Colonoscopy For Suspected IBD / Picolax Bowel Prep Query

Tests and investigations
1

Hi All

Hoping some of you might be able to give me some reassurance concerning a Colonoscopy for suspected Inflammatory Bowel Disease, due in a couple of weeks time, following high Faecal Calprotectin results.

This is my second colonoscopy, the first was a couple of years back, and that one went well, hardly remember the procedure at all, the bowel prep wasn't nice but not bad also. However back then I was in better health than I am right now, I now feel generally groggy everyday, with bouts of feeling especially unwell, whereas a couple of years ago I had long bouts of feeling fine, with short bouts of feeling ill.

Anyway, my concern is the Picolax bowel prep I have to use prior to the colonoscopy. Reading through the Picolax literature given to me by the hospital performing the colonoscopy, it states that I should contact the doctor if I am suffering from an IBD (Ulcerative Colitis / Crohn's) before taking this medecine. Thing is the doctor I saw in my consultation a week ago, prior to being given this colonoscopy, was the one who recommended the Picolax bowel prep treatment, so I'm pretty sure he knows what he is doing. But if I do have an IBD, should I be using Picolax? How safe is this treatment with people who suffer with Ulcerative Colitis or Crohn's Disease? Should I contact the consultant to be 100% sure this treatment is the best for me?

I'd be very grateful if some of you are able to give me your views and/or advice on this, I never relish the prospect of going through any sort of treatment, so some reassurance would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks in advance.

2

Sorry u really don't know, but if in any doubt ring the Doctor and he should be able to put you at you ease.

3

I am having my Colonoscopy today, getting nervous now.

4

Hi Jan

I think a call to the doctor would be the best bet really, I could do with some reassurance.

I hope your colonoscopy goes well, I was so nervous when I had my first one, but I needn't have been. The only thing I remember was the consultant telling me to lie on my left side after having the sedative and pain relief, the next thing I remember was the consultant just finishing off the procedure, which was a bit painful, but nothing horrendous.

Try to relax and I'm sure all will be fine. Let us know how you get on!

All the best.

5

Thanks Paul, all done, I only had gas and air because I live on my own so they wouldn't give me a sedative, but it wasn't as bad as I thought, they took some biopsies and removed 3 polyps, got to go again in 3 yrs

6

So glad it went well for you, and well done on just having the gas and air through it. No way could I do that, I'd much prefer to be knocked out throughout it!

Here's hoping the results of the biopsies are what you are hoping for.

All the best for the future!

7

Thank you, but the sedation doesn't knock you out either lol because they need you to move a bit . Best of luck it really isn't as bad as I thought, hope yours goes fine too.

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Paul, the main issue with any bowel prep is the laxative effect. If you have active IBD then generally you would have severe or bad diarrhea, so a laxative would just make it much worse. In my case I had the runs quite badly, so I talked to the doctor and she said that it was ok to use a much lower dose of it. So if you have loose stools then talk to them about it. Other than that it is ok, you shouldn't have too much trouble. If you are low on minerals and electrolights then you may get weak and have issues there, but this stuff is supposed to keep that from happening. When I went in I was severely ill, lots of blood and the runs, so I really didn't need to take much of the prep, so it is usually based on how bad one is. If you are mostly solid then you need the prep in order for them to be able to see. If you have IBD it will be very obvious as there is areas of extreme redness and bleeding that they can see through a scope. I wish you luck and hope that you don't have it. There is enough of us with this disease we don't need any more. I wish that I didn't have it. I am sick yet again and having to go in for Entyvio infusions to try to get it under control. It is so painful at times.

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Thanks for the reply and reassuring words concerning the Picolax bowel prep Craig, I really do appreciate it. And so sorry to hear you are going through such a torrid time at the moment, it sounds really bad. I do hope you can get your IBD under control soon, and can start to feel a bit more normal again.

After hearing what you are going through I feel like a bit of a fraud as my symptoms are generally quite mild. I almost always have solid, one a day bowel movements, apart from on average once a fortnight, where I will have to go again a couple of hours after the first. This second bowel movement is accompanied with lower abdominal pain and a sense of urgency to go. It is loose, but not diarrhoea, and feels like it is a complete evacuation of my bowels. As for blood, this isn't a frequent occurrence for me, sometimes when I wipe there is mucus present with traces of red blood, and sometimes I get spots of red blood on the toilet paper after wiping a few times, but never substantial amounts of blood. The worst part for me is a constant, general sense of feeling unwell, nausea, abdominal pain, bloating, feeling dizzy or faint, etc. Sometimes I get flare ups where these symptoms get a lot worse and last a few days.

I am inclined to believe that I do have an IBD, due to the fact that during my consultation with the doctor a week ago, he read through the notes of my previous sigmoidoscopy and colonoscopy from a couple of years back and apparently it was noted there were signs of inflammation and bleeding present on my colon wall. This was never followed up, and no reason was given as to why. If it hadn't been for me requesting my doctor do some stool tests a few weeks ago, then we would never have known about the high faecal calprotectin results.

I do wish you all the best for the future Craig, and I hope you start to feel better very soon.

10

Hi All

Just thought I'd give you a quick update.

Had my colonoscopy yesterday. Bowel prep started off ok, but made me feel really quite bad towards the end of the night, so bad in fact that at one point I had a really bad reaction. I had to wait to take my mebeverine until 9pm, 3 hours after the second dose of Picolax as instructed, I presume to make sure the mebeverine wasn't flushed out of my system before being absorbed. Now usually I take my meds with food, but obviously couldn't this time as I had to fast for my colonoscopy. Not long after taking the mebeverine I started to feel like I was finding it hard to breathe, then got chest pains, started shaking and both of my arms started to go numb and tingly. I got worse as time went on, so bad in fact that I had to call out of hours doctor, who thought it was necessary to get an ambulance out. The ambulance staff arrived and after being with me for at least an hour and a half, decided that all my vitals, blood sugar levels and ECG results were good, and said if I wanted to go to hospital they would take me in, but probably thought it was a combination of bowel prep draining me, taking mebeverine on an empty stomach and a bit of anxiety kicking in, and said what I needed was to get a good nights sleep. By this time I was feeling a lot better, so took their suggestion and went to bed. I woke at 4am for a bowel movement and went back to sleep afterwards, then had my final one at about 8am. I felt pretty rough at this time, but more of a drained, tired, nauseous feeling.

As for the colonoscopy, that went really well. By the time I got to the waiting area I physically felt really well, perhaps the adrenaline was kicking in at this point! The staff were very nice, all my stats looked good, put the canula in, got into the hospital gown and waited, and waited, and waited! What seemed like an eternity, the doctor came in and went through a few more details before taking me to the treatment room. The colonoscopy went fine, I was alert all the way through and watched the whole thing on the tv screen. It was pretty uncomfortable at points, but the nurses told me to pass wind, so I did, big time! That really helped to ease some of the pain. The doctor and nurses commented on how healthy my colon looked, no polyps, there were no signs of inflammation and bleeding anywhere, the only thing to note was that I had internal hemorrhoids, although even these weren't too bad, but could cause bleeding every now and again. Plenty of biopsies were taken, for which I will get the results in about 10 days. It felt like the colonoscopy went really quickly, I swear the procedure took no more than 15 to 20 minutes, perhaps it was the sedative that made it feel like it went really quickly. Went into recovery, and after no more than 30 minutes of observation was told I could get changed a go home, and EAT, and I did just that!

So glad its over with now, I'll update this when I have the biopsy results and let you know what they find, if anything!

Thanks to all of you for your comments and help, especially to Craig, I really appreciate them.