To feel a bit hmm after sigmoidoscopy

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To feel a bit after sigmoidoscopy.
Had one of these this morning after presenting with symptoms in December. Largely cleared up now but went along anyway.

First nurse was very nice, did the enema and everything. Then the doctor came through and opened the door of the room while I was still cleaning myself up, letting everyone in the hallway see me with my pants down.

He seemed a bit grumpy and didn’t really tell me much about the procedure, then proceeded to shove the colonoscope in without even telling me he was about to begin. He didn’t talk to me at all throughout the whole thing. The two lady nurses in the room were friendly enough, but they were busy doing paperwork so couldn’t really comfort me.

I was in visible discomfort at one point (no sedation), which one of the nurses pointed out to him, and he replied by saying it was barely even in yet. Just felt a bit humiliated. And then at the end he proceeded to have an ‘argument’ with the nurse about how many biopsies had been taken. Didn’t really instil confidence in me.

He also marked the bowel prep as ‘poor’ on my report, which I was a bit about since I held the enema in for around 8 minutes. I honestly would have shat on the floor if I had waited any longer.

At the end the nurse led me to the waiting area, where she ‘debriefed’ me in front of all the other patients which I also though was a bit . Although I didn’t really mind to be fair.

Just needed a rant really. Really hope I’m not needing to have that done again. They said they don’t know what the cause is, but it looks like Crohns . Said I would probably need a small bowel MRI to further investigate. I’m fed up of going back and forth with this especially during COVID where I’m paranoid about catching it in the hospital. And now I’m sitting here feeling sorry for myself with a sore bumhole.

Oh OP, what an unpleasant experience. He sounds a grumpy git, lacking in professionalism and bedside manner.
However, the “poor” bowel prep rating is no personal reflection on you- it just means there was still a lot of faecal matter in your bowel, making the examination difficult.
A lot of medical staff are under enormous extra pressure at the moment due to Covid, and, being human, may sometimes appear burned out, abrupt or ratty.
Try to um... put it behind you and just wait for your results. You could make a formal complaint, but I think the NHS has got enough on its plate right now, and if that particular doctor is stressed and on the edge, being the subject of disciplinary action could tip him over.

Babdoc
Oh no, I wouldn’t dream of reporting him, was just a bit unpleasant, as you say. I was at least expecting to be ‘walked through’ what he was doing, don’t know if that’s normal or not.

I’m just hoping I can get to the bottom of this sooner rather than later!

I couldn’t imagine any of my own colleagues behaving like that, OP, and normally, yes, of course they’d talk you through the procedure. I’m sorry you had a bad experience with someone who certainly wasn’t taught to treat patients like that at his medical school.
Let’s hope he is better at the technical side of his job than he is at patient rapport - that used to be the case with surgeons when I was a young doc, but even they have mostly got the hang of basic courtesy these days!
Best wishes for a good result from your tests.

He sounds like an awful doctor. But regarding the procedure itself I had one and it was awful, really screamingly painful. They said it should have been ah uncomfortable experience but not painful. No pain relief. a friend went into the same hospital a few weeks later for rhe same thing and he was told it was standard procedure to have a general anaesthestic!

OP

I had a similar experience with a cystoscopy a couple of years ago. My doctor was actually a very pleasant man when we had the brief chat beforehand, but when we went into the room for the procedure he simply shoved the scope in without any warning at all. It hurt a lot, and I got such a shock that I almost levitated off the table. I spent the rest of the procedure terrified. Some practitioners are simply inadequate :-(

I didn't complain about mine as I couldn't bring myself to do it because he was very pleasant beforehand, but actually I think it's important to complain about things like this in order to protect future patients. It doesn't have to be a rant, of course. If your doctor is so stressed by the current situation that he's treating patients like this routinely then IMO he needs to be taken off the rota until he can treat people like human beings again - with respect, and ideally a little empathy.

Oh no what a crappy experience. I have colitis so I’ve had a fair few camera tests and the Second one I had I’ll never forget. The guy was a grumpy sod and when I said it hurt he went oh well and carried on. Wasn’t exactly gentle either. Luckily I went back under sedation after that. All the rest have been fine luckily. Fingers crossed you get good results