Went for colonoscopy yesterday. Horrendous day taking Movieprep. 7 hours on toilet even though clear quickly. Had sedation which seemed to have no effect. Very painful and procedure was aborted due to adhesions from previous surgery meaning they could not get round first corner. Now to wait 6 weeks for CT scan. Late last night had awful diarrhoea. Is this normal? I wondered if there was something blocked colon meaning it wasn’t really cleaned out? Repeat said good prep but they only saw the first bit. Very worried now.

I had a colonoscopy  or should say attempted one 2 days ago was given same drugs as you with no effect ,they just managed to go into the sigmoid and stopped because of the pain did see severe diverticula l seem so mad that l suffered the 2 days pre prep and then 20 mins of torture only to be referred back to consultant l was on the 2 week pathway due to  cancer symptoms so don’t know what’s going to happen now but l know one thing never having with procedure done without ga. 

Me too - my first one was over 30 years ago with a tube that was as wide as a garden hose! A few weeks later I had a gastric endoscopy with the same piece of kit.

For any new patients reading - the vast majority of patients experience only mild discomfort but the minority who do have issues seem to have it bad.

Either way, this is a far better option for diagnostic biopsies and visual checks than the only option available to previous generations which was exploratory surgery. In the late 1970s my Grandad had that and he never really recovered from the “let’s cut you open and take a look inside your bowels” diagnostic approach. 

I was in hospital last year with badly infected colon colitis pain was excruciating but no colonoscopy just ct scan then just left for over a year with no follow up until i went to gp who booked a consultant to see me so I had a colonoscopy 3 days ago its my 3rd 1 in 15 years first 2 was painless this 1 was killing me i screamed in pain so they abandoned it the pain relief is pathetic if your in so much pain why don't they knock you out morphine or something oh well they now have to give me ct scan which will cost nhs more money its ridiculous really because if they find something on ct then you have to have another torterous colonoscopy why don't they do the job right in the 1st place this was all written down on my paperwork that consultant will see , so i wait for ct now still wondering if that was water instead of pain killer .

NHS cutting corners with pain relief how disgusting for patients !

I've had the internal colonoscopy and ct colonoscopy.  Like many others the internal colonoscopy was abandoned because I was in too much pain apparently.  I don't actually remember any of it as I'd had sedation.  I wish they would further investigate why we found it so painful.  Next I had the ct colonoscopy with huge amounts of gas pumped into me that I thought it would blow out of my mouth!  I was in agony for two days with this, couldn't eat or drink and my entire abdomen remained swollen.

The only difference between the two procedures is the way I was positioned.  With ct I was on my back but with internal on my left side.  I can't understand the logic of laying you on the side that the colon start on as all the right hand body weight will crush down making more gas needed and maybe causing the pain?  The ct was slightly uncomfortable but nothing major and I was laying on my back which I feel may be the difference.  It was after the ct that I found the worst and extremely painful it really took my breath away.

Unfortunately I am booked in to have another internal colonoscopy on Thursday so will ask why I have to be on my left side for it.  It doesn't seem to matter how much sedation I get as can't remember being in pain last time, yet the abandoned it.  Oh well, wish me luck!

I've just had colonoscopy had all the pain relieve offered even gas and air was in excruciating pain was in for about an 1 hour 30 mins for it to be aborted i had 1 done Sunday fasted all day Saturday to be told moviprep hadn't work so went home with some more so starved then second day went again to be abandoned will never have another in my life time unless I'm fully sedated but not sure if they can so waiting for a scan why couldn't i ave a scan in 1st place 

I have just been to see GP I have a history of IBS, my spinchter muscles are damaged due to a complicated childbirth 38 years ago. I am nearly seventy and have started to loose weight. I had a colonoscopy about eighteen years ago the experience was absolutely horrendous, I swore I would never go through anything like that again. My GP has put me on a two week urgent list at my local hospital where she said they will probably want to do a colonoscopy, I have told her that I will definitely not have the procedure she said they may give me a general aesthetic but I doubt that very much. I will keep you informed. 

I have the greatest of sympathy for all the posters who have had a bad experience with their colonoscopy. Just for a bit of balance for anyone who might be put off the procedure for fear of the pain, I’d like to report on my own experience. I didn’t find the laxatives (3 senna tablets then 2 doses of Picolax) unpleasant to take - the Picolax was just like lemon squash (the stuff you dilute with water). The effects of the laxative were as expected - but no worse than the severe diarrhoea I’ve had before on holiday in SE Asia when the food didn’t agree. They do have to get the bowel completely empty after all. The staff at the the unit were very professional and  friendly. I had the Fentanyl and Midazolam which I guess worked fine - though I didn’t feel at all woozy there was really no significant discomfort at all nor bloating. Fortunately for me they didn’t find anything abnormal so the cause of my intermittent lower abdominal pain remains a mystery for the moment.

I was offered tea and biscuits while I was in recovery which was very welcome after my 24 hour fast.

Again may I say that I do not want to make light of the horrible time some folks endure, but just to record my personal story.

Well I cleared out my bowels and attended the colonoscopy but within minutes and despite the drugs and gas and air the endoscopist couldn't get beyond the sigmoid.  She described it as feeling "fixed".   Back to the drawing board!

Had my second colonoscopy last week and it was just as bad as the first one (had bowel cancer 18 months ago and this procedure is part of the follow-up surveillance).  I know how important this procedure is but I just know I cannot go through with this again without being "knocked out".  First one painful but the second one was excrutiating.  I think I will accept the sedation next time but after reading all of the above posts I don't have much faith that it will work.  On the plus side, bowel prep was a doddle!