Colonoscopy...done!

Jacel -- Glad it was good for you. It was fine for me on my first examination.

" I would tell anyone having worries about this procedure that it is not as bad as the horror stories make it out to be."

That wouldn't be true, would it? Many patients here have had a nightmare experience. It would take a lot to persuade me to have another one. The doctors need to sort this out.....bad experiences are clearly very common and on occasions the treatment by doctors and nurses is unacceptable.

Tom

I do not dismiss those patients who describe their experience as a nightmare, my experience certainly

was unpleasant due to the pain. In some ways I feel cheated because I watched the Lynn Faulds video,

she said it was uncomfortable but not painful, the consultant on her video also said it should not be

painful, therefore I felt less anxious. An experienced gastroenterologist consultant did my procedure and I

certainly had pain. I don't understand those who say they had little or even no pain, how can that

be? Why give sedation, particularly Pethidine, during colonoscopy if it does not alleviate the pain? To

make it easier for the doctor by rendering the patient less difficult due their semi-conscious state? It is

called conscious sedation but I was completely unaware of my surroundings and anything that was

happening after the drugs were administered and only came to when I heard myself groaning with pain. Makes me wonder how Lynn Faulds managed to hold a conversation during her procedure if she had been given sedation?

My post was written correctly so why does it appear with so much spacing?

Jacel, your spacing is wrong, but that's no problem. You reasoning is also faulty, and that might mislead others.

I would like to assure you jacel that I and a great many others are not LYING when we say that we experienced severe pain during a colonoscopy procedure.In fact my pain was so bad that after so called sedation and pain killer I half sat up trying to get the doctor to stop what he was doing ---he was looking for a lost polyp.However when I plucked up the courage to go back for a sigmoidoscopy in another attempt to find this polyp-- this being after my proper consultant had promised I would be knocked out ---I had a very much better time and just remember groaning once during the procedure,otherwise it was painless.Afterwards my doctor told me that I had a very twisty bowel which accounted for the pain.I am supposed to have another colonoscopy in 2 years time and unless I am absolutely assured of being anesthetized completely I would not go through this procedure again.To make assumptions about the 'horror stories' is an insult to those of us who suffered,and if nobody had suffered there would be no horror stories.The fact is people have different problems that cause the pain.You must be one of the lucky ones who had a good experienceand I'm glad for you

Prior to my colonoscopy I mentioned to the consultant the painful experiences I had read here. He said the pain is caused by air being pumped into a twisty bowel and that most people have no problem. None of the people I know had a problem during theirs.

I must have been fairly lightly sedated as I was aware of everything going on. I had two only two brief occasions when I felt what could be called pain.

If you read any of the cataract comments there are some who experienced great pain during them.. Again I felt nothing. One time I had an anaesthetic injection into the brow the next time just anaesthetic drops into the eye.

Everyone is different.

I had my first colonoscopy today, I was dreading it and the prep. The prep took a while to kick and while wasn't pleasant it wasn't worse than a bad tummy bug (for me).

The procedure I had was endoscopy and colonoscopy.

The endo was traumatic just because there was so much going on- oxygen in my nose, mouth hard, endoscope etc that I panicked and freaked out but the nurses wee excellent and calmed me down.

The colonoscopy was fine at first bit I experienced sever pain through out, mainly die to the fact my intestines are very twisty and long I was told, so I was crying and yelling ow a lot, again the staff were great and have it a rest for a bit then some more painkiller then started again, the consultant was also good at trying different positions to make it more comfortable. I had sedation but it didn't work on me so was wide awake, the nurse was great and held my hand and did deep breathing with me.

It was not a nice experience but now it's all over I feel fine, and if it can detect something like cancer then I would go through it again as obviously in the long run a short period of pain is worth it to find out if there is a serious illness.

If anyone is due to have this I wouldn't say don't worry as it's natural to worry, just bear in mind it is only a short space of time and the doctor and nurses are there to look after you and should accommodate your pain and comfort during the procedure. Now it's all over the pain seems a distant memory. Definitely worth it to rule out serious illness in my opinion.

Ellie3,I'm glad your procedure was done with staff who were caring and kind and mindful of your pain.Unfortunately my experience was not like that at all.I had a late afternoon appointment on the 3rd of Jan last year and the staff I had attend me were just anxious to get off home,I had 1 nurse attend me who completely ignored me and the doctor never spoke to me or explained anything as he proceeded along,nobody reassured me and the nurse actually held me down at one point.She did give me extra painkiller which did nothing and I had the impression they just wanted the job over and done with.This experience really upset me and I actually felt as if I had been abused so I am not going to subject myself to that procedure again unless they can come up with a kinder way of doing it-----how the staff treat their patients makes a big difference to any future procedures and I'm afraid I shall always be wary.

If you don't need samples taken or polyps removed you can have a virtual colonoscopy (CT Scan)

you do of course need to take the laxative in the usual way.

They won't tell you about and it is around £900 if done privately.

Thank you for that advice derek76,since I have to go for another colonoscopy in a year or two because I had an 'Adenoma' polyp,I will ask about that procedure,I am also going to enquire if I could have the 'pill camera' to swallow and then face the future if another polyp is found.

I had a very painful colonoscopy I was sedated, but obviously not enough. I remember shouting

whilst watching the video. I might have resisted, but shortly afterwood. I found that I did not

have full control of my bowel.

for months after the procedure, I had bowel leakage. my sphincter muscle was slightly dysfunctional.

this gave me a loss of confidence when going out.

now that is better, but I still have stomach aches.

Hi All.

Just returned from having a colonoscopy at UHB. I have to say I am somewhat amazed to read some of the horror stories relayed here. I cant speak for others, but, my experience is just the opposite. I had the procedure with Entonox (gas and air), yes it was a little uncomfortable, but certainly not painful. The doctor who carried out the procedure was excellent, as were the nurses and aftercare. I was able to walk out and drive home within 30 minutes of the procedure ending.

Please done be afraid, it may save your life