At the procedure my BBPS was an 8/9 so taking red dye did not impact the prep for me.

The day of the procedure I arrived early and checked in at the hospital. The staff were very professional and handled my colonoscopy very carefully. 10 years ago I had an endoscopy and the feeling and sensation were the same-- you're in a dim room with a crew of people giving you the good drugs (propofol) asking you BS questions to get your mind off the procedure and the next thing you know you're waking up. Since I had aggravated my cold (probably by not eating) a coughing fit woke me from the best nap ever.

Overall if I had to do this again I would still fast but change up my diet 48 hours beforehand to incorporate more protein and fat from animal broth or some other clear liquid format. I would also not advise doing this if you're feeling sicker than a mild cold. As far as the colonoscopy results, they took a few samples for biopsy and resected an 8mm sessile serrated lesion on my ascending colon. Pathology is still out on those samples so I will update when they come back in MyChart.