My colonoscopy and gastroscopy experiences as a 20 year old

So I recently underwent an afternoon colonoscopy procedure and I just wanted to share my experience of it at 20 years of age as someone that struggles with health anxiety. Hopefully this might help anyone else in the same situation. I also share a bit of my gastroscopy experience that I also underwent two months ago which was very similar to my colonoscopy experience in terms of the procedure but the prep for the gastroscopy is way, way easier you just stop eating the nigh before and they even let me stay on Nexium for my first time in some cases depending on what they’re looking for as I had already done a H.Pylori test prior to the Nexium.

Day 1 (Low Residue Diet)

The first day of the low residue diet was quite easy, mainly consuming a lot of foods that I love white floury food like crackers, white bread, some skinned chicken, jelly etc and that was no hassle to get through.

Day 2 (Liquid Diet)

The second day was a little harder having to only have clear liquids throughout the entire day especially when everyone in my family was eating beautiful sweet food throughout the day lol. The morning upon waking up I felt very hungry and only having liquids was quite hard. A few things that I found that helped me was having soft drinks like lemonade which filled up my stomach and also keeping yourself occupied with things like watching tv or playing video games was quite helpful. The first part of the bowel cleanse I had the Magnesium citrate 500ml drink which was at 4pm and the three Bisacodyl tablets at 6pm and around 5:30pm I had my first major bowel movement where quite a lot came out but it wasn’t painful or anything.

Day 3 (Bowel Prep)

The third day was by far the hardest and worst of the entire ordeal for me. I had to consume 3 liters of water mixed with the Glycoprep-C and it was probably one of the hardest things I’ve done to date. Before starting the prep I put some Vaseline around my butt which I think helped as I never really had any major pain from wiping I also used Kleenex wet wipes after every wipe. Now for the prep let’s just say I did not tolerate it very well at all. Not so much the taste of it, but I am quite a skinny guy with a small stomach and trying to down that much liquid in the span of 3 and half hours was really difficult for me personally, as I rarely drink over a liter and half of water throughout an entire day. I started around 6:45am a little bit earlier than the recommended time of 7am although I wish I started even earlier, because by the end of it which was around 10:30am I only manage to get 2.5 liters of the 3 liters down. I physically could not do anymore at that point without throwing up and I ran out of the maximum time before the procedure took place at 3:30pm. I had the worst nausea I had ever had in my life, but thankfully I rang up the endoscopy office and they said that it should be fine as I was only passing clear yellow colour that came out in strong streams and managed to get the vast majority of the Glycoprep-C through my system so they just said to stop drinking it. By that point as well I had a lot of bad acid reflux from liquids coming up my throat and had a very raspery horse like voice with a lump in my throat for the rest of the day, but I might go back on Zantac or Nexium to clear it up if it doesn't go away.

The Procedure itself

The best part about the whole thing! Very similar to how my gastroscopy went two months ago with the same Gastroenterologist who knows me very well through the gastroscopy and previous consultations. I arrived at the hospital filled out and signed a couple of forms and was then in the waiting room for a bit until the nurse called me and got some more details with the anesthetist doing the same thing a little later on. I was then changed into a hospital gown and waited a couple of hours as there were a few patients in front of me. I was then called up and shown to the procedure room and was already familiar with the staff as I had the same crew as my gastroscopy. The anesthetist put the needle in my arm and that was the last thing I remember. Next thing I know I wake up in a different room on a bed and get a mighty chicken and salad feed afterwards. All in all the best part about the whole colonoscopy process I didn’t have any pain post procedure yet anyways (touch wood), but I will keep an eye out in the next couple of days to see if I get any bad pains do come on and I will update this post if they do. Another thing as well a lot of people said that you would pass heaps of gas afterwards but that has yet to happen I pretty much had no pain or gas at all after it and they didn’t take any biopsy or remove polyps as I was all clear! So both my upper and lower digestive tract seems to be in good shape and the pains I had been have on the left side might just be anxiety with ibs/mild acid reflux triggered by certain foods so hooray!

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