Bowel Prep - your faves and worsts

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ruhereyet

ruhereyet

Joined
Sep 8, 2013
Messages
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I've had about six colonoscopies, and each time, I've had a different prep. Today's was called MoviPrep, which is disgusting. I've had some that are much easier to get through, so this made me curious as to the opinions of others.

What have been good ones and what have been the worst?
 
GoLYTELY is my worst - AND its very name is a lie! GoHARSHLY would be more truthful.:ymad:
 
ugh the movie prep is pretty bad for me! It taste awful.. and It continued to clear me out waaaay after I was cleared out - I thought I should have drank less since I don't weigh much!

Golightly didn't taste bad at all.. just tasted like water to me...so that part wasn't bad.. but the results didn't happen for hours and hours.. So, I was up all night getting cleared out..
 
Have you ever taken the pill form? I tried that one about five years ago and it caused vomiting as well as cleaning out. So, that was the worst! I asked my doctor about it recently, and he said it was no longer available.

I remember two small bottles that looked like orange soda. Those were my favorites to date, but I've not seen them since then.

My 16 year old had a colonoscopy and he just had to take 6-8 docolax pills. I'm definitely going to ask my doc about that next time.
 
I have only had one colonoscopy thus far ( I am a newbie to IBD, just got diagnosed), so I am not very seasoned yet as far as different colon prep methods go.

That being said, I was VERY fortunate to be given Prepopik. Though prep sucks and it still like Drain-o- to me, Prepopik was not bad at all!! I pray I ALWAYS get Prepopik because, from what I have read and heard from other people--it is a cakewalk compared to pretty much any other prep.

There is only 10 oz of liquid you have to drink (mine was split into 2 doses of 5 oz each) and it tastes like orange sweet tarts. Not too shabby :) Then, you have to drink 5 (8oz) cups of clear liquid of your choice the first dose and 3 (8oz) cups of clear liquid (your choice but within 1 hour of consuming last prep dose). That's it! And it worked very, very well on me. I have the clean colon pics to prove it LOL

For me, this prep caused some rough nausea, strong cramping and very strong diarrhea to the point I expelled only yellow or green liquid (sorry TMI). I was surprised too because I did not think I had that much in me left LOL. Prior to prep, I have been on the BRAT diet and mostly liquids for 4 months on top of not eating due to the pain this stuff was giving me. I have lost over 55lbs prior to prep too.

Tips for using Prepopik my doctor gave me were spot on too.
1) Use ICE COLD water for mixing up prep and stir it up good, as directed.
2) Drink it fast with a straw.
3) Hold your nose if you need to, but it doesn't taste bad really. It is like orangey sour sweet tarts in taste.

My tips for using Prepopik:
1) Set up the bathroom BEFORE you do the prep. For me, this stuff worked really fast and there was no time really between taking the prep and potty time. So, get your books/magazines/iPhone/iPad or whatever makes it nice for you ready. I even put pillows on top of a clothes hamper to rest between go times-worked for me ;)

2) Maybe you won't want to, but I recommend doing the prep on the toilet. I also had a few different type of clear liquids ready to drink after prep near me in the bathroom and it made it easier. As soon as I drank the prep, it was go time and I was still needing to drink my clear liquids.

Great topic!
-Jackie
 
I nearly always have Picolax which comes with the yummy chaser of 10 senokot tablets. It is fizzy, lovely, I can feel it fizzing in my bowel and copious diarrhoea ensues. I tried something else once, I think Klean Prep, but I struggled with drinking it. My colon is always as clean as a whistle by the time of the colonoscopy :(
 
My first colonoscopy I just drank high doses of miralax. I don't remember prepping for the second (and last) . When I prepped for my last surgery though they have me golytely and dumped it out and went to using miralax. Never again will I drink golytely
 
The worst was golightly. Never again.

The most tolerable for me was one they don't do anymore. It was like a three ounce bottle that you downed and chased with a big glass of water. It tasted like pure salt to me but it was over so quickly. I don't remember the name of it though. I do miss the ease of that one.
 
The worst I've had taste-wise is KleanPrep. The best taste-wise are Picolax and Citramag, although the Citramag had such a strong effect I felt like I was going to die from the severe cramping it caused.
 
Just recently I had 1 litre of glycoprep and 2 sachets of picoprep for an endoscopy and colonoscopy. My strictures possibly caused a blockage during the ordeal and I ended up prepping the wrong end (through violent bouts of vomiting.)

The pain was absolutely horrendous, easily worse than breaking a bone.

Taste-wise though, the picoprep tasted much better than the glycoprep, which was akin to the scent of urine. I have to admit though, the gastric juices did actually make them both taste better on the way up. :rof:
 
My son and I both had dulcolax tablets and miralax with gatorade. No taste issues, worked great. Still not a fun experience but basically just taking a few pills and then drinking a lot of Gatorade.
 
I agree with everyone else, the Golightly is the absolute worst. I've done the miralax/gatorade prep, and it was okay, but I can never drink all the liquid.

The best one I did was a few years ago, I don't remember what it was called, but you mixed a shot-glass sized liquid into 8 oz. of clear liquid, and drank 2 of those, one hour apart. It was by far the easiest and least disgusting I've ever done, but they took it off the market because people had kidney issues from not following the instructions and drinking enough clear liquid before and after. Those people ruined everything!:ybatty:
 
GoLytely still makes me shudder just thinking about it.....

My GI's office uses the Miralax prep with dulcolax - not too bad. Just the quantity of liquid that needs to go down is too much.
 
First one I tried was Klean-Prep. The most foul thing I've ever tasted in my life. Couldn't keep it down, utterly, utterly vile. Was meant to drink 4 litres but the hospital wouldn't go through with the procedure because I only managed 1 litre!

Second I tried was MoviPrep - the second most foul thing I've ever tasted! Only two litres to drink but vomited up the first litre. Managed to keep enough down that they managed the procedure though.

Surely it can't be totally impossible to make a solution for this purpose that doesn't taste like toilet cleaner mixed with seawater?!!
 
I've had klean-prep before a colonoscopy and capsule endoscopy and it is absolutely vile, a LOT of apple and blackcurrant dilute made it bearable. The first time I had it I'd heard about how bad it was, but nothing could've prepared me for how bad it actually was!

I'm having a small bowel x-ray next week and have been given CitraFleet (Sodium Picosulfate). Apparently it's lemon flavoured, anyone had this?
 
Scarabia said:
I've had klean-prep before a colonoscopy and capsule endoscopy and it is absolutely vile, a LOT of apple and blackcurrant dilute made it bearable. The first time I had it I'd heard about how bad it was, but nothing could've prepared me for how bad it actually was!

I'm having a small bowel x-ray next week and have been given CitraFleet (Sodium Picosulfate). Apparently it's lemon flavoured, anyone had this?
Click to expand...
Scarabia, Sodium Picosulfate is the same as Picolax, I believe. It was easy to drink (just mixed the packet in a glass of water and drank it).
 
I'm seeing a theme here in the UK about Klean Prep ;)

I for one will reject it out of hand if it's given to me and demand something else. I encourage others to do the same!
 
I liked the pill prep but got taken off the market. I've also done Halflytely and Nulytely which are both pretty disgusting. Next time I'm going to ask about the miralax/gatorade.

Anyone else told to do split preps where you have to wake up in the middle of the night to drink half. I'm always tempted not to follow the instructions but too afraid of an inadequate prep. My last one I had to go to a work meeting first so was trying to do the math to make sure I left enough time to clean everything out.
 
I've heard of split preps, but haven't done one. I've never had a scope stopped for lack of cleansing. Apparently they're better for the scope when you do a split, but I've not seen a reason to do it.
 
My first colonoscopy, I did moviprep. Awful! The second colonoscopy, I had suprep. It was much better. There was a lot less to drink, and it didn't taste quite as bad as the moviprep. Still bad, but moviprep was worse.
 
DaisyB said:
First one I tried was Klean-Prep. The most foul thing I've ever tasted in my life. Couldn't keep it down, utterly, utterly vile. Was meant to drink 4 litres but the hospital wouldn't go through with the procedure because I only managed 1 litre!

Second I tried was MoviPrep - the second most foul thing I've ever tasted! Only two litres to drink but vomited up the first litre. Managed to keep enough down that they managed the procedure though.

Surely it can't be totally impossible to make a solution for this purpose that doesn't taste like toilet cleaner mixed with seawater?!!
Click to expand...

Do NOT ALLOW THEM to give you GoLytly next time. LOL you are having a bad run.
 
FrozenGirl said:
I did mag citrate. Gross super salty lemon flavor. And the cramping.... Thought I was dying.
Click to expand...

I don't mind this one. I just don't like that you have to get up a few hours before leaving the house to do the last bit. . . I want to sleep as long as possible so I'm not awake and hungry for too long.

I HATE FASTING
 
mish2575 said:
Do NOT ALLOW THEM to give you GoLytly next time. LOL you are having a bad run.
Click to expand...

Haha, it's been horrendous!! If there's another time I think I'll ask for Picolax. I've never heard of GoLytly by if it's suggested I'll start kicking and screaming till they give me something else :lol:

Every post I've read says the prep is so much worse than the procedure. So true!
 
Has anyone had Fleet (not enema)? I was going to say good or bad? But maybe I should say Managable or PTSD inducing?
I was prescribed picosalax but have a sulfur /sulfate/sulfite allergy so they prescribed Fleet instead.
 
I have had 7 or 8 scopes, and each time was different. The WORST was the gallon of Go-lyte. That was nasty and I couldn't finish it!! (but never told the GI that, ha!).

Last time I did a "Miralax with Gatorade" combo, and that was by far the best tasting!! But I never quite felt that I Was "running clear".

Today, I am using the Prepopik and wow does it work fast. The taste wasn't that awful, but did have a bitter aftertaste. (My insurance wouldn't cover it but the nurse gave me a freebie, yay!)
 
Just had my first colonoscopy EVER today and my doctor prescribed MoviPrep. That stuff is really nasty tasting. The only time I got nauseous was while drinking it so I had to take big gulps to get each 8 oz finished every 15 minutes. It did it's job, though - a little too well, I might add. I was running clear around 10pm last night and still ended up going A LOT. I still have diarrhea today, which is no fun, but I'm glad it's over with.

When my mom had hers done, she did the Gatorade/Miralax combo and didn't mind it. I don't know what my dad uses when he has his regular scope every 3 years. Never bothered to ask...
 
gotumtum said:
Has anyone had Fleet (not enema)? I was going to say good or bad? But maybe I should say Managable or PTSD inducing?
I was prescribed picosalax but have a sulfur /sulfate/sulfite allergy so they prescribed Fleet instead.
Click to expand...

Do they still make the Fleet oral solution? It's nasty (lime saltwater), but atleast you only drink two cups (and not a gallon!)
 
mish2575 said:
I don't mind this one. I just don't like that you have to get up a few hours before leaving the house to do the last bit. . . I want to sleep as long as possible so I'm not awake and hungry for too long.

I HATE FASTING
Click to expand...

I had to do a first dose at 6PM and the next at Midnight. Honestly the fasting didn't bug me but only getting 3 hours of sleep did not make me a happy camper. Also had to stop drinking any liquids at 3AM which contributed to me being very dehydrated and a hard IV start.
 
FrozenGirl said:
I had to do a first dose at 6PM and the next at Midnight. Honestly the fasting didn't bug me but only getting 3 hours of sleep did not make me a happy camper. Also had to stop drinking any liquids at 3AM which contributed to me being very dehydrated and a hard IV start.
Click to expand...

I hear ya. I only got 4.5 hours of sleep last night because I was so worried I would have an accident, even though I bought disposable briefs to wear. I did my last dose at 8:30pm and didn't go to bed until 1:45am. It had slowed down by 11:30pm, but I didn't know if it was permanent. I woke up this morning with a dehydration headache, too, but I wasn't allowed to do anything except take sips of water for my medication. I was so glad when it was over.
 
I had pico-salax and it didn't taste bad and I only have to drink it in less than two cups. It did get kinda warm when I combined it with the water so I had to let it cool a little. I took it once around 6pm the night before the scope and once 6 hours before the actual scope. It was a really easy prep. I also could drink water right up until the scope, they actually told me to bring my water bottle to the hospital to sip on while I waited. I still got dehydrated though.
 

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