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Lower Gi Bleeding


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Just got back from a rectal exam with nothing found- ruled out anal fissure and hemorroids. Going to have to get a colonoscopy. Does anyone have advice for this procedure? A little anxious about the procedure and the results :/ Do they use general anesthesia for this?

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Sorry to hear you're having this. Different doctors use different ways of putting the patient

out. Actually, I've heard of people not being put under too tho.

I've had 3. The first time my

doc didn't knock me out totally and told me that I would just feel uncomfortable. That was a lie ! It

hurt so bad and I was told to be quiet and keep still. I stopped seeing this moron.

After that I made sure my doctor knew I wanted to be knocked out. I "think" I even asked

for a valium to take before getting to the clinic too. I didn't feel anything and wasn't traumatized

by the experience.

Tc .. D

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I've had two and they were both no big deal. They used fentanyl and Versed thru an IV. I did have a bad reaction -nausea- to the citrate of magnesium prep, so I won't take that one again! But otherwise it was uneventful. I hope all goes well for you.

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I had one 2 years ago. They knocked me completely out. BUT, I would ask this questions ahead of time. No way would I have it done while I was awake. The procedure and afterward I was absolutely fine. I will be honest with you though, because I had out of control abdominal pain and diarrhea which is why we were doing the test in the first place, the prep for it was miserable. The doc warned me it would be and they gave me extra fluids as soon as I got to the test facility and kept me a little longer in recovery to keep pumping some extra fluids in me since the prep totally clears you out.

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{{hugs}} I was in your position where the doc wanted me to have a colonoscopy and I felt so trapped between what I needed and my fear of having one. I posted your question here several months ago for the exact same reason. I initially had a sigmoidoscopy, which is a partial (lower) one, and was able to do that with two enemas (didn't want to drink the magnesium citrate? stuff, and they said ok) and no anesthesia. It was uncomfortable but doable, and the prep was tolerable. However, they found a pre-cancerous polyp (and I have family history of colon cancer) so they insisted on the colonoscopy. The good news.....being knocked out was absolutely no big deal. I was talking and then I was waking up!

BUT. I had a horrible reaction to the moviprep that they made me do in preparation. Let me say that I have a history of episodes of severe and intense shaking, no known cause, along with a seizure disorder, low bp, adrenal insufficiency, and reactive hypoglycemia (listing these off in case any of these are related to the shaking, may help someone determine their risk of this reaction). So I was kind of in fragile condition from not eating (I carefully drank broth for the sodium throughout the day-too much and I'm hyper startleable, but too little and I feel shaky and faint, blahblah) by the time I had to start drinking the moviprep at 5pm that night. The moviprep is divided into two doses (5pm and 3am, depending on appt time), over an hour period each. I waited until the dh got home before starting.....and then four minutes after starting to drink the prep, I felt a sudden heat flash, pressure, and then the shakes started. Dh and I sat in the ER parking lot in case it got worse, but "all" it was was intense shaking (which I know I won't die from, so didn't go in). It lasted about 45 min and then started to resolve. We sat there joking and reminiscing about meeting in college, kinda like a date. Same thing happened during the 3am dose (but we were in the parking lot before I started drinking it, as a precaution, because my seizures are nocturnal and I wasn't sure how I would handle it). I think I even had some little seizures while trying to fall asleep, jerking and not being able to speak. Not fun.

I'm not trying to scare you, but to help you understand the range of reactions and determine for yourself, since you asked. I was mad that the neuro and endo were so flippant about the prep and telling me I'd be fine. It may be a RARE reaction, but it still happened (afterwards, when I was trying to understand *why* I'd had the reaction, the endo said to ask the neuro and the neuro said he didn't know anything about the prep....argh!).

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Do you have EDS? I have had an episode of frank bleeding that was quite concerning not to be too graphic the toilet bowl looked like a crime scene, also had the upper GI bleeds the tar like poo. Had a colonoscopy which ruled out any nasties, oh this was done without sedation, that was the norm in the hospital I went to, no problem, got home quite quickly after the test. Anyway years after I found out I had EDS on discussing the family history of GI bleeds I was told by my geneticist that it was probably due the EDS.

So if you have EDS or another connective tissue disorder this could be the issue, hope it all works out well for you anyway.

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Not sure what your diagnosis is or symptoms are, but here is my story. I've had 2 colonoscopies and 2 upper endoscopies. I had both procedures at once in December 2011, post-POTS diagnosis. It took 6 months for all the docs to sign off on the procedure because my HR was too high (before we started the meds to get the HR down for the procedure, my resting HR was 110+). Fortunately, I had a GI doc who knew a little bit about POTS and was very cautious of the high HR.

Usually in these minor procedures, you have the option of an anesthesiologist (or their nurse) to be in the room monitoring you through the procedure...I would highly recommend this, even though it's an additional expense. Make sure when you go in for pre-op testing you TELL them everything (don't rely on them to read the piece of paper you fill out in the waiting room). In my case, neither one of the pre-op anesthesiologists I saw knew a thing about POTS (not surprised), but at least they recognized an excessive HR as an issue. The first time I went to get the pre-op clearance, they requested test results from various docs and concluded that I needed to see a cardiologist who would need to evaluate me and sign off. On to the cardiologist, who started me on metoprolol, and after a few adjustment (and 6 months later) I was cleared for the procedure by the cardiologist, as long as I took the metoprolol before the procedure. Back to pre-op for clearance, and it was almost halted. They eventually signed off, but stipulated that if my HR was too high at the time of the procedure, they would cancel it (this is not something you want to hear when you have to "prep" (aka, clean out your system) the night before and it is not a pleasant process.

Fortunately, I had had both procedures done in the past, so I knew it was no big deal. Wake up, go home, good to go. Knowing that helped me remain calm before the procedure, which ultimately kept my HR low enough for them to proceed. But, I also had to make sure I was laying down for awhile before the procedure (I asked to come in early to do this...it's the only way I can get my HR down and stabalized) and had to stay cool (I was given ice packs). For me, the colonoscopy is more of a nuisance because of the prep. The procedure itself is relatively quick and painless. I don't remember how I felt after the first one (back in 2004), but this last time, I was just a little sore for a few days, kind of like having menstrual cramps.

The moral of the story is, make sure you tell the pre-op anesthesiologist about your condition and any symptoms (HR, BP issues, etc.) so they can determine how best to handle the situation and determine if you need to take some of your meds the day of the procedure (or even come off some meds at some point before the procedure). Also tell them of any problems you may have had with anesthesia in the past (I used to have a hard time waking up, but ever since I started mentioning this to them, I usually wake up feeling pretty good). You may want to also get advice from the doc(s) who are treating your condition.

Hope this helps, and best wishes!

And in case you're interested in the outcome, they found remnants of internal hemorrhoids (which explained my bleeding), as well as gastritis and something else in the upper realm that I can't remember.

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