colonoscopy scheduled. Ways to avoid fainting because of the prep?

[Derek1987]

So yeah the last time I had bad diarrhea, I was definitely on the verge of fainting. Sorry TMI. This is my first colonoscopy. I am guessing I'll be drinking magnesium citrate. Is there a way to avoid potentially fainting from this?

 

 

[MTRJ75]

Tons of electrolytes? 

[Sarah Tee]

I have to have them a lot (got my colon removed so actually I have a sigmoidoscopy).

You can explain that you are prone to severe dehydration and fainting and ask for “modified prep” and IV fluids.

For example, in my case, I don’t have to take Fleet, just be on clear fluids for x time and do warm-water enemas at home.

Still hard not eating but better than having burning diarrhea!

I don’t have a colon, so my instructions won’t necessarily work for someone who does, but they should be able to come up with something.

(Fleet is the nasty stuff they give us here to clean out the bowel. Not sure what’s in it. May be magnesium citrate. Tastes foul!)

[MomtoGiuliana]

I've had two - plus a prep for surgery bc cancer was found (everyone should get a colonoscopy when recommended it can save your life!).  I didn't feel as badly as I expected although it wasn't a walk in the park.  I told my dr about POTS.  They made sure to start me on IV fluids as soon as possible when I came in for procedure.  You are on IV fluids during and after the procedure as well.  They gave me more time in recovery, drinking fluid as well as IV fluids. 

For me I think having the procedure first thing in the AM was best.  I think you can be drinking fluids up until a few hours prior.  So I was drinking a lot of fluid up until I went to bed and when I got up during the night--I do not believe I became technically dehydrated during the prep. It's not great getting up in the AM and unable to drink fluid, but to me,  getting up and going straight to the procedure (and have someone to help) was preferable to sitting around for several hours at home unable to drink anything.

Overall it went OK for me.  Hope all goes well for you.

[Sushi]

I just had one and they gave me go-lytely, which I think is the more or less the same as Miralax. In the US the protocol that I have had in recent years is to drink 2 L of the prep the night before and two more the next morning. In order to get some sleep, that means scheduling the actual colonoscopy for early afternoon. I don’t think I got dehydrated but it certainly is a difficult procedure to go through – mainly the prep as as soon as I got there I asked for IV fluids and they started them immediately. Then I had a light dose of propofol, woke up and they gave me cranberry juice to drink. I find that eating Jell-O on the prep day makes it easier and also things like chicken broth which give you some balance of electrolytes. I did not feel faint but I did drink a lot of fluids besides the 4 L prep.