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Lauraslungs2
Guest
I am 61 years old and would like to know If anyone has had a colonoscopy? What prep did you use and was it successful? I am new to this forum
I use qo litely, 1st scope in 2001, diag. Adeno ca, removed with surg.no other rx needed. Have had 10+ scopes since then, and haved used other bowl preps, but the one that works best for me (cleaned out) was the go litely, I have changed the name to go quickly
))! Good luck. I personally think CF folks should have a scope as early as 40-45 yrs. old.
))! Good luck. I personally think CF folks should have a scope as early as 40-45 yrs. old.I'm 37 and just had a colonoscopy. The prep solution was called moviprep that I used. I will perhaps ask for a different one next time . Doc said it should have done a better job and I drank of that stuff. I encourage everyone to have one if you have any ongoing issues that are not normal for you. I had two benign polps removed and my gi said if they had stayed in a few years it would have bad. The worst part was drinking the prep solution. you don't remember anything about the scope since your sedated. Hope this helped.
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Lauraslungs2
Guest
I had one successful colonoscopy at 53 post transplant. This time they couldn't get through. I didn't have polyps the first time around. My motility is so slow from years of taking anti rejection meds. I have not heard of moviprep. I used golitely. I will ask about that. Thanks!
markinohio
New member
I'm 44 and had my first colonoscopy about five years ago. I needed surgery to remove some polyps. I've had two follow up colonoscopies since then. On my most recent, I used Gavilyte-N Solution. I have had no problems with the procedures.
LittleLab4CF
Super Moderator
My bowel motility is severely compromised and it took some time for me to figure out things the doctors were seemingly unconcerned over until a procedure is aborted because of an obstruction. For CFers that suffer from motility issues, and it seems we all do, a standard bowel prep gets about half the job done at twice the cost in misery. My CF father fought the hard fight on the can as am I currently so I have had some time to work this out. The bowel prep overwhelms your system with salts (electrolytes) and a soluble synthetic fiber. Between the two agents, the water you drink and water throughout your body is drawn to the bowels trying to equalize the salts ingested into the gut. The Polyethylene Glycol (Mirilax brand, or PEG) binds up water to form pressure and stimulus for an aggressive bowel movement or ten.
I don’t know how much your motility is impacted by CF and what your regiment to optimize it is but I have to start my own sort of prep prior to taking the Go-Litely or whatever. Instead of Movicol or Mirilax to encourage my regular motility I was prescribed bowel preps to portion daily for motility a couple decades back. Considering that the tastiest bowel prep could gag a maggot, I started breaking down what it was in the bowel prep that did what. Electrolytes, in excess, and an inert bulking fiber like (PEG) make up the drink, and possibly an orange 5mg pill of bisacodyl sodium which is a stimulant laxative that is included, or removed at the pharmacy. There is a reason for the latter to cover later.
If you can take a week or ten days to prepare for your bowel prep, it will go much better. In general taking the components of your bowel prep in less nauseating concentration will prime you for success. An electrolyte rich sports drink (Gatorade or similar) needs to be added or increased to about a quart/twenty-five pounds body weight or a gallon a day for about a week. Adjust this to other liquids you drink in the day as I do trading 16oz. coffee for 8oz. of Gatorade etc. Gravity is so important to the equation and activity such as walking or gardening where the insides get jiggled around is as important to motility as the internal agents we take to help.
Dosing with PEG has been sort of like the black art of enzyme replacement so go with your gut. If you aren’t familiar with PEG as a bulking agent be aware of that definition of "bulking". Although you mix 1/2oz. of PEG or Mirilax with a glass of liquid, it turns into the equivalent of a 16oz. glass of solid food. Imagine a few days worth of this backing up along with regular food and liquids and it sounds pretty miserable. Ideally PEG adds weight and volume to your food as it enters the large bowel. PEG grabs water and keeps hold of it through the digestive system. When our food intake drops due to age or illness, PEG bulks the stool and keeps it pliant. In this way it is a near ideal product, it encourages motility simply by letting your body feel some fecal mass. This is the kindest medicine when it comes to encouraging nature. My point is at a point it is pointless to keep taking it if nothing has moved in several days.
For me if PEG and electrolyte drinks don’t do the job within my comfort zone of time, I take that 5mg bisacodyl sodium. If a person uses common sense with stimulant laxatives, they will serve throughout a lifetime with little risk. Stimulant laxatives are not given in cases of IBS, or the idea is they shouldn't be given. In years when IBS was a dominant issue for me, that little orange pill would hit with a vengance in about an hour.
I applaud you and encourage every CFer to get that baseline colonoscopy and keep current with this exam.
LL
I don’t know how much your motility is impacted by CF and what your regiment to optimize it is but I have to start my own sort of prep prior to taking the Go-Litely or whatever. Instead of Movicol or Mirilax to encourage my regular motility I was prescribed bowel preps to portion daily for motility a couple decades back. Considering that the tastiest bowel prep could gag a maggot, I started breaking down what it was in the bowel prep that did what. Electrolytes, in excess, and an inert bulking fiber like (PEG) make up the drink, and possibly an orange 5mg pill of bisacodyl sodium which is a stimulant laxative that is included, or removed at the pharmacy. There is a reason for the latter to cover later.
If you can take a week or ten days to prepare for your bowel prep, it will go much better. In general taking the components of your bowel prep in less nauseating concentration will prime you for success. An electrolyte rich sports drink (Gatorade or similar) needs to be added or increased to about a quart/twenty-five pounds body weight or a gallon a day for about a week. Adjust this to other liquids you drink in the day as I do trading 16oz. coffee for 8oz. of Gatorade etc. Gravity is so important to the equation and activity such as walking or gardening where the insides get jiggled around is as important to motility as the internal agents we take to help.
Dosing with PEG has been sort of like the black art of enzyme replacement so go with your gut. If you aren’t familiar with PEG as a bulking agent be aware of that definition of "bulking". Although you mix 1/2oz. of PEG or Mirilax with a glass of liquid, it turns into the equivalent of a 16oz. glass of solid food. Imagine a few days worth of this backing up along with regular food and liquids and it sounds pretty miserable. Ideally PEG adds weight and volume to your food as it enters the large bowel. PEG grabs water and keeps hold of it through the digestive system. When our food intake drops due to age or illness, PEG bulks the stool and keeps it pliant. In this way it is a near ideal product, it encourages motility simply by letting your body feel some fecal mass. This is the kindest medicine when it comes to encouraging nature. My point is at a point it is pointless to keep taking it if nothing has moved in several days.
For me if PEG and electrolyte drinks don’t do the job within my comfort zone of time, I take that 5mg bisacodyl sodium. If a person uses common sense with stimulant laxatives, they will serve throughout a lifetime with little risk. Stimulant laxatives are not given in cases of IBS, or the idea is they shouldn't be given. In years when IBS was a dominant issue for me, that little orange pill would hit with a vengance in about an hour.
I applaud you and encourage every CFer to get that baseline colonoscopy and keep current with this exam.
LL
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Lauraslungs2
Guest
Thank you for your detailed message. I, too, have very compromised bowels. I take 68grams of miralax daily, 3 cups of milk of magnesia, and a stool softener to feel like I can get through the day without severe bloating. I also have irritable bowel and I take 24 mcg of Lubiprostone in the Am and 16 mcg in the Pm. Do you still think your prep would work for me? Believe it or not, I have superior lung function for 15 years now, but with each year my bowels get worse. I appreciate your response. I want to thank everyone who responded, because the gastroenterologist did not have an adequate answer for me!
LittleLab4CF
Super Moderator
In truth, I doubt it. I have tried everything you have and then some in various combinations and I am still fighting an uphill battle. My latest change in bowel motility has drawn me to a CF bowel motility expert/researcher/MD. When I resolved my hard constipation a couple years ago it was replaced by what I termed soft constipation. DIOS seems to be the correct description of this CF issue. The best analog might be a sluggish sink drain. The plumbing has been reduced to a tiny passage through the center of a gunk packed drain pipe however in this case the large bowel stands in for the piping and a gooey mix of meconium, bacteria, food and feces is the stubborn gunk. If anybody wants to argue with the concept of an adult CFer producing gastric juices and gastric mucous that is a meconium equivalent, I have a lump of my own obtained at great personal cost and so forth. I did for a few years in order to make a proper study of the gunk. I have never gotten a sample of classic birth meconium to compare, but my word alone isn’t all there is. Scientific literature has documented meconium equivalent in the gut of CF patients. With DIOS, some people can sit and extrude a tooth paste like feces until they are too tired to poop. This doesn’t exactly inspire a satisfied feeling either.
Most likely the prep loosened some of the gunk and what the doctor would have learned had he been able to see inside could have been worth the try. DIOS can literally fill your gut for years and the worst outcomes begin with acquired megacolon.
I am going to make a wild stab at the obvious. Are you just full of crap? Every therapy you describe results in increased fecal volume. I too was started on double doses of Mirilax and told to titrate up or down to my own desire. Well that was helpful? As I stated before a dose of Mirilax is like 16 ounces of solid in your bowel. In your case you are putting in six pounds with the amount of daily dosing just from Mirilax. That is also six pound of feces you have to get rid of.
Milk of Magnesia (MofM) is an osmotic bulking laxative so the several glasses of MofM can be added as liquid that stays in the bowel. Each dose of MM coats the lining of the intestines preventing water from being absorbed out and drawing water into the bowel through the intestinal membrane. Add two and a half pounds of fecal mass in water with MofM each day. I wonder if Lubriprostone works better for women than men because this makes me nauseas big time. But again Amitiza is a kind of bulker in that it causes food to bind up more water making it heavier and more pliant. The only non bulking agent you take is a stool softener and if your stool is hard I don’t know what to suggest.
One big concern has come up at other times on this forum and it involves a fibrosing colon or an acquired bowel paralysis by excessive use of enzymes. Enzymes play a considerable part in fecal consistency. More, or too much for me gives me a looser stool and too little hurts generally but also leans toward harder stools. Look into this if you haven’t. I can’t remember the proper name. Printer brought it up some months back.
I also think you need to consider stimulant laxatives. Bisacodyl sodium may be intolerable for you, if so your doctor may know a better stimulant. Some people have good luck with Lactulose, another soluble fiber that also has a mild stimulant effect. It may be something you have tried and forgotten, there may be others that have been tried and dismissed. A very similar problem came up several months ago, I made a similar suggestion and either it worked or he died. There’s an endorsement!
Cutting down to a dose a day of Mirilax would be a start. Insteat of M of M try taking magnesium oxide. I fear to guess the dose but 400mg isn't bad for me as a daily cleanser. I take up to two grams or 2000mg of magnesium oxide for a good cleaning along with a couple doses of bisacodyl sodium and a push of Gatorade. No single thing helps the bowel completely every time.
A regiment of a half dozen practices found in any family medical guide should be followed. They are common sense things like hydration and setting three daily appointments to try and have a bowel movement. Make a list of about 12 daily good things for your bowels and do them. Some are physical, some chemical and some psycology.
Best of Luck
LL
LL
Most likely the prep loosened some of the gunk and what the doctor would have learned had he been able to see inside could have been worth the try. DIOS can literally fill your gut for years and the worst outcomes begin with acquired megacolon.
I am going to make a wild stab at the obvious. Are you just full of crap? Every therapy you describe results in increased fecal volume. I too was started on double doses of Mirilax and told to titrate up or down to my own desire. Well that was helpful? As I stated before a dose of Mirilax is like 16 ounces of solid in your bowel. In your case you are putting in six pounds with the amount of daily dosing just from Mirilax. That is also six pound of feces you have to get rid of.
Milk of Magnesia (MofM) is an osmotic bulking laxative so the several glasses of MofM can be added as liquid that stays in the bowel. Each dose of MM coats the lining of the intestines preventing water from being absorbed out and drawing water into the bowel through the intestinal membrane. Add two and a half pounds of fecal mass in water with MofM each day. I wonder if Lubriprostone works better for women than men because this makes me nauseas big time. But again Amitiza is a kind of bulker in that it causes food to bind up more water making it heavier and more pliant. The only non bulking agent you take is a stool softener and if your stool is hard I don’t know what to suggest.
One big concern has come up at other times on this forum and it involves a fibrosing colon or an acquired bowel paralysis by excessive use of enzymes. Enzymes play a considerable part in fecal consistency. More, or too much for me gives me a looser stool and too little hurts generally but also leans toward harder stools. Look into this if you haven’t. I can’t remember the proper name. Printer brought it up some months back.
I also think you need to consider stimulant laxatives. Bisacodyl sodium may be intolerable for you, if so your doctor may know a better stimulant. Some people have good luck with Lactulose, another soluble fiber that also has a mild stimulant effect. It may be something you have tried and forgotten, there may be others that have been tried and dismissed. A very similar problem came up several months ago, I made a similar suggestion and either it worked or he died. There’s an endorsement!
Cutting down to a dose a day of Mirilax would be a start. Insteat of M of M try taking magnesium oxide. I fear to guess the dose but 400mg isn't bad for me as a daily cleanser. I take up to two grams or 2000mg of magnesium oxide for a good cleaning along with a couple doses of bisacodyl sodium and a push of Gatorade. No single thing helps the bowel completely every time.
A regiment of a half dozen practices found in any family medical guide should be followed. They are common sense things like hydration and setting three daily appointments to try and have a bowel movement. Make a list of about 12 daily good things for your bowels and do them. Some are physical, some chemical and some psycology.
Best of Luck
LL
LL
L
Lauraslungs2
Guest
This week I was taken off of Imuran due to decreasing white blood count. I am now on cellcept and have noticed a change in my GI again. So far slightly better. My meds play havoc with my gut. Prior to my transplant, I had few GI problems. I will try some of your suggestions. Thanks again.