colonoscopy

Posted , 7 users are following.

i had a colonoscopy 2 days ago with sedation and pain relief.The pain was awfull and  I was alert througout and after. I had this about 10 years ago with no problems. Hope I dont need it again but think I woul need to refuse this procedure. They started right away from meds given.so perhaps too soon or the doctor was new to the job!

2 likes, 13 replies

13 Replies

  • Posted

    Hi elizabeth, I was informed that i had the best doctor for that job and maybe thats because i put it out there no meds of any type. They tried to talk me out of it but i refused. I guess everybody is different when it comes to the colonoscopy but honestly for me it was a breeze! Maybe profotol the anesthesia that puts you all the way out would be best for you, like what you would have for a major surgery. However you should not consider not having your next life saving colonoscopy.
    • Posted

      Thanks for your advice.This was one very bad experience for me and I would not like to put others off as I have  had it before and it was fine.Just not thiis time
  • Posted

    Hi elizabeth, I was informed that i had the best doctor for that job and maybe thats because i put it out there no meds of any type. They tried to talk me out of it but i refused. I guess everybody is different when it comes to the colonoscopy but honestly for me it was a breeze! Maybe profotol the anesthesia that puts you all the way out would be best for you, like what you would have for a major surgery. However you should not consider not having your next life saving colonoscopy.
  • Posted

    Hi Elizabth. Did you ask the colonoscopist or any of his staff, say, the recovery nurse, why you experience so much discomfort this time? Do you have an acute pre-existing condition of the colon that might make it so?  This should not be a painful procedure. Some gas will have been pumped in to open the passageway and that can sometimes cause a bit of minor discomfort and cramping but the discomfort should not be on a scale that should cause people to be reluctant to have an examination which could provide early detection of a life threatening disease. I'm posting this because I know that many people nervous about their first colonoscopy come here for reassurance. I have had two colonoscopies (I have ulceratve colitis) without sedation and neither caused any pain at all. Logically, they shouldn't. It's a very fine wire travelling through a comparatively very wide canal.
    • Posted

      An adult colonoscopy device is about 1.2 centimeter (1/2 inch) in diameter.  That is NOT a wire in my book, unless you are talking about a major electrical wire carrying power into your home.

      I agree that it shouldn't be a painful procedure, but not all people are "built" using the same blueprint, not all doctors have the same skill level, and among other numerous facts,  some doctors are in just too much of a hurry to let medication work before they begin this procedure, and in too much of a hurry to just keep pushing, pushing, pushing without paying much attention to patient discomfort (which is actually PAIN in some cases, but not all).

      Pumping the air in can be quite painful, as well as "looping" which occurs when the device catches the side of the colon and keeps stretching it rather than advancing forward.  It appears from everything I have read that looping is more commonplace with inexperienced (or uncaring) doctors.

      I wish everyone the best, and I also do not believe it is helpful to sugarcoat this procedure as painless.  Many people who are lead to believe that they will be comfortable and then are quite traumatized may actually have a longstanding distrust of the medical profession after such a disinguenuous approach.  Many people do not experience anything more than minor discomfort, but many have totally opposite experiences.

  • Posted

    Seems like most doctors are new to the job then. I've ha 3 and 2 were unbearable. The last being aborted even though I was completely out of it
  • Posted

    Whatever medication is given needs time to be effective.  Unfortunately, especially in the US where MONEY is so important, and time is money, I sense the comments I have read that time for sedation to take effect is not always provided, probably because time is money when it comes to a doctor's time, and the use of a special procedure room that is booked on a tight schedule.  That is an issue that should be VERY CLEARLY SPECIFIED  before the procedure as VERY IMPORTANT,  as it is a patient comfort issue.  I hate to say it, but I think sedation is given more for patient compliance to a very uncomfortable if not painful procedure, so the doctor can squeeze in more colonoscopies in the schedule.  Because time is money.

    If I were you after this experience, I would outline how quickly the procedure was started after sedation was administered, and ask your regular doctor if the sedation takes effect that quickly, and CLEARLY communicate that your procedure was started before your medication was working.  Complain to the facility that actually did the colonoscopy as well, and TELL them that your comfort is important to you, and that perhaps it isn't as important to the those who performed that procedure.

     

    • Posted

      Well said Joe. I put in a complaint to the hospital where my procedure was taken place. It was a private hospital but was paid for on the NHS. I asked them was my care or no care due to the fact I wasn't a paying patient. Not only was it so painful it had to be aborted, the care before and after the procedure was disgraceful. I ended up having a CT scan and will from now on insist on that but not in THAT hospital
    • Posted

      Thanks Joe, I agree with u completely and will do as you suggest. Did not have this issue 10 years ago but hey ho things change! You are also right it is all about budgets and we are on a conveyor belt.Same  here in UK
  • Posted

    The 'scope is not a "wire" but is described as 1/2 inch thick or the size of a typical index finger in internet sites I've read.
  • Posted

    I think you may have gotten insufficent sedation and pain relief, which I am hearing from some other patients in the NHS system for some reason. Inexperienced staff, a colon with a lot of extra curves, and an inexperienced operator will make a colonoscopy a horrible experience for most people.  I was lucky to have experienced staff and a very experience operator for mine.
    • Posted

      Thanx for your message.Probly insufficient  sedation but inexperienced operator was the main problem I have already complained to hospital in hope no one else has this nightmare as it does not need to be so bad
  • Posted

    Hi Elizabeth:

    Unfortunately, patient comfort usually isn't on the minds of healthcare personnel doing this test. They want to get you in and out like cattle.

    Here in the states they usually give patients a versed/fentanyl combination drug cocktail to make the patient more compliant not comfortable. They are now looking at propofol for those that want sedation.

    There are in my opinion a few steps doctors and facilities can implement to make the test experience more comfortable for all that take this barbaric test.

    The first and most important thing they can do is get rid of the adult colonoscope.

    Replace it with the small diameter, extraflexible pediatric colonoscopes which has proved to be invaluable in adult endoscopy practice. Use of the pediatric scope should be mandatory for all colonoscopies. The pediatric scope would prove itself the first time the scope loops in the colon.

    The other thing you must have for a good experience is an expert doctor or endoscopist.

    Put the two together & you'll bring your patient thru the test with just some short-lived cramping when negotiating the turns and a little bloating from pushing air into the colon.

    The other thing they can do better is pay better attention to the drugs being used.

    Don't start the test until the drugs have had enough time to work.

    Raffie

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