Colonoscopies

I’ve had a couple and had sedation..and the nurses are very kind and yes, they will hold your hand…I was diagnosed with diverticula throughout colon and have to watch my diet as seeds in anything’s no, can get stuck and cause me some pain
It’s a tiny weeny camera on a very flexible tube..I watched on screen as they were performing the procedure- the pre-op is the worst and afterwards, the gas and wind is quite noisy but that’s normal..good luck🤞🏻

I had a Colonoscopy about 8 years ago and told the nurse how scared I was. She said I will hold your hand ,if you get too frightened just squeeze my hand
my hand and you will feel better.She was right

ExDancer

The prep was a doddle, nothing like the pain from that hosepipe they shoved up my bum. Of course I didn't see the size, I was curious to know whether they used different sizes for different sized colons.
I think we just have to accept that a small proportion of us do find it painful - and ask for better sedation.

It's bloody painful! I don't think it has much to do with the size of the scope but more the air that is pumped into your colon so the camera get get a clear view of the whole colon. Some people don't feel it and some do. There's no right or wrong answer.

Foxtail Horrible regarding the liquid drink

My colonoscopy was painful, felt like a sword being shoved round and that was with full sedation. Never again.

Foxtail France, I have had three colonoscopies, the first two, done many years ago, were horrible but this last one was much more acceptable

In France it is done on a General Anesthetic, maybe the doctors and staff can deal with a lot more patients in an hour.
I wasn’t given the choice but I didn’t have any after soreness.

I had a colonoscopy in another EU country and was given an anesthetic which was the norm, so saw it felt nothing however the worst thing ever was the prep drink through the night before, I really thought I would not be able to finish it, I feel real trauma about having another one due to that. Not meaning to put anyone off, I have low tolerance for around taste and smell.

Hi - I spoke to my consultant and he tried to play down the episodes reported to me where the "conscious sedation" with Midazolam/Fentanyl didn't work, almost like he was saying they were "mis-remembering" ExDancer - I have decided not to proceed with the standard offering despite reassurances - I am looking for a propofol procedure instead - but I need something to get me to go in the first place as I'm very phobic about anything medial procedure related - I have put the colonoscopy off for over a year now (FIT result +ve) - so need to make this as painless as possible as if something negative did happen - then I honestly don't know if I could ever trust them again

Homestead62

Im puzzled as to all the painless colonoscopies here. I had one with sedation and like the other poster I was begging them to stop. It was horrendous. In fact I had a different type of procedure when they needed to look there years later as I said to GP I was not going through that again for anyone. Why are they so painful for some but not others I wonder?

If there's some inflammation or obstruction in the colon perhaps that's what causes pain?

The prep was a doddle, nothing like the pain from that hosepipe they shoved up my bum. Of course I didn't see the size, I was curious to know whether they used different sizes for different sized colons.
I think we just have to accept that a small proportion of us do find it painful - and ask for better sedation.

I found the bowel prep worse than the colonoscopy procedure itself, but even that wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. I had sedation but was just sorry that I took my glasses off as I then couldn't see the screen properly.

You don’t actually see the camera so hard to tell its size. I am sorry you had pain. It may not hurt next time, but if it needs to be done …

Entonox is gas and air. Which I refused as I didnt like it when giving birth

I don't think anyone will be able to convince me that it didn't hurt, and I'm relieved to find I'm not alone.
Anyway, all I was asking really was 'how small is the camera. and do they come in different sizes?' and I've got my answers, though a straw in a toilet roll tube!
Thats one hell of a big colon! Thank you.

What's entonox? ---- no, I'll leave that for another post.

Thanks Silverbrooks. Looking at the diagram I think the camera went as far as where it says transverse colon. Certainly round the 1st bend. And then halfway across. What you say is logical as nothing was found. And tbey said the bowel prep was excellent so would have had a good clear view. I didn't have sedation so perhaps they went as far as they could before I squeaked. Only a quiet one.
That is actually quite a positive thought that nothing was found further in than just lower down.
I have a follow up telephone call in July and will ask the person who rings.

From my own experience, the initial investigation may be just a short sigmoidoscopy that takes about ten minutes.

In most cases of, say, ulcerative colitis, inflammation starts in the rectum then spreads up through the sigmoid colon into the descending colon then into the transverse colon and so on, as the disease progresses.

A rectum and sigmoid colon showing no signs of inflammation or any other disease would signify that the examination need go no further. If there is evidence of disease then the longer examination taking about 40 minutes would be required.

Discomfort around the “bends” is quite normal. The tube is having to negotiate sharp corners. A nurse will often manipulate the patient’s abdomen or position on the table to easy the passage of the colonoscope.

It's why I would always advocate trying to have the procedure done without sedation if possible so that the patient is fully aware of what is going on, can watch the progress on the screen and ask questions. Entonox is always to hand to easy any temporary discomfort.

DH has had several. He was fine with it apart from the embarrassment.

I had what was booked in as a sigmoidoscopy but since looking at diagrams and descripiions of what I could feel, I think they went further than just the sigmoid colon which looks quite a small area in the lower left. I certainly could feel the "pushing" feeling and a sharp short lasting pain across what I now know is the transverse colon towards the right hand side. I must reread the notes of the results I was given and see if that clarifies exactly how far my investigation went

Is it feasible that the sigmoidoscopy investigation goes as far as possible, if the bowel is nice and clear, until the patient shows discomfort? The actual sigmoid colon is a really short length.

Yes because a polyp is rooted through the surface of the colon to where the nerves are. A tooth doesn't usually hurt on the surface but try to remove it and it is the nerve which causes the pain.

Think about this logically. The average colon is about 6-7 centimetres wide. A colonoscope is less than 1.3 centimetres wide and is flexible. Moving a 1.3 centimetre flexible tube through a 6-7 centimetre tunnel shouldn’t be painful unless the colon is diseased in some way in which case it’s that which is causing the pain.

If you can hold and pass normal size solid stools then why would a flexible colonoscope, which is no bigger, cause pain?

It's the equivalent of wiggling a bendy drinking straw inside say the cardboard tube of a toilet roll.

Talk to your endoscopist about this as there may be some element of psychosomatic stress going on.

PS and biopsies can hurt - DH had a polyp that they tried to remove but he had to stop them and arrange proper sedation at a later date.

Homestead62 thank you for confirming that the procedure can be painful, I was beginning to think I was coming across as a liar!
I have been pressured to have another one and about 6 months ago underwent a 'virtual' colonoscopy where I lay in a tunnel and was scanned (CT I think) after drinking the dreaded Prep to empty the bowel. The clean-out is nothing to make a fuss over in my opinion, the only painful part came when they
I wish medics could accept that colonoscopies are painful for a minority of people and that a 1.5cm wide camera is too big.

For my colonoscopy they had to use a paediatric scope as part of my descending colon is narrowed. Didn’t feel any pain at all although the doctor had me changing position to get the scope round bends.

Im puzzled as to all the painless colonoscopies here. I had one with sedation and like the other poster I was begging them to stop. It was horrendous. In fact I had a different type of procedure when they needed to look there years later as I said to GP I was not going through that again for anyone. Why are they so painful for some but not others I wonder?

I had many colonoscopies over 20 years, all in the same NHS hospital outpatient clinic, so I saw their practice change over years. The earliest ones were done with twilight sedation; by my consultant and his male registrar ; later they were done by a female team of specialist nurses with no sedation.
Other than the enjoyable junkie rush as sedation goes in your arm, I prefered no sedation; I really liked watching the camera view on the screen, a live journey through my own colon. No pain. .

With sedation you wake up back in bed, needing a while to come back round and gather your wits. With no sedation you're still alert; and get to the tea and toast quicker.