Any recent Colonoscopy participants here?

[Slinky]

I agree w/you about the Fleets PhosphoSoda prep, IDamTnBoy - BUT - "they" have taken the phospho soda off the market and it is no longer available for scope preps. *sigh* Magnesium Citrate is another low volume not too bad tasting item that can be used for a prep. The key to both, and part of the problem w/them, is that patients didn't follow up w/as much clear liquids as they should after downing the scripted dose.

[chunkyfrog]

My doc prescribed Movi-Prep, which was $40 because it was off formulary!
They said I could mix it with Crystal Light, but I didn't because it was tolerable and slightly worse tasting than Crystal Light.

[Slinky]

A lot of people like to mix w/Crystal Light. I did not. Crystal Light is just too sweet, especially after a clear liquid diet for two days most of which is sweet stuff. There are so few salty clear liquids. Boullion and broth are about it.

[idamtnboy]

I agree w/you about the Fleets PhosphoSoda prep, IDamTnBoy - BUT - "they" have taken the phospho soda off the market and it is no longer available for scope preps. *sigh* Magnesium Citrate is another low volume not too bad tasting item that can be used for a prep. The key to both, and part of the problem w/them, is that patients didn't follow up w/as much clear liquids as they should after downing the scripted dose.

What I used wasn't the phopho soda, I don't think. In fact I'm not familiar with that all. It's labelled oral saline laxative. The main ingredients are monobasic sodium phosphate and dibasic sodium phosphate in a 2.5 oz bottle. It's manufactured by Unico Holdings. I happen to have all this info only because the bottles looked like they might be neat little bottles to keep for who knows what kind of use someday!

[vipertec]

I'm having my first one in May ,I'm not looking forward to the laxative part of it ,thats for sure

[idamtnboy]

I'm having my first one in May ,I'm not looking forward to the laxative part of it ,thats for sure

My experience wasn't near the ordeal I've heard many others comment on. I think drinking clear liquids plus using the laxative instead of drinking a gallon of "yuk" makes a big difference.

[fiberfan]

I've also heard that the MiraLax prep is more palatable as well.

If you throw away the flavors included with the prescription "lytely's", it has about the same taste/feel as Miralax. I have never used the flavors with the prescription stuff so I don't know how they taste. The prescription stuff has electrolytes to help keep balance good but the active ingredient is the only ingredient in Miralex. I switched to Miralax because my doc thought I might be reacting to the electrolytes and found out it is the active ingredient I react to though my gastro doc says it isn't absorbed so I "can't" be allergic to it.

[howkim]

I agree that the prep is the worst part. My last one had another problem - I was so dehydrated that the nurses couldn't get the IV started. The anesthesiologist had to do it.

[MaxDarkside]

Watch for rebound constipation a week to 10 days post procedure. The blockage nearly sent me to the ER yesterday on nurse's orders. It was a hell of an ordeal that I won't go into for obvious reasons. Keep drinking lots of fluids and lots of fluffy foods (fiber) for numerous days afterwards, particularly if you are on de-watering meds, like HCTZ.

[torontoCPAPguy]

I must have had the best prep of all. It was simply a bunch of tablets to be taken with enormous quantities of plain water. And nothing but clear liquids the days before (24 hours). Nothing happened at all after taking the pills. Nothing. Until about midnight the night before..maybe 1 a.m. We have since had seatbelts installed on the ensuite toilet. I'm not talking about the car kind of seatbelts.... I'm talking about aircraft seatbelts.... nope.... make that fighter jet seatbelts. Lap, shoulder, the whole nine yards. We even got out my old football helmet and strapped that on so we wouldn't bang our heads during the night. They didn't need any anasthaetic at all. I slept through the whole procedure, snoring loudly. I was afraid to fart for three days afterwards if you know what I mean. Progress! Go figure.

P.S. This is also excellent treatment for a nagging cough by the way. You are scared to death of coughing.

[Slinky]

Hey, you are all cleaned out after the prep, go ahead and fart to your gut's content, no odor 'cause there's nothing in there to cause an odor. The scope staff WANT you to fart to get relief from any residual air they installed during the procedure to help the scope pass thru the colon.

... The main ingredients are monobasic sodium phosphate and dibasic sodium phosphate in a 2.5 oz bottle ...

sodium phosphate is phospho soda by another name. Phospho soda is most likely a proprietary name that Fleet uses. Its the ingredient, the sodium phosphate, that is the culprit for FDA's rescinding its approval.

In place of phospho soda I've used Magnesium Citrate, two 10 oz bottles in split dose and I just drank it, well sipped it, straight w/o cutting it w/some flavored clear liquid and then followed it w/plenty of clear liquids and ALWAYS make sure w/ANY prep to drink AT LEAST the recommended amounts of fluid, and preferably MORE than the recommended amounts to prevent dehydration and kidney stress or damage. Magesium citrate is an 0TC product.

[torontoCPAPguy]

Thought I might bring a smile to someone's face with my last post.

Up until the last prep which was as described, they would give me magnesium citrate in a small pepsi like bottle; I found the trick to taking it was to put it in the freezer for a while beforehand and then taking it down in one go.... must drink lots of water with it to get cleaned out well. Two bottles of mag citrate. My late grandfather told me the freezer trick and it does indeed make it quite palatable. There are a multitude of preps used by different endo's as a matter of personal preference. If you come up with one that you tolerate well without requiring seat belts and a helmet you need to tell the endo before hand and ask if that prep would be okay. And when they say liquid diet beforehand, that is what they mean.... I made the mistake of taking in some coloured jello one time and had to rebook.

[2flamingos]

I had one (my fourth) about 2 weeks ago. For this one, I was sedated with propophol, so I am not sure what all they did re my apnea - I do know they had oxygen blowing up my nose at a pretty good clip before I went nite nite. The previous three were verset and demerol - and I woke up during the procedure on two of them

I digress - I had no issues with my apnea during the procedure and they did not mention any problems.

[SleepingUgly]

Indeed, the color of your liquid in your liquid diet is critical--some colors are not allowed, as they will look like blood!

[idamtnboy]

sodium phosphate is phospho soda by another name. Phospho soda is most likely a proprietary name that Fleet uses. Its the ingredient, the sodium phosphate, that is the culprit for FDA's rescinding its approval.

They didn't exactly rescind its approval, but they sure are telling docs to be cautious. Here's a quote from the FDA http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/ ... _content=7 They also refused Fleet's request to specifically allow professional labeling for bowel cleansing. I think Fleet may have decided to just forget it if they couldn't label it for prescription use and therefore charge an arm and a leg for it. OSP is obviously still available since I bought it two weeks ago. It is limited to 45 ml bottles. Basically docs are just being told to be careful. Who knows, maybe industry pressure in 2008 kept the FDA from totally banning it. Or, maybe they decided the risk just isn't great enough to ban it. The FDA did require a change in box labeling to warn not to use more than 45 ml in a 24 hr period except as directed by a doctor.

"Though rare, these are serious adverse events associated with the use of oral sodium phosphates — both prescription and over-the-counter products," said Janet Woodcock, M.D., director, FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. "In some cases, these serious adverse events occurred in patients with no pre-existing health factors that would have put them at risk for developing kidney injury. We cannot rule out, however, that some of these patients were dehydrated prior to ingestion of OSP products or they did not drink sufficient fluids after ingesting OSP products."

In 2006, the FDA issued a Science Paper and a Healthcare Professional sheet describing the risks associated with the use of OSP products for bowel cleansing. Since then, as part of the Agency's postmarketing surveillance, the FDA has received reports of 20 unique cases of kidney injury associated with the use of OsmoPrep. Of the reported cases, three were biopsy-proven cases of acute phosphate nephropathy. The onset of kidney injury in these cases varied, occurring in some within several hours of use of these products and in other cases up to 21 days after use.

OSP products should not be used by children under 18 years of age or in combination with other laxative products containing sodium phosphate. FDA is recommending that OSP prescription products be used with caution for bowel cleansing by the following at risk groups:

people over 55 years of age,
people who suffer from dehydration, kidney disease, acute colitis, or delayed bowel emptying, and
people taking certain medicines that affect kidney function, such as diuretics (fluid pills), angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (medications that lower blood pressure) angiotensin receptor blockers, (used to treat high blood pressure, heart or kidney failure) and possibly nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (similar to ibuprofen and other arthritis medications).