To ask if I can go to a colonoscopy alone?

[Lutherant]

Just that really, posting here for traffic. I have to have a colonoscopy (not urgently). I have a young baby and absolutely no support network nearby - none - except my husband. Husband would have to stay with the baby so there is no one to come with me. I wouldn't drive myself, I would get a taxi there and back.

Is this OK?

When you had your MRI did I diagnose exactly where your Crohn's was? Mine is in my small bowel so had 2 unnecessary colonoscopies because they don't go that far. If not in your large intestine then push for the pill camera

I believe it was throughout but I will double check - thank you.

I would go alone - have sedation and ask the staff to call your husband to pick you up - he can bring the baby.

I picked up my friend, she was slightly off her head for a while after the sedation. She may have struggled to get a bus or taxi home on her own.

I have had sedation four times. I went alone and although my husband collected me, it was in the car outside. Once I met him in town after and we went for lunch (I was starving!!). They just ask if you have someone to collect you, I said yes. They didn’t make him come in, they didn’t ask where he was, every time I went outside to meet him on my own (he didn’t enter the hospital).

Have always felt ok within 20mins after. I could easily have got a cab. They’re not going to imprison you, just wait until you feel better in the waiting room and then walk out and get a cab. Obviously call your husband and let him know you’re in your way home safely. I wouldn’t bother with the hassle on him collecting you in a cab with a baby.

I think perhaps we are talking about different levels of sedation here - I've been talking about being under a general anaesthetic, where you are completely out cold.

It is probably worth the OP clarifying exactly what levels of sedation are on offer, and what the restrictions afterwards are.

Most hospitals have cafe ect dh cab just hang out with the baby

Definitely don’t do it without sedation.

I’ve had a few and wouldn’t dream of one without sedation

Of course they won’t withhold it. People with no one to care for them going all the time

People don't seem to understand that while it is not a GA the meds for this procedure were fentanyl and midazolam the last time I had one. Both of these are serious drugs and the whole point of the midazolam is to make you forget what happened in the procedure. The NHS cannot let you go out in public with this drug in your system in a taxi ! Does it need to be spelled out? It takes up to a day for midazolam to be excreted by your body!

This isn't true but they'd be keen for your dh to collect you if you have the sedation and you will need someone to stay with you overnight and for the next day.

Hospitals aren’t prisons.

Just say you are being picked up and, after the procedure, tell them your husband has had to cancel and you are discharging yourself.

They can advise against it and make you sign a form that you are doing it against medical advice, but that’s it.

Hi op, I went alone and had a colonoscopy without sedation last year. Apparently I have a very looped bowel which made it worse but the pain was worse than childbirth for me. I'll be having the sedation if I do it again. That said, I was given my sandwich and walked part of the way home and the bus the rest and was pretty functional the rest of the day, unlike if I had been sedated.

I got my partner to take me as I was positive I wanted sedation but the nurse kind of convinced me to have gas and air. Was completely fine, and I also find smear tests painful so my threshold isn’t high

Good question. I'm now, regrettably, single. Siblings, etc., live hundreds of miles away. I have health issues that require sedation. Surely the NHS are obliged to treat you, and offer sedation if you request it? Let you sleep it off in a bed, at least? Maybe in a corridor... 😥

Southmead is like a bloody airport, you can't be lugging the car seat around there all day, especially if he's partially sighted.

Can you all get the bus over with the pram and ask for a taxi with a car seat for on the way back?

Yes, it would be better if he travelled separately to meet up with you afterwards OP. Otherwise he could be waiting in the hospital with baby for hours.

I've had a couple of colonoscopies.

If I had gone for sedation they would have required a responsible adult into whose care I could be discharged and that someone be present for the next 24 hours. I could have arranged the pick up but don't have anyone who could have taken the time off work and stayed overnight with me. I went for gas and air both times and it was intermittently painful but quite bearable, for me at least, and my pain threshold isn't especially high.

When I needed a diagnostic process where sedation was mandatory I had to be admitted overnight which meant waiting longer for my test. Not ideal but there wasn't any room for negotiation.

Have the sedation! Beg a friend to drive you home.

I'm thinking of trying to get a taxi with its own car seat there and back if I can, it'd be an easier solution.

I'm hoping my parents will help but I can't rely on them, they're always pulling out of stuff last minute. They said they would have my six year old when I was having my planned c section and pulled out two days before.

They could be waiting quite a while at the hospital (several hours) if they travel there with you to the appointment. I was about 6 or 7 hours last time I think, though that’s on the longer side - I think an emergency case had come in earlier which meant everything was delayed.

Why would you think that? I was discharged to the care of a teenager after sedation. My 18 year old picked me up.

I don't think DH needs to go with you, as long as he's there to take you home. Get yourself there , then call him and a taxi to collect you?

Sedation isn't a general anaesthetic. Sedation is either oral or intravenous but you are conscious throughout. It relaxes you and you are not likely to remember too much about the procedure. Some people can fall into light sleep. It is done at the dentist A general is when you are completely knocked out and an anesthetist is there throughout the procedure.
It would be very, verybunisual for the procedure that OP is having to be done as a GA. Usually only for patients that can't cope any other way.

Exactly. It is the same if you have sedation at the dentist. They will not do the sedation if you don't have someone arranged to pick you up after.

You can honestly do it without sedation. It’s not very nice but it’s manageable. Like you I had no one to pick me up so I just had to get on with it. And no sedation means no fuss afterwards.