I have had skinny bowel movements ever since I had hemorrhoid surgery in the late 70s and I have always thought it was because the dr. must have made the anus smaller with the stitches. In a couple of days I am going to have a colonoscopy and I am wondering if this means it will be even more uncomfortable for me. I am 71 years old and thought I was too old for this procedure, but the dr. said he does them up to age 80 or more. I am getting really anxious about this exam and have had thoughts of cancelling it. Is there a lot of pain involved when the dr. inserts the apparatus?
Hi,
I had a colonoscopy on Friday, and it was not at all painful. I am much younger than you are, but I don't think that age matters much in this respect. The feeling of having the scope inserted in the anus may be uncomfortable, and if you do have a narrower anus than most, this may be especially so, but the feelign lasts only very briefly. If I were you, I'd request a sedative. I got one, and its effect, besides sedation, is tha tyou won't remember much if anything from the procedure afterwards, so even if it hurts you won't remember.
Don't be afraid of having a colonoscopy, you will be knocked out and you will not feel a thing. I dreaded mine but got through it just fine and so will you! I told the nurse how nervous I was and they took me to a different waiting room then wrapped me in warm blankets, I got to watch a movie and they gave me a mild sedative. By the time I was taken to the room for the procedure I was so relaxed and doctor and nurses were joking with me; the next thing I remember I was waking up and the nurse was asking me if I wanted ginger ale and soda crackers.
The worst part is the prep, however, it is necessary and you can get through this too. Just remember to drink a glass of water for every glass of the Go-Lytely solution(or whatever they use nowadays) to get that nasty taste out of your mouth, plus to avoid dehydration because you will be on the toilet afterward. I have a cousin who sets up her laptop on the toilet, not a bad idea since she works from home and no I am not kidding LOL!
Good luck and please let us know how you are doing afterward. I hope you get some answers soon.
Thanks for replying. Midway through the prep I was called by the nurse who said my blood test showed my blood was too thin for the procedure and I have to do it all over again today and go tomorrow. I take blood thinner and have been off of it for 6 days now and it is still too high. I doubt if it will change in one day. I am bummed over this and have no enthusiasm about starting over with the magnesium citrate. I have to get a blood test this morning to make sure we can do it. So I have no news except to say as much of the prep as I did, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I'll report back.
I have completed the exam and learned I have Crohn's Disease. That explains the narrow bowel movements - my lumen has narrowed because of the disease. The exam was almost fun compared to the prep. I watched everything on the screen and very little pain.
