I had a sigmoidoscopy a few days ago, I was in so much pain I had to ask them to stop. I now have had an appointment for a colonoscopy. I will have to ring and cancel as I cannot go through with it as it will be even more painful. Does anyone know the alternatives. I have read up on barium enema but it seems that when injecting a dye they also have to insert gas/air which seems to be the course of the excruciating pain. I think I will just have to forget any further investigations
Please don'tcancel yor colonoscopy appointment Linda, it is given under sedation. I have had two and never felt a thing while the sigmoidoscopy was very painful. As your doctors will know about this they will deal with it, but you should go ahead and not ignore your problem as it will not go away. The worse thing about the colonoscopy is the need to be near the loo for about half a day, there should certainly be very little or no pain
Barium enemas do not show nearly as much detail as the pictures are taken from the outside and there is very little pain, more like wind in the gut, which is passed normally. I have helped with those for years as a radiographer and never saw anyone in excruciating pain..
Try to relax and do not fear the worst, if you do have pain or discomfort, tell the doctor who will take steps to deal with it.
Good luck
Hi Jenny thanks for your reply. I have already cancelled the colonoscopy. I can deal with pain, having given birth twice 45 yrs ago without any pain relief but the sigmoid was very very painful.When I called to cancel Iásked about alternatives but was told there werent any so it seem a barium enema is not an option anyway. Thanks again for replying.
Maybe you should look into getting a virtual colonoscopy. Basically they take an extended CT scan of your abdomen and process it through a computer program to recreate what they would see during a real colonoscopy. It is probably very expensive, and may not be covered by medical insurance, etc.