Recently I went for a colonoscopy. This is by far the worst time of the year for me. Every year during President’s week in February I go in for a couple of hours to have my GI dr. look at my insides. This in itself is nothing for me. I am put to sleep and don’t feel a thing. It is the day and night before that really kills me.

Before you can get scoped, you have to be cleaned out. That means you have to take powerful laxatives that keep you in the bathroom all night. Growing up, I used to have to drink this nasty liquid from a gallon jug. Of course, I could never get the stuff down. It was by far the worst tasting stuff ever. Over the years they improved things…a little. Now there are choices. You can do this small bottle of phosphate soda which to me is also nasty. There are pills that are the size of horse tranquilizers that you can take. They are also nasty as they are very salty. The easiest form for most people and I think is probably the most popular one now is Miralax mixed with water, soda, Gatorade or any other liquid. However, I can’t get that down my throat either.

The prep is very stressful on my body and I get the worst nausea ever. I am sure a lot of it is mental but it is still there. So, my prep is very easy…as far as consuming goes. I take 3 pills of Dulcolax followed by another 3 about 4 hours later. Now I must stress…this is not a normal prep so please don’t do it unless you talk it over with your GI dr. Luckily, I don’t have many issues with my gut. I have no strictures and have had no surgeries. So, this prep method cleans me out fine enough. It does however kill my guts. It gives me the worst cramps and eventually the nausea is so bad that whatever liquid I drank that day comes back out. Once I am cleaned out, the dry heaves start. I get really bad and I feel like I am dying. I do know that it will pass and that thought alone gets me through it.

The other down side to the day before is that you can’t eat anything. You have to be on a clear liquid diet. That means Jello, broth, tea and lots of water. This year, I spent my prep day watching a lot of television. Of course what do I see every 2 seconds…but something advertising food. I watched tons of episodes of Breaking Bad and they were either eating or at a restaurant or having something to do with food. UGH!!!

As you can see, I survived my ordeal. For me, this is a fairly simple procedure. However, I know for many people this isn’t easy. I feel for those people because I know I have it easy and yet it doesn’t feel simple. I have actually seen someone get a number of these scopes within a year. I can’t imagine doing this multiple times within a year. My heart really went out to this person.

My only advice I can give to anyone that has this procedure done is to keep your chin up. The day of prep is just that…a day. It is for one day only. As bad as it seems, it will be over soon. In fact, the prep is worse than the scope itself. So when you are sitting on the throne, doubled over in pain, just remember. Tomorrow, you will get some great meds and a nice deep sleep. And then you can wake up to some juice and crackers, go home and have the best tasting low fiber food around because after not eating for a day, everything taste delicious.