I find the prep really hard to take. It doesn't taste nice, and it involves drinking much more fluid than I'm used to. I had a sigmoidoscopy about 20 years ago; instead of laxatives, they gave me an enema, whose effects I found surprisingly swift and violent. An enema won't work for a colonoscopy, because it only cleans out the sigmoid colon.
The colonoscopy is also extremely unpleasant; not exactly painful, but it made me groan repeatedly. The procedure lasts about an hour. I wasn't allowed sedatives, because I drink a lot; and no gas either, because something something, like I was going home under my own steam.
I've had three colonoscopies in the last five years, two last year (the second was to check up on the sites of the plaque removals from the first. They're threatening to send me for another check in January. I'm not yet sure if I will comply - I'm feeling overtreated.
I was sent for these procedures as a result of the self-administered fecal blood test, that everyone over (I think) 60 gets on the NHS. These were not screening tests.
> Might be the skill of the surgeon
My procedures were performed by a specialist colonoscopist, supported by a roomful of nurses and technicians (about 5 of them, I think). Plaque removal might be termed "surgery", but it's quite a long way from the scalpels-and-forceps type. The machine is very cool, and probably very expensive; in addition to the camera, it carries a wire loop for removing plaques, and another device for tattooing the sites of removed plaques. And they track the location of the tube with a continuous X-ray. But I guess most of the cost is the staff.
I had rectal cancer 18 years ago, and part of my followup was annual colonoscopies for the first decade. So I'm pretty familiar with the procedure, at least how my thoracic surgeon performed them.
Yes, the prep can be unpleasant. I tolerated it because of how close I had come to dying, and really didn't want my ticket punched. But the procedure itself was never unpleasant. When you say you weren't allowed sedatives because "I drink a lot;" were you referring to alcohol? My surgeon typically used propofol to induce twilight sedation. It was the best sleep I've ever had, though I understand that I never lost consciousness. The colonoscopy has NEVER been painful for me.
I would recommend finding a new doctor. Doing a colonoscopy without sedation sounds barbaric.
> I would recommend finding a new doctor. Doing a colonoscopy without sedation sounds barbaric.
"My doctor" is what I call my GP; he's not involved in this process. I was referred for colonoscopy based on a fecal blood test that was centrally-administered. Several consultants (including the dental consultant that did my root canals) have denied me sedation on those grounds. In general, I'm inclined to agree that anaesthesia and sedation are dangerous for drinkers, and should be avoided if they aren't essential. And they aren't essential for a colonoscopy.
The colonoscopy is also extremely unpleasant; not exactly painful, but it made me groan repeatedly. The procedure lasts about an hour. I wasn't allowed sedatives, because I drink a lot; and no gas either, because something something, like I was going home under my own steam.
I've had three colonoscopies in the last five years, two last year (the second was to check up on the sites of the plaque removals from the first. They're threatening to send me for another check in January. I'm not yet sure if I will comply - I'm feeling overtreated.
I was sent for these procedures as a result of the self-administered fecal blood test, that everyone over (I think) 60 gets on the NHS. These were not screening tests.
> Might be the skill of the surgeon
My procedures were performed by a specialist colonoscopist, supported by a roomful of nurses and technicians (about 5 of them, I think). Plaque removal might be termed "surgery", but it's quite a long way from the scalpels-and-forceps type. The machine is very cool, and probably very expensive; in addition to the camera, it carries a wire loop for removing plaques, and another device for tattooing the sites of removed plaques. And they track the location of the tube with a continuous X-ray. But I guess most of the cost is the staff.