Painful colonoscopy

There is no excuse for a patient to be in pain!  I would complain loudly to the facility and the physician and maybe the medical board.  I also had a colonoscopy last week. Evidently was not an easy one for the doctor as the Moviprep didn't do a great job and she had to do some "abdominal manipulation" due to a "tortuous" intestine and I had 2 polyps excised. Did not have general but was sedated and felt nothing. It is disrespectful of the patient and poor medical care to let a patient be in pain unless the patient chooses to be awake or unless the physician discusses the reasons why sedation is not a good idea for that particular person. Shame on the physician. 

What a relief to find out that I was not alone in suffering agony via colonoscopy.  Now I know that this is very commmon it might explain the vibes I was getting off the doctor and nurse involved in the procedure.   Unlike any of the other NHS personnel I have had dealings with I felt that these two had decided to deliberately cut themselves off from the patient.  No greeting, no conversation, no eye contact and I felt that the nurse handled me without any empathy whatsoever.  But if your job requires you to inflict a form of torture, no doubt developing lack of sensitivity is essential.  I find lying on my left side painful in any circumstance, but there was no question of my lying the other way up on the bed so that I could lie on my right side.  Nobody explained why they didn't allow this, was there any explanation?  Having read this thread I think possibly not.

Have decided that in future the choice will be general anaesthetic or Dignitas.

You are spot on my friend. My feelings natch yours

general anaesthetic or Dignitas.

some staff are

A N I M A L S

I came to this site on Thursday as I had a colonoscopy and endoscopy booked for Friday afternoon and thought I might pick up useful tips.  I was also apprehensive, as I live in Istanbul.

Soooo horrified to hear the terrible experiences some of you have had in the UK. I was feeling sorry for myself for having to undergo this in Turkey, having been told last year in UK that I did not need a follow-up as I had had five clear years (in China).

I have never had the colonoscopy in UK and now, with digestion problems cropping up again, had to go to a private hospital in Turkey to get checked. So I’m thinking this £300+ that I have to pay is mega-annoying since I might have had it done for free in a nice UK hospital. Ho ho oho.

Then I read so many horrific experiences that some of you have had. It is outrageous and barbaric, what they’ve put you through. And I see that some of you have vowed never to have the procedure again!  I just cannot put into words how angry that makes me feel on your behalf. You must have it but you need to fight these so-called professionals to get it done humanely. My goodness, if animals were treated this way at the vets, there would (rightly) be an outcry!

In China, I was also told, the first time, of ‘discomfort’ but no great pain so, when they refused me anaesthetic because I was alone and had nobody to help me afterward, I thought – No big deal. After all, I have given birth and that was diabolical. Previous to that I had years and years of excruciating menstruation.  So I thought, ‘I can handle this.’

It ended up with the guy with the tube looking very anxious because I was screaming in agony. So he calls a couple of colleagues who lie on me, yes, lie on me, to hold me down (I’m five foot and weigh seven stone). Meanwhile this pair are laughing and joking and the other guy is still trying to get the tube past the bend, while I’m screaming.

Finally, he decides to give me the anaesthetic and suffer the consequences later for disobeying the system. He finds a pre, pre-cancerous polyp and zaps it with a laser (apparently).  I wake up. Stagger off to find a bank (they want extra cash for the anaesthetic and laser). Bring back the cash. Float off home.

Following that, and because of the unprofessional staff and dirty toilets, I went to other hospitals for my subsequent checks, and knew enough to lie that someone would be meeting me to help me home!

Yesterday (here in Istanbul),  I was given the anaesthetic. Woke up, no problem. Bit of discomfort in the tummy, to be expected. Very slight sore throat, very slight.

‘Discomfort’ without anaesthetic is obviously a lie for many of us. Discomfort is what you get if you’re lucky; it clearly isn’t the ‘norm’ or there would be fewer people complaining of horrific torture. Of course, one is made to feel like a wimp for making a fuss and that, too is outrageous.

There is no one size fits all about this. I was also told that childbirth was like ‘shelling peas’ and nothing to worry about. The male head of the French hospital I gave birth in (Hopital Saint Cloud) would not allow epidural or anything other than silly noises on headphones. He also averred that there was no such thing as post partum depression. Clearly a leader in his field.

Looks to me as if this sedation nonsense is a cost-cutting exercise. No way I’m having this procedure done in the UK. I’d rather take my chances in China again, or pay money I can’t afford here in Istanbul, -  where it was never suggested that the procedure be done without anaesthetic. I was told I would be anaesthetised, and that was that. No anaesthetic  was not offered as an option.

So long as you can tolerate anaesthetic, go for it. Demand it. You’re not being a wimp, you’re normal.

A quick word on the preparation. I had one once in Bulgaria where they made me take terrible laxatives for two days, followed by the nasty long drink thing. Pain was excruciating from the laxatives and lasted 24/24. I didn’t take them the second day. The drink thing on the last day also gave me terrible painful cramping. I had to travel nearly four hours to the hospital and was so weak I could barely walk.  I was terrified when I had to go through it again in China a few years later.

In fact, I never again had those pains but I also never was given laxative again. Also, had two different types of enema drink, one gave me diarrhoea for some 14 hours. Horrible. And me with a squatting toilet!

The next times I had different purging med which I did not have to take until 4 a.m. of the morning the colonoscopy was due. No pain and no problems. Makes me think the laxative made a big difference, as well as the long toilet regime. No idea of the name of the drink as it was in Chinese.

This time round, in Istanbul, I was given Endofalk plus 3 litres of water. The purging took a total of three and a half hours from when I first started drinking. No pain. Only discomfort was the nauseous feeling of drinking so much in a fairly short time. The first BM was half hour after drinking and took almost everything out.

After that it was like a high speed hose. In the last hour it was colourless, not even like urine (as I’d seen described online). So when they tried to give me a paper to sign that I would have an enema caused by injection into my hip, I utterly refused. Why would I need that?

I wonder if the fact that I had eaten little for several days and absolutely nothing for 24 hours helped? I don’t eat a lot as a rule, in any event. I was thinking at the time that the high speed hose effect could have been painful if there had been anything other than water inside??? It was the least I had ever eaten before this procedure and the least uncomfortable. I also wasn’t sore, which always happened before.

They put a big sort of incontinence pad under me before the op. Never had that before either. Afterwards I realised why: it leaks. Somehow that water is not all gone from the body. Good news, it doesn’t smell at all, or even stain, (I got a bit on my jeans when I sat on it by accident). So you don’t have to feel as though you’ve been leaking a real BM during your procedure.

I hope my input helps someone, and my good wishes and support to those who have suffered trauma in UK clinics.

 

Completely know how you are feeling. I had a colonoscopy yesterday and I slept for a few hours once I got home but today the pain around my belly button is just horrendous. I was sedated even though I felt everything and I remember the whole procedure.

I have read so many things about the pain following a colonoscopy but on the leaflet I was given when I was discharged it said that I should suffer any pain... Well why am I curled up in bed feeling sorry for myself with a hot water bottle in pain. I am 24 and over the past 8 months of constant pain, a lumber puncture and other procedures I have to say a colonoscopy is the worst pain o have experienced so far.. Any tips of what to do for the pain

I had a colonoscopy yesterday for the third time. First two times the doctor knocked me out with enough sedation for me not to be aware or remember anything, but these were done privately. This time it was completely different, done under the National Health, all I had was a mild sedation, which did not sedate me and some sort of a pain killer.

It was not painful all the time but it most certainly was some of the time, thinking back it was probably when the scope went round a bend. It was not unbearable not certainly not nice. They also offered me gas and air but as it takes about 30 second to work, at the moments I needed it, I was in too much pain to try to find the pump and put it to my mouth and breath deeply!

Another thing that bothered me was that it was not the doctor that I had been assigned to and I knew abosolutely nothing about the person who did it, but I guess that it what happens under the NHS.

Having said all that, I think I would probably do it again, if I thought I had the possibiltiy of having a serious illness and I am sure there are many more painful procedures that people have to go through. What is better, having a painful check up or developing bowel cancer, and I have a friend who has it at the moment and believe me he is going through hell!

I had my first yesterday and they found 3 polyps, a hemroid and pitting in my colon. It was excruciating and so painful as they put puffs of air and lassoed my polyps while I begged for pain relief.  They kept telling me that don't worry it is almost over. Three days later, I am sore, have diarraha, lack energy and am not hungrey at all. The head nurse said that I should have general anesthesia next time. Horrible! Beware! Do your homework! Know your doctor.

I had a colonoscpy today I was told by every nurse staff member that I would be in a awake sedation II would not feel anything or remember... well.. it was horrible!!! I was awake and I remember everything!! Lots of pressure and I was terrified because I saw felt heard everthing!! When I asked the doctor he calmly said my body just didn't take the sedation

I hope I never have to go thru that again!! I know that gave me somthing ..but on the paper work I received it said nothing was administered

I have had a colonoscopy and it was agony. I thought I would never need another one but wrong. Next week I am supposed to be going but sedation only stops you being able to remember some of it, pain relief wears off quickly. I will take my own pain relief when I get to the hospital and also something to relax me. They have cut down on sedation for anyone over ..65 because deaths. 

I think the whole process needs looking at or deaths will occur as some will not attend and I can understand why, I am on the point of cancelling mine. I am an ex nurse, have worked in endoscopy so know intimately what goes on.

I was under what they call conscious sedation and it wore off during the test so I asked for more and was told No we are almost done. I was physically paralyzed by Versed one of the drugs used, it is also known as the date rape drug. I have inflammitory bowel disease that was quite active at the time and for ten minutes or more I was in severe pain due to the camera being pushed into me with a lot of air , then taked out and pushed in again. Over and over. I was in so much pain it was crazy. Needless to say I filed a complaint and fired the doctor.