Colonoscopy

[dixie_belle]

In a moment of weakness, I let my OB-GYN talk me into having the dreaded colonoscopy. Now I've been stressing ever since it was scheduled. I'm not concerned about the actual procedure, I'm concerned about the prep. I don't drink a lot of fluid on a day to day basis. I have my coffee in the morning and then nothing until I have a glass of pop at night with my dinner. I know, I know, that's really bad but it's all I can handle. So the doctor starts off with "you drink a gallon of this" and I stop him right away and say that's not going to happen. So we have whittled it down to two 32 ounce bottles of gatorade (or sprite) with an entire bottle of miralax mixed with it. OMG. Luckily I have from noon on Monday to midnight to get it down. Has anyone ever done this? Does the miralax make it taste yucky? Or gritty?

Although I have a few extra pounds on me now, I am a recovering anorexic. I don't eat or drink large amounts of anything. And if it's an odd color or tastes yucky, I can't force it down. I can go for days without eating or drinking anything because it's not that important to me. And because I've done it before (for a long, long, time).

So, while I really want to be good, I'm very concerned I won't be able to choke down the miralax and the test will be for nothing.

I could simply buy some peri-colace and divide the bottle into thirds and take 1/3 of it about an hour apart the day before. That would pretty much clean me out, as well. But I want to do what the doctor suggested.

So any of you who have done this, can you let me know? Oh, and I know I'll be tied to the bathroom pretty much from noon Monday until I go to bed. I can deal with that.

 

[Matt73]

I'm not really sure what you're asking. I'm very familiar with Anorexia and other eating disorders (my identical twin brother was severely anorexic), but are you saying you're afraid to drink this laxative because you can't physically do it? Mentally? It sounds like you are still dealing with Anorexia (I suppose you are never not dealing with it). I would really talk with your doctor about your concerns and/or your therapist (if you have one).

 

[dixie_belle]

Yes, I think having anorexia is sorta like being an alcoholic. You never get over it, all you can do is be "in recovery". It is really easy to lapse back into it. I just have a mental block against eating/drinking large quantities of anything - even if it is really good tasting. My mental block makes it physical, at times, I'm not really sure which it is now - mental or physical. Perhaps it's a combination of both. And we won't even talk about what all this has done to my body. It thinks there is a famine about to happen so anything I eat gets stored as fat - to sock it away for the next famine. Sigh. And my mental body image - well we won't get into that either. Lots going on here.

What concerns me most is that the gatorade will taste bad with all that miralax mixed with it. I'm going to have a tough time drinking that much liquid anyway. And I have tons of food related hangups. (won't eat it if it looks funny, has lots of color, no sandwiches, no salad, the list goes on and on.) And I feel like a big baby for not just saying, yeah sure, I can do that. I mean I want to but I'm not sure. And I want to be a good patient, but I'm really stressing (which isn't helping, either).

 

[shorthorsemom]

Hi. Miralax has zero flavor or texture even when you dissolve the whole container in the gatoraid. Don't pick red gatoraid. Too much dye..not allowed my doctor said. Not gritty no taste. Easier than any of the other laxatives anywhere. U will be living in the bathroom as you said. Miralax really has no taste. Not thick either. Just is like drinking plain gatoraid.

 

[Riverrose28]

I've had two of these tests and never had to drink a gallon of anything. My doctor prescribed a little bottle of whatever, I can't remember the name, but you drank it with water. Yes don't go far from the restroom. Please talk to your doctor and tell them your situation and see if they can't prescribe something other then a whole gallon of stuff.

 

[shorthorsemom]

I didn't drink a gallon either. One big bottle of gatoraid. I had to take some tablets too.

 

[Sonya]

I've had a few and have done the prep many ways....one was pills, can you ask if that's an option. They still want you to drink due to dehydration but the drink is not what cleans you out, it was the pills...I can't remember the name of them though.

 

[Carolyn R]

Don't think they give or at least don't like to give the pill anymore. Last time my mother went, the pill was no longer an option. She really wished it was, it was the easiest prep she had taken.

 

[vickie gee]

My last one (third one) was threee weeks ago. The stuff they give you nowadays is so much easier. You will do fine. You can mix the stuff with water but I have done the last two with ginger ale. I had to drink it followed by 32 oz (I think) of water within an hour. Bathroom time was not as bad with the new stuff. Make sure you buy wipes with aloe and vitamin E . Less irritation than the old ones with alcohol in them. YEEEOWW! Next morning around 5 am I had to drink a second bottle and more liquid before going to the surgery center. Honestly, I was able to sleep all night. It was a breeze compared to the one I had six years ago and even the other three years ago. Just sip constantly and you can get it all down. Let it be mind over matter. The most difficult part for me this time was being number 18 out of 20 procedures the doctor did that morning. He tends to be overbooking due to getting fired out of the office he used to be in. I will be changing doctors when I have to have this done again in 3 years.

 

[sfmini]

Miralax is great, no taste and no texture. Seems like every doc has a pet prep. My last one was the drink the day before and day of. Never again for that one! I take sleeping pills and when I woke up, well let your imaginations go...... What a mess!

As for the procedure, great drugs! I did learn though, the drugs wore off and I asked for more, they asked me the pain level and since my 10 is a total knee replacement I didn't give a high enough number and he made me tough it out. Won't make that mistake again either!

 

[shorthorsemom]

No pain... walked out finished after an hour, did my barn chores that evening... felt fine. zero pain.

 

[Margo_C-T]

I was told that the 'little bottle of something' is no longer an option...distressing, since it's what I'd chosen for my previous 3 colonoscopies! I recently had my 4th one---didn't keep the actual instructions I was given, but included was taking a number of Dulcolax tablets, then mixing a whole 12 oz? container of Miralax mixed into two quarts?maybe even 4 qts

? of Gatorade(yep, NO red or orange; only the original or lemon-colored), the evening before the procedure(along w/ a strictly liquid diet on that day),drinking half? of that mix beginning at 5-6 PM, every 15 min., then then starting 6 hrs. before the check-in time(for me, that meant getting up at 3:30 AM, as I'd chosen to have the procedure at 10:30, and had to check in at 9:30, because I didn't want to have to endure another half-day w/o 'real' food!! )consuming that by drinking 8 oz? every 15 min. until it was gone. Indeed, there is no problem w/ the Miralax affecting the taste of the Gatorade...it doesn't at all. I don't particularly LIKE Gatorade, though...so my main issue was getting that much down, period. It can help to hold your nose while drinking; it effectively cancels out ANY taste. My instructions said that if you started getting nauseous, to quit drinking ONLY until the nausea passed, then continue!! Thank goodness, I didn't get nauseous, though I feared it might happen...!

The procedure itself was a breeze; off to dreamland, never knew what was happening. My daughter, who was there to drive me home, told me later that I did not remember what I'd said to her for the first 15 min. or so after I woke up and began to converse! (hence why someone has to be with you to drive you home!) The prep IS the most unpleasant part, but if that's the worst thing you even have to endure, you're in good shape!!

Good luck; am sure you'll be fine!

Margo