Prepping For An Endoscopy

[Kat L]

When I called to schedule my endoscopy with my doctor's scheduling nurse, she asked me whether I wanted movie prep or something else. I didn't know what she was talking about and the doc hadn't mentioned anything like this to me. I had to check on something with my insurance before scheduling the procedure. When I called back later that afternoon she said that she checked with the doc and I didn't need movie prep or the like. Almost a week later, I got a call from my pharmacy saying a Rx was ready and when I went to pick it up, it was MoviPrep - a mega-laxative to prepare you for a colonoscopy. I didn't accept the giant box-o-laxative and told the pharmacist I had to check with the doc first.

The instructions and brochure they gave me about the endoscopy didn't say anything about a laxative and I think this a mistake. I plan on calling tomorrow to ask...but at the moment I'm a little confused and am beginning to lose confidence in this doc, or at least her office... Has anyone else had to do a mega-laxative before an upper GI endoscopy? Or is this likely a mistake?

[mushroom]

No you shouldn't have to take anything like that for an EGD, just fasting for 8-10 hours. Sounds like he is planning a colonoscopy as well. You need to clarify with your doctor. It could alll be a misunderstanding of what procedure is being done on the part of the nurse.

[Skysmom03]

Yep ... Same here. My husband and son fasted that was it.

[SMDBill]

I just had an endoscopy 2 weeks ago. My prep was fasting from midnight the night before until my procedure. I arrived there, they took blood and started an IV, then came to get me about 10 minutes later, wheeled my bed to the procedure room, told me what would be going on, then started the meds to put me under. I woke up later in recovery and that was it. No prep, no pain, nothing. Simple and in and out.

I'd definitely question a laxative and whether you're going through both procedures at the same time or not. And I'd also follow up to make sure your insurance isn't billed for an extra procedure if they don't perform it. If it got to the pharmacy, it probably also got to the insurance company.

[Kat L]

Thanks everyone!

I contacted my doctor's office and they confirmed that she will only be doing an upper GI and that the MoviPrep was completely in error. I also asked them to double-check the scheduling with the surgecenter and what they've sent to my insurance company.

My endoscopy isn't scheduled until December 28th, so they should be able to get it figured out by then. Though, this kind of thing does nothing to booster my confidence in this doctor or office... Nothing worse than a surprise colonoscopy!