Everything went great! This was a completely different experience than the last two colonoscopies I had. I’ll write it out here in case it helps anyone.
The prep I used was Clenpiq. It is a low volume split dose prep, tastes fine, like salty soda. I believe it’s considered the replacement for Prepopik (which might be discontinued). It worked very quickly, took 25 minutes to start working. Doctors are not crazy about this prep, because if you don’t drink a large enough volume of liquids to go with it, you’ll get plugged up and not be cleaned out. I drank significantly more than was required. I did NOT have to use my emergency stash of magnesium citrate to get things moving. Glad I didn’t do that “just in case”, because that would have been too much. The doctor said I was completely cleaned out and she was able to see everything.
I believe what REALLY helped me was going on a low residue diet 6-7 days prior, which is extremely hard, because it’s avoiding all the things I normally eat. No nuts, seeds, popcorns, fruit or vegetables (except for cooked potatoes and carrots), no whole wheat/whole grain anything, avoidance of fiber. It’s a really unhealthy way to eat. I was down to chicken, eggs, cheese, white bread, white noodles, that kind of thing. Fortunately chocolate and ice cream is on the diet. ![]()
Mirolax every day for a week.
The prep day was very easy (except for maintaining a clear liquid diet all day, ugh), but I never felt bad, dizzy or drained, as I drank plenty of fluids (white grape juice, gatorade, chicken broth). What is interesting, and probably TMI, was that my bowel movements all just looked like sand from the very beginning. This was GREAT, because this time they only said small hemorrhoids, which is like a miracle for me. I’m not sure if it was because of the Clenpiq, or because I had no fiber in my body, or a combination of both things, but the first time I actually suffered for two years after my colonoscopy, so I need to repeat this prep next time for sure!
They gave me propofol, though I’d told them that last time they had to pull me out of it because my pulse went below 40. The nurse said she’d keep that in mind, and even though my pulse started out at 52, apparently it didn’t drop too low this time. Whew! Went to sleep, short procedure, slept through the entire thing. Feel fine, no polyps at all, which is a surprise, as I had polyps twice before. Glad it’s done and that the prep was easy as can be!