Enema advice

[DebsHubby625]

My wife has an appt this week for an flexible endoscopy and has been given a bottle of "Fleet" enema liquid to use before she goes to the hospital. Can anyone give us any advice on using this? Ie, applying it, how long does it take to kick in, and wear off??

She's worried about it, and is thinking of getting them to give it to her after we're at the hospital.

Any advice greatly received.

Just follow the instructions and it will be fine! If I can do it (gigantic wuss) she can. Flex sig is not a nice thing and she is probably worried about that. If she doesnt do it as instructed they might not do the procedure as it is important that the bowel is clean.

I think i had to do mine at about 5am so i just stayed in the bathroom - it doesnt take long but she should try to "hold it" for as long as she can.

Hope she is ok

It is pretty easy to do - she needs to find somewhere she can lie on her side, and a towel underneath is a good idea. It is perfectly possible to administer it yourself, or you can help her if she'd find that easier. It takes very little time to kick in, - less than 15 mins IIRC, - but don't dash to the loo as soon as you feel the urge - try to hold it in for a while until that is impossible. Once you have been to the loo, you won't keep feeling you have to go - it's not like a laxative,

But if she's really not happy doing it at home, then I'm sure the hospital would do it for her, but it's worth ringing up to check because they might want her to come in a little earlier for her appointment in that case.

Good luck - flexible sig is not much fun, but it's a fairly quick procedure, and hopefully it will help them sort out her problem and get her well again

Sometimes they offer a sedative for the procedure - if she wants this, she will have to have someone to drive her home afterwards. In fact even without the sedative driving would be hard as you tend to feel a bit crampy and uncomfortable for a couple of hours afterwards.

Thanks for the reply. Yes she is worried about the Flex sig, the prospect of doing this as well is making it worse. Does it take long for the effects to wear off? She doesn't want to get caught short in the car on the way to the hosp.

Thanks for the reply. Yes she is worried about the Flex sig, the prospect of doing this as well is making it worse. Does it take long for the effects to wear off? She doesn't want to get caught short in the car on the way to the hosp.

No it shouldn't take long for the effects to wear off, - once the enema has had its effect (which will happen pretty soon after she has it) then she won't want to keep going to the loo - the enema 'empties you out' as it were (sorry to be blunt !) If I remember rightly you take it about a hour or so before you go to the hospital (there will be a leaflet in with the enema telling you the timing of it all).

But honestly if she is very worried, do ring the hospital and ask if they will do it - I'm sure lots of people find this aspect a bit daunting.

And I know it's not a pleasant prospect, but I've had several flex sigs and they are far worse in the anticipation than in the actual procedure - everyone is always really nice to you, and treats you with dignity, and you are in and out pretty quickly - about 15 mins from start to finish, and a nurse will hold her hand and chat to her.
I hope it all goes well and she feels better soon

Thankyou for the info, that's reaLly useful to know. She's in on Wed and I really hope she's ok too. They think she may have Diverticulitis, and the camera is to be sure. She's had a stressful time with work for the last year and I think that that's had a big part in it.

All the staff are lovely. One thing she needs to expect is that patients often have a lot of wind afterwards as sometimes they blow air into you to open the bowel up. Just go the loo afterwards and let rip. You can watch the whole procedure on a screen which I found interesting. I didn t need a sedative. It wasnt really painful. A little discomfort but only at the start.