I have certainly had my share of colonoscopies and most of you out there are very familiar with them. Let’s face it, they are not fun. A friend of mine (in her 80’s) had one recently and said it nearly did her in. As we get older, we tend to lose “tone” in our sphincter muscles. This can cause all kinds of embarrassing things to happen like bowel and bladder incontinence. I will write a blog on this very issue. Anyway, if you need a colonoscopy and you happen to know that you have lost “tone” in your anal sphincter muscle, you need to talk to your G. I. doctor about this. He/she might can help you with your bowel prep. The bowel prep is the absolute worst part of your colonoscopy. No matter what he/she puts you on, I have a few suggestions that I certainly wish I had figured out before my last bowel prep and wish I had been in town to tell my friend. The problem with the prep is that most of you out there will have massive diarrhea before you are completely cleaned out. For younger people and anyone who has no problem with decreased anal sphincter tone, there is usually no problem with “making it to the bathroom” in time. For the rest of us, I suggest you get a supply of “Depends” type undergarments. You probably will thank your lucky stars for this bit of advice. Massive diarrhea is not pleasant for any one. Another thing you might try is to start planning ahead three or four days in advance. The directions for the prep will take you through some of this ahead of time but my suggestion is to start earlier than they direct. Start on a light diet about four days in advance and go to a liquid diet three days in advance. Drink plenty of water. Then follow the directions as per the prep. The more you can empty your bowel in advance the better off you will be. Now your G. I. guy may object to this and of course you should follow his/her orders but then maybe they have not had personal experience with massive diarrhea that not only can keep you up all night racing to the bathroom but actually may have you just spending the night on a pallet next to the toilet. Yikes! This is one of the worst nightmare type of scenarios for some people. Please note that there are many people out there (probably, even the majority of people) that do not have any problems with the bowel prep before a colonoscopy. Good for them. But as you get older, as mentioned above, you will probably have more issues with it. I hope I have helped someone out there because this test is not something to just ignore. It could save your life. If polyps are found, for instance, they are usually removed and sent off to be analyzed for cancer cells. Polyps, also, can be precancerous. So they need to be removed anyway. There are many reasons to have a colonoscopy, so find the absolute best and most experienced G.I. person around and follow his/her advice. Good Luck!
