Yikes! I had mine on Monday. They told me to bring the cpap and leave it in the car -- basically there was no plan for me to sleep, but if there was an emergency then they would have to put me under general anesthesia and I would need it for the recovery room and for any subsequent hospitalization. They gave me fentanyl and versed for conscious sedation, but I really wasn't sedated -- I was a little dizzy for a minute or two right after they pushed the drugs in to the IV, but that passed really quickly. I could feel the tube going up -- it feels like abdominal cramps in various spots as they go in, and then as they pull the tube back out it's kind of irritating, but not really a big deal. I think it feels a lot like being constipated -- there are various nerve cells in your colon that tell you that there is stool in there and this sends you to the bathroom to go, and you are relieved if you can and feel yucky if you can feel stuff in there and you can't push it out. Having a tube up there that you can't push out is the same sensation.chriml wrote:I went to see the doctor today and told him about my sleep apnea. I'm suppose to get it done on Feb 9 th. He said I would not be able to get sedation with sleep apnea unless I was hospitalized. I do not want to be hospitalized so now i have to decide if I should do it without sedation or not get it done. I am 51 and have had no problems so far. Could anyone tell me how painful it will be without the sedation? I am starting to panic and had having this sleep apnea it sucks. Thank you
The bowel prep involves WAY more cramping than the procedure, though, and after 12-18 hours of explosive diarrhea the "constipation" is kind of a welcome change!
But, anyway, given that 20% of the population has apnea, the gastroenterologist better get used to doing colonoscopies on people who have it. I would consider his hesitation to be a warning sign -- my gastro does 20-30 of these per week, and on average 4-6 of those people have apnea. One of the most important factors in a successful colonoscopy is how much practice the doc has in doing them -- the chance that he will miss something AND and the chance that he will perforate your intestine both go way down with a really experienced doctor doing the procedure. Getting all freaky over the apnea is a sign of being an amateur, and you need a professional. Yeah, I know that everyone has to start getting experience on someone, but this guy can get experience on someone else.