No anaesthetic: am I being a wimp?

For any "oscopy" you are entitled to have at least some sedation. It may well not be a full general but what they call a "twilight" sedation that relaxes you, but still enables you to respond if needed.

Ps if or when I have to have colonoscopy again I would have GA or pay for a “camera pill”

Ask for gas and air. Don't accept a refusal because you have to be offered pain relief. It's not so much a pain killer as a relaxant. I have regular colonoscopies following bowel cancer and it's pretty uncomfortable so I am always pretty tense, even with a high pain threshold. But I do find gas and air relaxes me enough that it's tolerable. And I don't care what they do!! Good luck! Better the temporary discomfort than anything more serious

I’ve had two - very uncomfortable but bearable and worth doing obviously .....but to digress was walk in park compared to colonoscopy as pain relief for that (in back of hand) was waste of time - apparently like a fair percentage of population I have a tortuous bowel, so was worse than childbirth!

I feel after reading the link and posts on here ,I must apologise for saying it is not bad.
My own experience wasn’t but I think I have a very high pain threshold, I often wonder what is ahead of me that I just won’t cope with.
Some of us are blessed and some of us aren’t .?

Diazepam has to be prescribed by a GP as far as I know Fennel.

I think you need to request sedation in advance. Certainly this is the case for endoscopy/biopsy.

Take one or two tablets depending on the strength of diazepam you have. If nothing else it will help you to relax. Also take pain killers before you go as it helps with the after pains.

I had this procedure when we were in France and there was no mention of pain relief. They're pretty resistant to using pain relief there (in our area anyway.} Dentists too ask you to be brave and get it over quicly so luckily I only found it uncomfortable.
By the way, is Diazepan available over the counter here?

Do your own research and if you decide that you need an anaesthetic then politely demand one.

The medical profession is very dismissive of the concerns of women who are often too afraid to stand up for themselves.

Best wishes and good luck.

I can’t see how taking painkillers beforehand is going to help. I thought they only work afterward. As others said a sedative prescribed by your GP maybe the answer. All the best.

My gp told me I could take up 4 when I needed a crown so took 4 and though able to walk and talk was a bit out of it, remembered nothing. The next time i took 3 which was still plenty so would suggest 2 as one really doesn’t do much.

Might be worth checking with the hospital first because if they can sedate you that would be best, otherwise trusty diazepam does the job. Well it works for me. Good luck on Thursday.

Thanks all!
I've found an old packet of diazapam in my drawer ... shall I take one, just in case?

Not all dentists are qualified to do sedation, Alexa.

Any decent clinician , including dentists , will offer a tranquilliser if requested.

I'm hesitant to say this, but gas and air doesn't seem to work for me (two babies and one dental procedure).
My GP says that's impossible (for gas and air 'not to work' for an individual).
Do some people respond better to pain relief than others?

BlueBelle, oh dear, thats a shame. I have had diazepam fir some years now and only use them for the dentist twice a year. Am still not addicted.

silverlining my gp (admitting not my own a young mani might add) refused to give me any tablet to calm me when I was very nervous over a dental procedure he said I d get addicted I asked for one blooming tablet for one event

www.hysteroscopyaction.org.uk/

www.hysteroscopyaction.org.uk/

A group of women have set up a campaign group so women are fighting back. It’s very heartening to read this but dreadful it is necessary.

Patient accounts - the same story over and over again

www.pslhub.org/forums/topic/68-painful-hysteroscopy/

This is from the RCOG guidelines

9.3 Should injectable local anaesthetic be administered to the cervix and/or paracervix before outpatient hysteroscopy?
Application of local anaesthetic into or around the cervix is associated with a reduction of the pain experienced during outpatient diagnostic hysteroscopy. However, it is unclear how clinically significant this reduction in pain is. Consid- eration should be given to the routine administration of intracervical or paracervical local anaesthetic, particularly in postmenopausal women.
A

vampirequeen

You're definitely not being unreasonable. I've had four in the last two years. The first was so painful they couldn't complete it and I had to go back as a day patient and have it done under GA. The second and third I managed to scream my way through. By the time I had the fourth I was traumatised. Even the consultant admitted it was painful and said the he was amazed I'd come back again. He asked me if I'd like a local anaesthetic which I did. The injection was uncomfortable but nothing like the pain that comes with the procedure. Once it took effect I felt no pain. So don't let them tell you that local anaesthetic isn't available. It is.

Your experiences sound like some form of medieval torture not a rich country in the 21st century. Why do we as women think this is anywhere near acceptable? Before anyone thinks I’m victim blaming, what I mean is what has resulted in some of us accepting the idea that we should not be offered appropriate sedation whether local or general ? And what are those professionals involved playing at? I wonder also how many appointments fail and thus resources wasted plus some women then being hesitant to seek further treatment? The OP brought in the word ‘wimp’. I thought that was really sad.

You're definitely not being unreasonable. I've had four in the last two years. The first was so painful they couldn't complete it and I had to go back as a day patient and have it done under GA. The second and third I managed to scream my way through. By the time I had the fourth I was traumatised. Even the consultant admitted it was painful and said the he was amazed I'd come back again. He asked me if I'd like a local anaesthetic which I did. The injection was uncomfortable but nothing like the pain that comes with the procedure. Once it took effect I felt no pain. So don't let them tell you that local anaesthetic isn't available. It is.

GrannyLaine

Good post BrightandBreezy @00:31:24
Completely agree that information giving around procedures like this isn't always helpful. I was completely misled when I had a colonoscopy several years ago and it has really affected my confidence about some major surgery that I know I will need sooner or later. However it is worth pointing out that there are very real risks associated with general anaesthesia that need to be weighed up for each individual.

Yes - it’s all about informed consent isn’t it? In one of my working life roles I was involved in the production of information leaflets for patients in clinical trials. Sometimes a procedure would be part of the trial - maybe as simple as a blood sample but sometimes a biopsy. I nearly always had to make them beef up that section in terms of how much pain could be involved and what pain relief would be available. It was quire common for medics to underestimate a safe, routine procedure in terms of impact on patients just because it was so routine for them .