Preparing for a Colonoscopy, What to eat, can I wear my pump? my CGMS? Options

[gigem99]

Were you out or did you have sedation?

I was not put under general anesthesia, so I was just heavily sedated. I forgot the exact term they used for it. I do know I felt it - I've never particularly cared to have things shoved up my ... well, you know.

Tom,

I've never had a colonoscopy and hope I never have to! ... I worked in a pharmacy after school in high school and I remember a lot of people getting prescriptions filled for a big (gallon?) sized jug with powder in it.

Well, you can hope all you want, but the fact is, you will need one within a few years! Your doc(s) will start bugging the hell out of you to get one done.

I mixed a powder in with the Gatorade - I think it was called Miralax, but it was an over-the-counter deal. I know it worked.

Tom

[Linda B]

I had my colonoscopy today, and all went well.
Anyway, the sugar free stuff I got worked just fine, and during the procedure, they just removed a couple of small polyps.

Tom,
It's a good thing you had this done now. I'm sure they explained that polyps are often pre-cancerous. I'm glad you didn't wait.

Linda B.

[Arlene S.]

Tom,

I've never had a colonoscopy and hope I never have to! I'm glad to hear that everything went well. I worked in a pharmacy after school in high school and I remember a lot of people getting prescriptions filled for a big (gallon?) sized jug with powder in it. They were to fill it with water and drink it before a colonoscopy. Gatorade sounds like a better option but I wonder if that prescription stuff had other ingredients in it.

Actually everyone is advised to have one after the age of 50. Most people don't have them because they have to. Many a pre-cancerous polyp has been found and removed during a colonoscopy. I never heard of gatorade for a colonoscopy. There are different kinds of preps but they all have the same objective.

[Arlene S.]

I was not put under general anesthesia, so I was just heavily sedated. I forgot the exact term they used for it. I do know I felt it - I've never particularly cared to have things shoved up my ... well, you know.
Well, you can hope all you want, but the fact is, you will need one within a few years! Your doc(s) will start bugging the hell out of you to get one done.

I mixed a powder in with the Gatorade - I think it was called Miralax, but it was an over-the-counter deal. I know it worked.

Tom

That is probably conscious sedation? I've had that, but for the last two I had propofol

I guess the Gatorade was to mask the vile taste of the powder.

This post has been edited by Arlene S.: Feb 18 2010, 01:14 PM

[Liz]

Actually everyone is advised to have one after the age of 50. Most people don't have them because they have to.

Well, I've got a few more years to go before 50 although not as many as I'd like!

[Arlene S.]

Well, I've got a few more years to go before 50 although not as many as I'd like!

Maybe by then they will have a better procedure.

[Aaron]

I know this is an old thread, but I'm reviving it because I had my first colonoscopy today. Everything was fine (no polyps). My family doctor suggested that I get because I had turned 50.

Some things may have changed in the past 2 years. The preparation seems to be similar still (the 4 powder packs of Klean Prep) plus another drug. The instructions that I had suggested mixing with 50% water and 50% clear juice (such as apple juice). I think I used about 75% water and 25% juice (because I found it tasted too sweet with 50% juice). Surprisingly, my blood sugar dropped during the prep time (even after I stopped bolusing for the juice). I ended up setting a 50% basal for the procedure but forgot to reset the temporary basic after.

The clinic that I went to was familiar with insulin pumps. The have an instruction sheet for the procedure that also includes specific instructions for people with diabetes. Because this was a clinic (and not a hospital), I had to see a cardiologist and a nurse educator at my initial screening in the clinic. They both told me since I was on a pump to speak with my diabetes nurse educator about settings for the pump. (I already had practice fasting since I fast on all the Jewish fast days; the liquid diet is earlier to manage than a full fast).

I had conscious sedation. It was expected that I would keep the pump during to procedure to continue receiving the basal insulin and they had no problem with the sensor being in and working.

[bkh]

I had a colonoscopy a couple months ago. The preparation was a foul liquid called moviprep, and there was a 12 hour fast before the procedure. During the fast I started with a 50% temp bolus but then adjusted it to 60% which seemed to keep me more stable. Before the procedure I showed the anesthesiologist my pump and CGM. He wanted my BG over 100 and flat or slowly rising so that I likely wouldn't go low. He was quite comfortable that I keep the pump going (at 50%), and actually liked the CGM. He said he would have an official BG measurement using the facility's equipment at the start, but that he might check the CGM from time to time just in case it would show anything dramatic. (I got the impression that normally they would have no continuous BG information, only a BG measurement every hour.) He did have me set the alert silence for 1 hour more than the scheduled length of the procedure.