Colonoscopy - is it ok without sedation?

[Peonytimeguys]

I have to have one next week and I really don't want sedation. It's early morning, and I'm hoping I'll be back at my desk by 1pm. They've offered gas and air, or even sedation mid way through.

Wld love to hear if people have gone through it without, but perhaps its a person to person thing.

I've been sent Plenvu as my prep 😭

@Thomastuchel oh no! Is this your first ever one? Some people can tolerate it but I couldn’t. It tastes like salty mango and it made me heave. I hope you can cope with it better!

You won't be going back to work. You'll be dizzy from the gas and air, very uncomfortable and uncontrollably farting like a trumpet.

PS, some of the farts may not be trustworthy, depending on how good the prep was.

Yes it's my first prep 😬 I'm even more worried about having it now

I had nothing like that but I wouldn't do anything wihnojt sedation

Yes they do

I didn't feel uncomfortable and didn't fart at all.

The prep I had was very salty and difficult to drink..

I bought some belvoir elderflower cordial and didn't put too much water so that it was very sweet which took away the taste of the prep.

I had plenvu. The second one is worse than the first. Keep it chilled and drink it through a straw with your fingers on your nose stopping you smelling it. That was advice from my sister, I followed it and got it down no problem. The sooner it works the sooner you’re empty and can get some rest!

I felt perfectly fine after my colonoscopy. I think I had sedation, I can't even remember.

I had no wind at all and my husband just drove me home and I just had dinner and went to bed.

It was the prep. That was the worst part because it is very salty and so it is very difficult to drink.

I bought some elderflower cordial and made it up quite strong so that it was very sweet and I took a sip of that after each sip of the prep to take the taste away.

This
the bowel preparation may still work for up to 24 hrs after and you’ll be inflated with air it’s very uncomfortable I don’t think this is realistic at all

I didn't fart at all. I don't know why.

Maybe you could ask to do a different prep? I've drunk picoprep tonight (I think picolax is more available in the uk and is essentially the same thing) and its not bad at all.

I wonder if I requested different prep they would send it

@Thomastucheli think it depends on the trust. They did send me moviprep when I told them I had used plenvu and struggled with it. It’s worth trying.

my trust also doesn’t let you leave in a taxi. It will vary.

Going against the grain but I recently had just a sigmoidoscopy without sedation so they only go in the lower part of the bowel, and I found it a lot more painful than I anticipated. It felt like a deep spasm pain and I was really tensing to get through it, and I would say I have quite a high pain threshold.
But I absolutely needed to go home and rest as I was full of gas and had stomach cramps the rest of the day

But how did your co workers feel ? 😂

I get the best sleep ever after the sedation.

Neither did I. colonoscopies affect people differently.

I didn’t go back to work as I’m retired but after resting at home for an hour or so I went shopping, then cooked dinner. I felt fine. I’m sure I could have done the desk job that I used to do.

Its worth asking, that's what I did as they wanted me to drink a prep that's 4 litres of the stuff!

We are all different and if you are mentally prepared to manage without sedation, go for it. I knew I wanted sedation.

Yes, it's strange isn't it.

I would have expected some wind, but I got nothing and felt absolutely fine afterwards. I also expected to be ravenous, but I wasn't.

No. It absolutely is not

They don't at my hospital. They ask for the number of the person who is picking you up. They have to come to the department to collect you, you just can't leave.

On every occasion I've had these I have had to be collected by someone. Seems it varies but the drugs they sometime use can make people a bit vulnerable afterwards and the NHS do bear some responsibility if something went wrong.