My biggest takeaway - get the pills.

I only had to drink two 6 oz bottles of clinpiq, plus a lot of water. It wasn't any big deal. Glad I didn't have to do what you did.

Yeah It was a lot of liquid but she told me my prep was great too so maybe all that water in the mix helped. I might ask about other options next time I get one. I asked her about the prep as she was wheeling me back and she said this one is cheaper and insurance covers most of the cost so maybe some of the newer ones are more expensive. I have a hard time swallowing a boat load of pills and chugging water but might ask for that option next time to try but that is many years away fortunately.

Had a follow up one today and get to go on a two year cycle now.

Still wish the prep wasn't so disgustingly awful. But it's bearable. Think I hate the dehydration headache and being so tired the day of the most. The medical nap just makes me tired all day.


Did confirm a theory from my last one. Now gonna say pro tip. Schedule for midday. Let's you have a light breakfast the day before then spreads the two prep doses out so that you can actually get a semi normal night of sleep. For years I did early morning l because for most surgeries early is better. But now convinced midday is the way to go for this.

Godspeed! Kick its ass!

Routine screening or were you have symptoms?

If you don't mind me asking, did you get the scan due to symptoms or just being on top of getting one at 45?

I had symptoms. Started losing my appetite in December and was experiencing significant abdominal pain by end of January/early February. Colon cancer is a slow developing cancer, therefore my MD Anderson oncologist said I'd probably had colon cancer for 10 or so years. Someone smarter than me said "once you experience colon cancer symptoms, it's probably already too late". I'm only going to survive this thing because of my tumor marker, which makes up roughly 10% of colon cancer patients. Otherwise I'd be looking at 2-3 years or possibly a little more depending on how I reacted to chemotherapy.

I had symptoms. Started losing my appetite in December and was experiencing significant abdominal pain by end of January/early February. Colon cancer is a slow developing cancer, therefore my MD Anderson oncologist said I'd probably had colon cancer for 10 or so years. Someone smarter than me said "once you experience colon cancer symptoms, it's probably already too late". I'm only going to survive this thing because of my tumor marker, which makes up roughly 10% of colon cancer patients. Otherwise I'd be looking at 2-3 years or possibly a little more depending on how I reacted to chemotherapy.

timmkel said:

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I had symptoms. Started losing my appetite in December and was experiencing significant abdominal pain by end of January/early February. Colon cancer is a slow developing cancer, therefore my MD Anderson oncologist said I'd probably had colon cancer for 10 or so years. Someone smarter than me said "once you experience colon cancer symptoms, it's probably already too late". I'm only going to survive this thing because of my tumor marker, which makes up roughly 10% of colon cancer patients. Otherwise I'd be looking at 2-3 years or possibly a little more depending on how I reacted to chemotherapy.

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Hell yeah you're going to beat this!

Beating Stage 4 Brain Cancer

Got my colonoscopy coming up at 10:30 AM today, 34 years old.

I regularly go 18-20 hours without eating so no biggie on the fasting.

First 6oz of prep solution and 2x16oz water at 6 PM was easy. Didn't sleep much if at all 10:30PM-3:00AM felt like I was trying to relax but may have been a little tense clenching so I didn't crap myself.

3 AM second round was tougher. Didn't want any part of the solution again and had a much harder time getting all the fluid down and keeping it down within the 1 hour.

Hopefully good procedure and results in a few.

Hope it went well and good job getting it done.

rjhtamu said:

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Hope it went well and good job getting it done.

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Thanks. No polyps, no sign of cancer.

Initially went in for lingering rectal discomfort over multiple years, positive occult blood, and kind of dark color residue leaching into toilet water around stools.

Outside of prep, 3 secs of anesthesia and I was out. Pretty easy.

Quote:

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3 AM second round was tougher. Didn't want any part of the solution again and had a much harder time getting all the fluid down and keeping it down within the 1 hour.

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Going from, "It's not as bad as everyone said," to, "Yuck! How do they get this down???" happens to all of us

aggiebrad94 said:

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Quote:

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3 AM second round was tougher. Didn't want any part of the solution again and had a much harder time getting all the fluid down and keeping it down within the 1 hour.

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Going from, "It's not as bad as everyone said," to, "Yuck! How do they get this down???" happens to all of us

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I've had two colonoscopies. The first one required me to drink the prep, but it seemed like it was concentrated or something because I didn't have to drink as much as my husband had before. I am not kidding when I say that the shock of drinking that prep was like being punched in the face. Every swallow was like being punched in the face. It was literally difficult for me to physically force myself to take each swallow it was not simply unpleasant.

The second time I was smart and asked for the pills because my husband got those before me. Game changer. I didn't care that insurance might not have covered it. I was willing to pay for them out-of-pocket (and there's a coupon for them so I paid $60 out-of-pocket, and the only reason I didn't find out whether insurance covered them or not is because the pharmacy was delaying my prescription because they needed insurance approval and I didn't have time to wait for that).

ASK FOR THE PILLS.

my wife had problems with getting the fluid down. but i never did. it gets old. but, i just chugged it each time.

Easiest colonoscopy prep you can do. If you can drink Gatorade, you can do it.

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/21217-miralax-gatorade-bowel-preparation-instructions

Well, I am back and this time I get to have a Flexible Sigmoidoscopy on Saturday. Prep is OTC Dulcolax.

I made it through chemo and chemoradiation. My latest mri showed some inflammation putting off a slight signal and the surgeon wants to rule out tumor residue. I desperately do not want surgery!!!

Good luck. I had rectal resection surgery February 2025. Not ideal, but not as bad as I feared going into it. There was a reasonably high chance I'd need a permanent ileostomy, because of location, but barely escaped that and only had one for 3 months.

eiggA2002 said:

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And don't do Cologuard. Just get the colonoscopy.

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Can you expand on this? Why?
I've had the Cologuard package at the house for a week now and just haven't gotten around to providing a sample yet.

DaveHimself said:

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eiggA2002 said:

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And don't do Cologuard. Just get the colonoscopy.

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Can you expand on this? Why?
I've had the Cologuard package at the house for a week now and just haven't gotten around to providing a sample yet.

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Cologuard mainly works by detecting blood. That means it's pretty good at detecting actual cancer (90%+) that has advanced enough to bleed, but not good at all at detecting precancerous polyps. It only identifies about 40% of large polyp lesions and much lower than that on smaller ones. The most effective method at cancer prevention is identifying polyps and having them removed before they become cancer, which is what the colonoscopy does extremely well.

Also, based on the amount and types of polyps found, the colonoscopy also lets you know your risk factor - meaning that even if you are technically cancer free, the amount and type of precancerous polyps found (if any) tells you how quickly you need to check again. Might be as soon as 1-3 years if they find and remove enough (or type of) precancerous polyp activity to warrant being concerned/more vigilant, or might be 10 years if you are polyp free. You get a good assessment with a colonoscopy. With cologuard you basically have no idea; you mainly just know you probably don't have cancer right now.

Big picture, it's really not a big deal at all to get one, and it's a far better way to avoid getting colon cancer at all as well as knowing how vigilant you need to be about monitoring

Thanks for the response! That makes sense how the colonoscopy is more preventive than the cologuard. I was on the fence about which route to go for some other reasons, but after reading this thread I'm going to see if I can make the switch.