<p>I’m in the same boat with Poetsheart (disclaimer- I has necrotizing enterocolitis brought on by antibiotic therapy post-surgery, so I wasn’t exactly having the normal colonoscopy).
On re-reading my post, Poetsheart and I need to be in separate boats. ;^D</p>
<p>To Panhandlelegal, do you have a flex savings account for health expenses? You could dip into it to pay for the colonoscopy. That is how I paid for kids’ vaccinations and now eyeglasses and so forth. We only have major medical coverage also. also, and this is my opinion, in the greater scheme of things, isn’t paying for some health expenses more important than paying for restaurant meals or vacations, if you have to choose?</p>
<p>Panhandlelegal, what state do you live in? I can’t imagine insurance not being required to pay for colonoscopy, it’s a STANDARD screening procedure! </p>
<p>Of course, here in Mass, insurance has to pay for everything - including birth control and fertility treatments - a benefit of living in a state with a huge medical industry with clout in the legislature. But I bet our premiums are higher than most other states to make up for it.</p>
<p>Researchers developing self-propelling probes that crawl inside colon</p>
<p>"March 27, 2008</p>
<p>As if the idea of colonoscopies didn’t sound uncomfortable enough, now researchers are developing self-propelling probes that crawl inside the colon and grip its sides with the aid of sticky films.</p>
<p>Still, these slithery devices could lead to better, safer, more comfortable colonoscopies to help uncover cancerous polyps.</p>
<p>Cancer of the colon and rectum is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer in the United States and the nation’s second most common cause of cancer death. The chances of beating or avoiding this cancer greatly increase with early detection. "</p>
<p>[Robots</a> tapped for colonoscopy work - Cancer - MSNBC.com](<a href=“http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23833830/]Robots”>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23833830/)</p>
<p>Our otherwise good insurance has never covered birth control, but covers prenatal care, labor and delivery and 18-25 years of health care for a kid–or any number of kids. What’s that about? I might not want to know.</p>
<p>Beth, you might ask them. My friend had a very expensive, high risk pregnancy. After delivery, when the insurance company denied her request for birth control coverage, she sent them a note detailing the thousands of dollars the last baby had cost, and requested they reconsider covering the birth control. They did.</p>
<p>The logic behind not covering birth control – and I’m not defending it, just explaining it – is that insurance is intended to cover financial catastrophe due to illness. Birth control is considered to be a predictable expense, and therefore you should budget for it yourself.</p>
<p>Again, not defending, just explaining.</p>
<p>HMOs have a different point of view – they want to keep you healthy. And in the last few years, many medical plans have decided to cover preventive care in the hopes that it will keep costs lower down the road.</p>
<p>I’ve never understood laws that allow insurance companies to deny coverage for birth control but require them to pay for Viagra! </p>
<p>Ooops, guess we’ve wandered a bit off-topic here, sorry.</p>
<p>OP: Thanks for the link. I found this one funny too!</p>
<p>[Sham</a> on you! - 03/30/2008 - MiamiHerald.com](<a href=“http://www.miamiherald.com/dave_barry/story/459885.html]Sham”>http://www.miamiherald.com/dave_barry/story/459885.html)</p>
<p>I had my first colonoscopy this morning. Piece of cake! The worst part was the prep. I don’t remember anything at all about the procedure itself. I walked into the doctor’s office at 7 AM and was out by 8:25 AM–and feeling great!</p>
<p>The best part is the peace of mind I get from knowing I have a healthy colon. Since the procedure itself was such a breeze, I think I’ve even talked my doctor-hating husband into having one.</p>
<p>I’m starting to wonder if there’s a easy answer to the prep, but the medical field doesn’t want to share… if the whole experience is as everyone indicates here (except the prep), we might have to worry about people randomly asking for colonoscopies so they can have a day of feeling great! Having the prep takes all the fun out of the loopy, re****l part afterwards.</p>
<p>If there is an easy answer, the physicians that I know personally haven’t been let in on the secret. They get the same fun prep that the rest of us do. If you can’t drink large volumes of liquid, ask for the Fleet’s Phoso-soda. You can drink the initial part quite strong not fully diluted (do it cold) and just get it over with and then drink the rest of the volume you need as plain water.</p>
<p>Thanks to this thread, I just had my first colonoscopy and endoscopy this morning. I was on my way home by 9:30 feeling absolutely fine and armed with the knowledge that I am OK. I needed the additional endoscopy due to chronic nightime heartburn. That procedure showed that I have GERD and a hiatal hernia…both I of which I had previously assumed that I had anyway. The worst part of the prep was having to drink 2 liters of the Miralax…I am not much of a drinker (I only drink half a glass of liquids with meals ) usually and I became very nauseated with the shear volume of liquid that had to be consumed within a 3 hour period. Also, I was up all night using the bathroom so fatique is an issue today. I also got a headache, which was probably due to the dehydration. The anesthesia was wonderful. I usually get very ill after general anesthesia but not with this stuff. So today I am taking it easy and thanking my lucky stars that all is well (I really did worry that I had a problem…ulcerative colitis and colon cancer run in my family). Thank you CC family for giving me the courage to go through with the procedure.</p>
<p>Congratulations, seiclan! Good for you!</p>
<p>seiclan - I’m so happy to hear that Dave Barry’s article inspired you to take care of this. You now belong to a brotherhood or sisterhood of people I admire (but I will do it when I reach 50, or have some other concern, whichever comes first).</p>
<p>as a side note, if there is ANY history of colon cancer in your family do NOT wait until age 50. I am 47 and had 2 precancerous tumors removed. My grandmother died of colon cancer.</p>
<p>Okay. I am bumping this up because I have my first one scheduled for the end of this week and I am being a big fat baby. I am not skittish and consider myself pretty brave. Didn’t really fret about childbirth, knee surgery, breast surgery. But this has me fairly freaked out. I am concerned about the prep (not really about the awful-tasting liquid–my guess is I’ll tolerate it. . . tolerably), but how can it not be all crampy and stuff? I guess I really don’t understand the mechanism. I also have this idea that it’ll last all night. (Unreasonable, I know.) And while I’m not concerned about the procedure, can anyone share with me how it was for your digestive system to wake back up? I have a pretty big evening planned the day <em>after</em> the procedure, and I’m fretting that I’ll be. . . I don’t know? Sore? Still having lower GI problems?</p>
<p>Somebody grab my hand and pat it.</p>
<p>Seriously, you will be fine. </p>
<p>As for the timing of your “need to be near a bathroom” it depends on the specific prep you are given. It usually starts about noon to 2 PM the day before and ends about 11 that evening. (Use lots of Desitin, Vaseline or something like that everytime you use the bathroom to protect the tender skin - sorry to be graphic, but this is essential.) You are NOT up all night. </p>
<p>On the day you are prepping you can have only clear liquids - lay some chicken broth and apple juice in store. If you really get sick of these, try honey and tea or just honey and hot water. I eventually just went for a teaspoon of honey for comfort. It was pretty nice.</p>
<p>Some preps have you take more ucky liquid the next morning, some don’t. In any case, soon you will be through intake and doped up, so the worst is over. As soon as you come out from the scoping they give you juice and jello. Yes, you do have some cramping the rest of that day but, for me, the bigger problem was being fully alert and functioning, but having some suppression of short term memory while the anesthesia fully wears off (brownies in the oven were forgotten! But DS still ate them even tho rock hard!). By the evening of the procedure you are back to normal. You are not at all sore (trusting you use the Vaseline …) nor do you have GI problems. By the day after, you will be totally back to normal.</p>
<p>Really, you will be fine.</p>
<p>That’s a very nice handpat, DA. I’m supposed to take four dulcolax pills at 5 PM the evening before, then drink the Awful Stuff, then get up four hours before the procedure and drink more of the Awful Stuff. I did buy a brand new tub of vaseline. Ick. Good tip about the honey. (And thanks for the “every time you use the bathroom”–honestly, I’ve never had to attend to that part of my anatomy and wasn’t sure when to use the vaseline!)</p>
<p>I’m planning on doing n-o-t-h-i-n-g after the procedure, but will make extra sure not to start any baking.</p>
<p>Well, if you are not starting till 5PM you may end up making bathroom trips till later than 11 PM, but at least it compresses the actual time that you have to deal with it! Also, just FYI the trips to the bathroom are really fast (like shorter than a commercial break) so it’s not like you spend hours in there. You spend hours <em>near</em> there, but you will be surprised how quick each trip is. </p>
<p>The prep is essential for a good read, so, although it is very annoying, it is really important.</p>
<p>p.s. good idea on the no baking afterwards!</p>