Colonoscopy Prep…

@NeedleFeltedFox

You were absolutely right. I got a 9 for my prep which is supposed to be really good.

I have to go back in a month and I have the Picolax for that appointment already.

Thankyou for your advice.

Thankyou @NeedleFeltedFox

Take the picolax. If it was only 20% effective they wouldn’t give it to you. I’ve taken both and yes picolax wasn’t as effective because moviprep makes you basically pass clear water and picolax was a clear yellowy colour - but it did the job and I got a clear result. I assume it’s because of the sheer volume of liquid you have to drink with moviprep that makes it more effective.

if you’re a particularly anxious person I guess you could ask for moviprep to put your mind at rest but if I had to have another one I would 100% want picolax again

@NeedleFeltedFox

Thank you for your reply.

I've just read a BMJ statistic that moviprep is 80% effective and Picolax only 20%.

I haven't taken liquid medicine since I was a child and I used to vomit it straight back up.

Not sure what to do now.

You’ll still want to follow the advice re chilling the mixture, drinking it through a straw to miss your tastebuds, use lemonade or something to take the taste away. Picolax wasn’t as effective for me (still passing yellow liquid at the end instead of clear) - you do need to drink all of it. Theres a lot, lot less to drink than with moviprep though so you should be able to battle your way through it.

I've requested the picolax. Thankyou so much for recommending it.

Is there anything else I should know or that would help?

I just held my breath and knocked it back quick as possible, then some squash to take the taste away.

Lady in the waiting room with me told me she did a similar thing but with some honey instead of squash.

Well done you and glad to hear you had positive news. Gastroscopy is horrific and I couldn't stop gagging. I had to have one and it was horrendous even with sedation but they couldn't give me a lot cos I've got high pressure.

Oh well done OP. I was just coming along to say that if I had to do it again I’d definitely skip tea the night before, not much point really.

You did all of that without sedation?!

👏👏👏

Glad it was all OK, OP. I have Crohn's so have had loads of scopes in my time. Moviprep is the worst; I always throw it up. If you need to do this again, ask for Picolax instead. There's a lot less volume to get down.

Have had colonoscopies for many years and Moviprep really is the worst part!

I now manage to drink it all, as I mix it with sprite / 7Up, so that it tastes like flat lemonade when I drink it. But it took me a while to come up with that trick and I did have a couple of colonoscopies were my prep was recorded as poor and viability were therefore poor. I wasn’t asked to do it again until my next routine one, so I guess it depends why you’re doing it.

I used chewing gum straight after which helped I didn't finish the second batch but it was clear liquid by then

Glug not glue

The trick I found is make sure it’s cold, use a straw, take a good glue, followed immediately with a sip or two of elderflower cordial (other non red squashes will do) it takes the taste away straight away

Ritz biscuits/ crackers
Plain crackers yes

Yogurt is dairy - id avoid

Custard and rich tea biccie are ok

Oh yeah and one leaflet says plain yoghurt is fine but the other leaflet says to avoid.

I had one a couple of weeks ago and found the first lot ok. It was a bit viscous but couldn't understand what all the fuss was about. The second lot was much harder to get down and don't really know why but managed it. I've got to do it again in a couple of weeks cos one of the polyps was quite flat and they couldn't remove there and then cos the surgeon needs to do it. Oh joy!!! But just try your best to get it down you cos you don't want to have to go again if your bowel isn't clean enough.

One thing I'm confused about is what you can and can't eat. I've got 2 leaflets. One says cheese is ok but the other says cottage or cream cheese. It says you can have ice cream and custard but then the other sheet says no. I've also read you can eat plain biscuits like rich tea but the one I have says no biscuits or cake. Are plain cream crackers OK? Last time I was super strict with my diet cos I wasn't sure which I found harder than thd moviprep.

Hope it all goes ok. I managed the first one but these second one made me sick. Has followed the various dietary recommendations in day before, and despite vomiting up a lot of the second one it all went ahead ok. They did say if they couldn't do it because I had been sick there were other options if it had to be tried again. Best of luck

I didn’t manage to keep it down either, it made me vomit from the start. Luckily mine wasn’t on a Monday, I spoke to someone on the ward and they gave me a different solution to drink, I can’t remember the name but there was much less of it and it didn’t make me vomit at all. Good luck OP.

Had one just last week. You'll probably be ok.

I've had two and each time I've only drunk one full dose and about a quarter of the other. It was coming out of me like water by the time I had finished.

And each time I was told my prep was excellent.

DH cut me off six inches of brand new hose pipe to use as a heavy duty, quick flow straw! About four hard sucks downs a glass. Glass of lemonade and baby wipes on the side. If any gets vomitted up, it gets no further than the lips and is swallowed straight back down again with lemonade. Can you tell I have done this many, many times?