Colonoscopy Question

[dopaminegirl]

Hi everyone, 

 

I've got my first colonoscopy coming up on May 1st. I know a lot of you have had them done in the process of getting a diagnosis, so I was hoping you could answer my questions. 

 

My prescribed prep is 2 liters of NuLytely between 5 and 6 pm the night before my colonoscopy (following a day of clear liquid fasting), and then the next morning another 2 liters 5 hours before my colonoscopy. (so at 7am since my procedure is scheduled for 12:00).

 

My question is, how incapacitated should I expect to be the morning of my colonoscopy with that second round of NuLytely?

 

I only ask because I'm a graduate student, and therefore insane, and I'm trying to figure out if there is any chance that I could run in to lab the morning of my test around 10 am to do about 20 minutes of work. It would simplify my life and keep my boss happy if I could....

 

Thanks for your input

 

 

[cyclinglady]

I would not count on it! First colonoscopy, I ended up in the ER for 8 hours after passing out in the hospital hallway after the procedure. The second was better, but I was weak from all the complications of celiac disease (anemia, etc.).

I am sure everyone has a different story.

[mamaw]

Good  question... I know  for  sure  I couldn't  do that.... it  depends  how  how  cleaned  out  you get  at the first  go.....I get  leakage  no matter   what...(clear  & liquid ) but  I  couldn't  be  out  & about....

good  luck

[ravenwoodglass]

It is very doubtful you will be able to go anywhere. Do be sure to bring someone with you to the procedure also as they most likely will not allow you to drive home or even take a cab. Plan on resting or just quiet activities the day of the procedure also.  Perhaps your boss will let you make up that 20 minutes the next day or the day before. 

[kareng]

Are they doing this to check for Celiac disease? Because a colonoscopy usually doesn't go up high enough to do that. Are they doing an endoscopy, too?

[dopaminegirl]

So, no going in to work. Good to know.

 

Kareng- I'm getting an endoscopy done at the same time. I've already had one to identify an ulcer, and my duodenal biopsy came back as Marsh 1 (not definitively celiac) but at that point I had been gluten free for about 8 months. Because my GI symptoms still haven't resolved all the way (I suspect due to the fact that I haven't been overly cautious about cc), my doctor wants to do a colonoscopy to rule out occult crohn's disease (basically crohn's that doesn't act like crohn's). To paraphrase him, he thought that while they had me under they might as well do another endoscopy to check on my ulcer. I suggested that, since he was going to do an endoscopy, perhaps I should do a gluten challenge so that we could get a more definitive answer with regards to celiac (my blood test was inconclusive because at the time I was seeing a doctor who thought a 1 week gluten challenge would be enough. Sigh. She meant well). He thought that was a great idea (Great doctor btw, if anyone near Ann Arbor, MI needs a recommendation, he's worth the wait). So I've been on gluten for 5 weeks, two more to go, then I'll get the blood test, the endoscopy, the colonoscopy and then, so help me god, I'm never going near another piece of bread because I feel like CRAP. If you're curious I have another topic I started recently "Generalized Inflammation..." in this section where I go into detail about my attempt at diagnosis thus far and the tests I've had done so far. Pretty sure my doctor is stumped at this point, but fortunately he's a great doctor and isn't going to give up that easy.

 

ravenwoodglass - My husband will be there with me. Thankfully, he works from home (on his computer), so he can just bring it along and do work in the waiting room. He's been through this once for my first endoscopy, so he knows what to expect (with regards to loopiness and caretaking).

Unfortunately, it's not a 20 minutes I can make up on a different day because it has to do with a multi-day time-sensitive experiment I'm doing. I'll try to figure out if someone can cover for me. Better that I know now so I have time to line it up.

 

Thank you all for your input, I really love this community!