The night before a colonoscopy - Bowel Disorders Message Board

taape · 05-12-2006, 12:55 AM

What did your doctor give you to drink or pills to swallow to use as a laxative the night before you had a colonoscopy? I was given a 4 liter container with medication that you add water to. It says it can cause nausea and vomiting & I know tastes awful. I'm having stomach problems and can't drink that big of a volume of anything, especially not a cup every 10 minutes for almost 3 hours. I'm never constipated and haven't ever used laxatives. Is this correct that your supposed to drink 4 liters! Are there any alternative ones to use? Thanks for any answers.

MrsQueeZ · 05-12-2006, 03:25 AM

I had the 4 liter jug as well. I didn't think I was going to make it! Plugging my nose during drinking helped a lot. Once I got to 3 liters, I just could not take it anymore!! My doctor said I was prepped well anyway, and it is usually the ones who lie and say they drank it all that turn out to not be prepped well enough.

midwest1 · 05-12-2006, 10:54 AM

It doesn't have to be that hard.
I was prescribed a jar of powdered polypropelene glycol, which I was told to mix with a half gallon of Gatorade, any flavor but red. It tasted exactly like Gatorade, only slightly thicker... and of course, was half what you're being told to drink.
When the drink was gone, I had to take 2 Dulcolax tablets.
I had no cramping at all... which I had feared. I started drinking at 2 p.m. and was "cleaned out" by bedtime, so it didn't keep me up all night.
This prep was very tolerable and relatively easy. Ask about it.

daisy01 · 05-12-2006, 11:59 AM

I had a container of senna granules mixed with a cup of warm water then 1 hr later I had to take 1 sachet of picolax with 1 pint of water then again at 3 hrs later and had to drink at least 3 liters of water as well until 4 hrs before the procedure. the stuff just tasted like slightly salted lemonade and wasnt foul. However, i still didnt manage to drink it all though lol.
I had no nausea or cramping and felt ok no dehydration or anything. It was the fasting that was the worst bit for me lol
( daisy loves her food)
the nurses gave me a coffee and a chicken sandwich once I was awake.
I did have niggly tummy ache the day after but think that was due to the biopsies they took.
i hope all goes well for you taape

jimmielegs · 05-12-2006, 12:27 PM

Mine was a breeze: Mix one ounce Phosphosoda with 4 ounces OJ or other strong-tasting liquid. Drink this at 6:00 p.m. the evening before your procedure.

The morning of your procedure (about six hours before), do the same thing (one ounce phospho w/4 oz. OJ).

You will be on the pot in the evening, but the clean-out is just liquidy but not unpleasant. You will sleep fine. It's not like you're gonna have an "accident" while you sleep.

In the morning after the dose, you will again be on the pot, off and on.

Easy-peasy. Do check with your doctor before you do this, but really, drinking five ounces of liquid ONCE in the evening and ONCE in the morning is waaaaaay easier than drinking every hour.

Do not sip your drink; chug it. The phospho is salty and the strong OJ disguises the taste pretty well but, still, gulp gulp gulp (pause) gulp gulp, and you're done! Good luck.