Colonoscopy - are they painful?

[colonoscopyhelp]

GP has referred me for a colonoscopy under 2ww due to heavy bleeding/positive FIT test . She said I’ll be heavily sedated throughout, won’t be fully aware of what’s happening and it will mean they can treat whatever’s wrong on the day .

She said she thinks I’ve probably got polyps, or colitis but not sure . Have had ++++ upset stomach, bleeding, incontinence and cramping for a while .

I was sexually assaulted a few years ago and I find smears etc absolutely terrifying, my last smear the GP took 25 minutes to get it done - and that was with someone I 100% trust - and I’m scared of what this will be like .

Are you lying on your side, do they cover you up etc?

You might also find that you dont fart at all afterwards. I never have, the team that do mine always remove as much of the gas as they can at the end of the scope (I don't know how but that's what they told me).

I agree with those who say the clear out is the tough bit. 2 days (iirc - it seemed like longer) of low residue diet and then an evening of super powerful laxatives and drinking gallons water and shitting. I did achieve 9/9 on the clean colon scale though so it was all worth it!

By the time I got to the hospital I was just very keen to get on with it so I could eat something.

For the actual procedure, I took the sedatives and slept through the whole thing. This included cutting out a couple of polyps they discovered while, err, “up there”.

I ignored the advice to get someone to collect me from the hospital and enjoyed the walk home.

So objectively there is nothing to worry about. Best of luck.

@Tufty383

Bagelsandbrie I think your experience is not the norm. I've had multi scopes for crohns disease and ulcerative colitis (yep I've been blessed with both!) . I've had scopes pre bowel surgery and at times when my whole colon was terribly inflamed to the point I was bleeding heavily multiple times a day. Its thankfully never been painful as you've described.

I really hope that’s true. I am actually trying to gear myself up for another one as I’m having a lot of gastric symptoms at the moment (I have a complicated health history) but my previous experience has completely put me off and terrified me.

I've had 3, and the first one they removed polyps. Thankfully precancerous. It was done under mild general anaesthetic. Last one, the day before admission I had a gastro-type attack of the shits and had to take immodium, so the prep took 2 days until clear.

I've not had pain, but perhaps the GA helps. Disclaimer, they've been done in France, not the UK.

I had one without sedation and honestly it was fine - I had ibs - it was a breeze compared to a smear test - now that was painful!

You can have a GA for this procedure.

Please go for sedation giving birth was a breeze for me in comparison and I had no pain relief for that! It completely depends on you and your body but you won't know how much pain you will experience until you are there in the procedure, I then felt trapped, it was awful for me.

I know someone who has had one and it was much better than she was expecting. Best of luck with it

You wear a hospital gown and shorts with a hole in the back.

When I had one I only remember feeling some pain very briefly but it wasn't bad, and they gave me pethidine. With the sedative, you don't sense the passage of time, so one moment you're lying on the bed waiting to be sedated, and the next minute it's all over and usually all you're left with is a couple of brief memories here and there.

While some people do have bad experiences, a colonoscopy is not typically a painful procedure. They have a bad reputation largely because of the preparation the night before!

I am having a colonoscopy and also the camera down my throat next week. I am really nervous and absolutely dreading both procedures and what they may discover.

I have piles and anal fissures so going to the loo is a painful experience even on a normal day and I really struggled to relax when I had a colorectal examination (it seemed very unnatural, sensitive and I was worried I would fart in the consultants face). I also have a really strong gag reflex and used to wee myself and wretch involuntarily even trying to take a covid test thank goodness I was working from home at the time.

Also really not looking forward to
the farting in public afterwards.