Sedation for first time colonoscopy

Crohn's Disease Forum

Help Support Crohn's Disease Forum:

L

Lizzie

Joined
Jun 7, 2011
Messages
435
Location
East Midlands
I'm due to have a colonoscopy and biopsies soon and I'll be having sedation. My question is about how the sedative affects your mind during the procedure? I'm worried I'll start telling the doctors all my secrets or something or start swearing like a fishwife or even blabber on about my fear of dying (don't know if it's inflammatory bowel disease or something even worse as yet). Can anybody tell me do you stay totally compos mentis throughout?
 
Why what secrets do you have?? do tell :)

You wont have that problem at all, it made me quite happy / laughy at the start, all your senses are a bit dull. You act normal but your short term memory is affected quite a bit (you will be doing somethign then forget what you was doing) This is more apprent when you get home so its best to have someone around with you (i went up and down stairs about 2 times as I couldnt remember why i had gone up/down in the 1st place).

Be more worried about the laxatives they give you, make sure you have the toilet handy at all times, and plenty of moisturising cream
 
I see you're in Nottingham. Hello! Are you going to the QMC? (sorry, I'm nosey!)

I presume you're having twilight sedation? In which case when they inject it you feel kind of drunk (in a good way), then just relaxed and half asleep. I was aware for mine, but I really couldn't summon up the energy to talk other than a few words like 'mmnh' when they asked me to turn over. Even if I had started blabbing, I doubt they would have understood me!

And apparantly people say all sorts of things when they come round from general anaesthetic. So even if you did say something, they will have heard it all before!
 
If they use Demerol and Versed it will more than likely make you sleep. I react differently than most people I have talked to. For my 1st they didn't give me enough to knock me out so I chatted for a bit (didn't share secrets just asked questions and commented on my insides) watched the beginning of the procedure and then took a short nap. After they were done. I was wide awake and hungry and ready to go shopping :) During my last they doped me up more and I slept through the procedure and woke up when it was done refreshed.
 
Hi Rygon, do you really think I'm going to confess to that body buried under the patio on this forum?

Seriously, though, thank you for your reply. I've been instructed to have someone colllect me from the hospital and then stay with me overnight because of the sedative. I hadn't realised it would be so longlasting; I was thinking in terms of the sedation a dentist might give you, which is effective but wears off very rapidly in my experience. That sent me a bit doolally, I blush to recall, though I just managed to hold back from telling the dentist that he was the man of my dreams!!!
 
Rebecca85 said:
I see you're in Nottingham. Hello! Are you going to the QMC? (sorry, I'm nosey!)

I presume you're having twilight sedation? In which case when they inject it you feel kind of drunk (in a good way), then just relaxed and half asleep. I was aware for mine, but I really couldn't summon up the energy to talk other than a few words like 'mmnh' when they asked me to turn over. Even if I had started blabbing, I doubt they would have understood me!

And apparantly people say all sorts of things when they come round from general anaesthetic. So even if you did say something, they will have heard it all before!
Click to expand...

I'm going to the City, actually, which is good because that's nearer to where I live.

I like the sound of feeling drunk so long as it's only moderately drunk and not paralytic!
 
Doesn't make much difference to me distance wise, I ended up at QMC because they had a bed at the right time. And yes, it's a nice moderate drunk feeling not paralytic!
 
I'm fairly sure that the 'drugs of choice' in the UK are a combination of Midazolam and Fentanyl — Wikipedia has a good description of what both these drugs do.
I don't remember a awful lot about either the colonoscopy or the endoscopies that I have had. Unfortunately you *do* need someone to come and get you and escort you home. I don't remember telling any secrets, but I was apparently talking a load of old cobblers for a few hours afterwards!
 
leithcote said:
I'm fairly sure that the 'drugs of choice' in the UK are a combination of Midazolam and Fentanyl — Wikipedia has a good description of what both these drugs do.
I don't remember a awful lot about either the colonoscopy or the endoscopies that I have had. Unfortunately you *do* need someone to come and get you and escort you home. I don't remember telling any secrets, but I was apparently talking a load of old cobblers for a few hours afterwards!
Click to expand...

So you don't just go home afterwards and quietly sleep it off without making a spectacle of yourself? That means I need to worry about showing myself up in front of family as well as medics!
 
you drift off peacefully, it's quite nice.

there is only one part of the procedure I remember, where the doc is pointing to the monitor saying "that's where the obstruction is"

afterwards I was lying down in the bed and the nurse told me to go home. I was a bit surprised so I asked her "don't I have to stay here for atleast an hour after the procedure?". She told me an hour had already passed. I barely noticed.

Hopefully that eases your anxiety a bit.
 
You don't have to worry about anything you might say. Usually you aren't able to talk anyway and tend to come to rather quickly once it starts wearing off. They use Versed/Midazolam and something else that helps you relax (I forget the name) for people in Ca. generally. Its partial sedation but not fully asleep as they need you to be able to move on your own sometimes during the procedure. You wont or rather shouldn't remember any of it. If you do remember the procedure chances are they didn't give you enough sedation (some people require more and I let the doc and nurses know that I need more before they begin). Sometimes the doc and nurses start asking your dumb questions after they've shot you full of drugs so they can have themselves a good laugh but even if you said you murdered anyone they wouldn't take it seriously and it wouldn't hold up in court. ;)
 
A friend of mine who had a c-scope told her GI when she was coming out of sedation that what he did to her qualified them for common-law marriage in some states.

I had propofol, though, for both upper and lower scopes, and I don't remember anything. And I didn't feel out of it all the rest of the day, which was nice. Don't know if that's available in the UK, tho...
 
i'm also in the UK they use twilight sedation as someone else mentioned, have to say it's great!! hehe. it was pethedine and something else. it relaxes muscles and makes me all drunk, don't worry about telling secrets, you feel so heavy that when they were talking to me i could just about answer but it took a lot of energy so i just watched the screen.
i saw mushrooms in the colon and remember asking them afterwards why there were mushrooms in there, they all laughed at me but i swear i saw them! hehe!
 
First time I was given sedation but I stayed awake and talking the whole time!! It just made the procedure easy and comfortable. Doctor and nurses had never had anyone stay awake and talk about what we were all seeing on the scope before. They turned the monitor so I could see everything too, once they realized I wasn't going to sleep. I was a little dopey afterward.

Having another one done next week - so I'll see if I stay awake this time.

If I ever have to have another MRI they are going to have to put me out though - apparently I am claustrophobic - which I did not know before this!!
 
Lizzie- It might be worth asking your family if they have ever been sedated, and what effect it had on them. My mum and paternal grandfather both have high tolerances for sedation, they tried to knock my mum out for a procedure, they left her while it took effect and she got bored of waiting so got up to find a nurse! So it's hardly surprising that I seem to have a high tolerance too (I can remember the whole scope, and as soon as they took me through to recovery I ate two little packs of biscuits, a cup of coffee, got dressed and demanded they let me go home!)
 
I'm getting sedation for an upper endoscopy, super nervous also as it will be my first time! I had a flexi-sig before Colonoscopy, I didn't opt for sedation for the latter since you don't get it for the former. I knew what would happen and that I would be okay with it, my personal choice.
 
StarGirrrrl said:
I'm getting sedation for an upper endoscopy, super nervous also as it will be my first time! I had a flexi-sig before Colonoscopy, I didn't opt for sedation for the latter since you don't get it for the former. I knew what would happen and that I would be okay with it, my personal choice.
Click to expand...

You sound much braver than me. I was squealing my head off yesterday when the nurse examined me with a little torch or something! I'm not certain what it was because I didn't even dare to look.
 
Ahh thankyou. To be honest, as i'd never had sedation before, but a similar procecure, I kind of wussed out as a little nervous about sedation.

But for the upper there is no avoiding it!
 
StarGirrrrl said:
Ahh thankyou. To be honest, as i'd never had sedation before, but a similar procecure, I kind of wussed out as a little nervous about sedation.

But for the upper there is no avoiding it!
Click to expand...


You are a strong one. I wasn't given an option, but definitely would opt for wussing out of feeling a camera going up my bum!!
 
Well, I had had a Flexi-sig a few years earlier, and as it doesn't go very far, you don't get sedation or pain relief. So i knew what to expect, and for me that it really wasn't that bad, unlike the unknown of sedation!

Even the prep was just one cup of "medicine" the night before and one small enema on the day.
 
I was given the "twilight" sedation. Supposedly you are "awake" but you won't remember it. I think I was passed out. Although there was a point I remember during the procedure where I was trying frantically to escape. I'm guessing that's when the scope reached the area of active inflammation. I'm not sure how far I actually got (probably not very) before they gave me more drugs.

I woke up in recovery and they diagnosed me with Crohn's. I started crying. (Actually I was crying that popcorn was on the list of foods not to eat). All the nurses fluttered around me feeling bad, bringing me tissues and such. Then I went home. I got a chicken sandwich. A couple hours after that the nausea kicked in and it was HORRIBLE. They gave me anti-nausea meds before the procedure, but I think since they had to use more drugs it just wasn't enough.

The nausea afterwards (I puked in the car) was bad enough that I will be asking to either not be sedated in the future or to receive more heavy duty anti-nausea drugs.
 
I was given conscious sedation (which I think is just another name for twilight sedation but forgive me if I'm wrong there) - a mix of pethidine and midazolam - for my gastroscopy and colonoscopy. It worked a treat for the gastroscopy which was done first, I vaguely remember them putting a nasal cannula on me (for oxygen) and a mouth guard in (in case i got hungry and decided to eat the camera? :p ) and then I was out like a light until they were taking it back out. But it had started to wear off for the colonoscopy so I was pretty much knowledgeable of what was going on though I don't think I was quite awake enough to start talking to the staff - just grumbling! It was after it all as I started coming around properly that I started talking... apparently it was mostly nonsense and a lot of it! I would advise having someone else you trust there to listen to the doctor though - I was still pretty sleepy and didn't take in a lot of what was said. x
 
Originally Posted by Mayflower537
A friend of mine who had a c-scope told her GI when she was coming out of sedation that what he did to her qualified them for common-law marriage in some states.
.
Click to expand...

I nearly died laughing when I read this!!!! :rof: That made my day!!!!!!
 
I told my husband that he should take a Sharpie marker and write "One Way-Do Not Enter" on one cheek and "Unloading Zone Only" on the other when I have to go for mine....just to see if the new doc has a sense of humor
 

Similar threads

A
Am I crazy?
Replies
1
Views
1K
Opieshuffle13
O
K
So confused after apparent relapse
Replies
6
Views
2K
Opieshuffle13
O
R
Nearly 4.5 years in with Crohn's.
Replies
2
Views
1K
ras96mg
R
K
This has destroyed my life.
Replies
27
Views
3K
kephra
K
A
This doesn't sound like Crohn's, right...?
Replies
17
Views
3K
Scipio
Scipio

Latest posts

Back
Top