That is a great idea!
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So, another colonoscopy coming up and I’m trying to make sure I’m doing the right prep procedure for me. In the past I’ve done Golytely (never again) and Prepopik with a low residue diet and magnesium citrate the day prior to prep (worked well). This time they’re giving me Clenpiq, low residue diet, Miralax for a week prior. I’m thinking of adding the mag citrate a day prior also.
Anyone see anything wrong with this? I apparently have issues getting cleaned out, so I want to do everything possible to get there.
I’d ask your doctor about adding the mag citrate to the regimen he’s prescribed. It’s possible it will dehydrate you too much, or do something else untoward.
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I don’t know if I want to, I’m most certain they’d charge me for another $220 for a phone consult with a consulting nurse, unpaid by insurance.
Last time I did it on my own, and it made prep day far easier, since there was less in my colon. The instructions for this prep do add the mag citrate on prep day at midnight if you haven’t had a bowel movement. I was thinking that someone on here always did the mag citrate the day prior, was it @Nrdsb4?
No, that wasn’t me, though one of my preps involved taking a dulcolax the day before taking the prep.
I have done the low residue diet a day or two before the prep just to make things a little easier.
A study was recently published which concluded that doing a low residue diet rather than a clear liquid diet the day before was perfectly fine in terms of getting a clean colon by the day of the procedure. I don’t think the docs I worked with would agree. They see too many people coming in not cleaned out. This makes it impossible to feel totally confident that they adequately assessed someone’s potential for having a growing cancer.
I don’t see one day of clear liquids being that great of a hardship. But I practice intermittent fasting, so I’ve gotten used to doing without for short periods.
If further research reinforces the idea that a clear liquid diet the day before a colonoscopy is done is actually not necessary and that a low residue diet perfectly suffices, I’d bet that more people would be willing to have the procedure done.
I can’t speak to the wisdom of doing the mag citrate in addition to the prescribed regimen. But if you do it, do pay attention to your electrolytes. Dehydration can cause problems with muscle cramps and heart palpitations. Give your doctor a call and relay that you’ve had problems getting cleaned out in the past and that you are wanting a little extra insurance.
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I was originally intending to do one week of low residue diet and two days of clear liquids. I did say that I had an issue getting clean before, and they recommended one week of the Miralax and five days of low residue diet, so I guess I’ll try that instead. Two days of clear liquids is really hard, and I don’t fast like you do, so my body is definitely not used to that.
I think I’ll email the nurse, maybe they’ll manage to not charge me for one short email. 
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My husband did have some cramping AFTER the colonoscopy so I had him drink electrolytes and water.
We haven’t had problems with prep, including last day of clear diet and miralax 48 hours prior and 2 quarts of Movi-prep & 2 quarts of water the night before.
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I can deal with the prior day clear liquids lots better than the many hours of prep logistics in the wee hours before morning procedure. Last time I was able to grab 30 minutes rest in the den/guestroom connected to downstairs bathroom. When I told this to a friend she said, “I just brought a pillow and blanket onto the bathroom floor”.
We start the prep liquid at about 6 or 7pm for two hours or so and then are able to sleep normally at 11 or so in the evening.
Methods vary. Per my doctor’s instructions (with SuTab?), I had to get up around 3am with various steps over the next few hours.
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Start times can vary and depend on the time of the appointment and the type of prep.
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I’ve “enjoyed” reading this thread for all the tips, and I’m getting my first colonoscopy on Tues (9am).
My doc does clear liquids the day before, and 8 dulcolax with miralax in 64oz gatorade. It starts late afternoon tomorrow and ends in the evening. I’m not nervous about drinking the fluids. But my digestive system can be slooow, so I’ve been nervous about getting a clean prep.
I’ve been taking miralax most days. Plenty of “action” yesterday, but nothing today (uh-oh).
Though my doc said nothing about it, I’ve tried (and failed) to follow a low-residue diet this week. I’ve been eating a lot of chocolate and homemade white sourdough, and eaten almost no meat (yay). But I can’t stay away from the crunchy peanut butter and oranges (boo). I’m helplessly addicted to fresh produce so I caved and ate a massive salad for dinner last night (uggghhh).
However, my spouse ate whatever until prep day and had no issues. So I hope I’m okay? I’ve decided to pregame today and I’ve just eaten my last real meal: cheesy eggs and toast. Though I was bereft at not including veg I had the bright idea to use onion powder and I survived.
I’m going to do a long bike ride now, then go on the clear liquids. Luckily, I LOVE jello. I might take a dulcolax tonight before bed just to get things started. I have an arsenal of methods at my disposal, so if I’m still feeling backed up after I start my prep tomorrow, I’ll act earlier rather than later.
One of my kids had bad post-surgical opioid-induced constipation once. We had to use increasingly intense measures, and the kid was a great sport about it. Thank god the suppository worked because the next step was the enema. So we have an inside joke in our house about how “going full enema” is best avoided 
.
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Hey, I have my colonoscopy Wed, and have had a hard time getting cleaned out before, so they recommended the low residue diet (think I’ve done okay on that so far), and extended prep. That includes daily Miralax. One thing that was included on my Clenpiq bowel prep (that I start at 5pm on Tues, for a 9am procedure on Wed), is that if I haven’t had a bowel movement by midnight, to drink a bottle of magnesium citrate. I’m planning on just doing that around 9-10pm if nothing happens, just in case, with plenty of electrolytes.
You can easily pick up the mag citrate from your pharmacy. Also, make sure and use wipes (Kirkland brand has great flushable ones), your butt will thank me later. 
Anyways, the magnesium citrate is definitely something to keep in your arsenal if needed!
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To add, my mother went to Urgent Care, looking for them to give her an enema because she was severely constipated. They said nope, we don’t do that any more, drink magnesium citrate. That totally cleaned her out. Wish we would have been told that with my dad, who was hospitalized for a twisted colon, it was awful. Severely constipated for too long, nothing worked. Don’t know why they didn’t have him do that, and we were too dumb and trusting to ask. This started his severe decline, and I wonder if he’d still be alive if this awful situation had been avoided.
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Colonoscopy twins, yeah!!! And a fellow slow-colon-haver, too.
Thanks for the reminder to pick up wipes (which I don’t usually use), and mag citrate. One time I took a zofran for nausea, and a full bottle of mag citrate didn’t even touch the ensuing backup (yikes). But I think it would likely work just fine right now. Like you, I’ll do it earlier than midnight if I feel it’s needed. Thanks for the tip!
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Wow, if a bottle of mag citrate doesn’t help, that’s a serious backup! Good luck to you, hope it goes well.
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As an aside to the magnesium citrate issue, I had to go to five stores to find it. Three of the stores had no stock, and Safeway had one that looked like it was under recall. Finally found a non-recalled batch at Fred Meyer. Looks like a couple of years ago, the FDC massively recalled a large number of brands of magnesium citrate, due to serious, life threatening possibility of invasive infections (in particular for immunocompromised people). Most of the stock on Amazon look like recalled brands, but you can’t find the NDC or UPC # unless you get the bottle. A few others available, prices massively jacked up and not available to get ASAP. So…I guess I would have taken the recalled bottle, since I’m not immunocompromised, but fortunately I got ahold of some otherwise. Why does everything have to be so complicated?
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Whaaat? That is wild. I found some at CVS and they only had store brand. I’d assume the stores would have pulled the recalled items from the shelves?! Now I’ve gotta check mine…
Looks like the description matches the recall (CVS brand lemon 10oz), but the UPC is different. The expiry is 12/2025 so it must have been manufactured more recently. I wonder if they changed all the UPCs once they got safe batches?
So glad you found a safe bottle!
ETA: interestingly, I can see that my doc’s instruction sheet has a line that has been whited out. It used to say to take a bottle of magnesium citrate, but it’s been replaced by 4 dulcolax tabs. So they used to do 4 dulcolax and 1 bottle mag citrate, but have gone to 8 dulcolax. Perhaps it was the recall that caused the change. Yikes!
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H and I were just given one packet of miralax for 48 hours before and then Movi-prep the evening before. It worked great.
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Sadly, those of us with lower motility in our bowels don’t have the usual experience, and have to jump through hoops to get it done. Or maybe it was the five chocolate chip cookies I ate for breakfast (hey, that’s a light breakfast, isn’t it)? 
Problem is, now I don’t know, and I’m paranoid!
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