I'm 66, and have experienced occasional bowel cramp throughout my life. It's a pretty bad pain, but it's only been really bad on about a dozen occasions. I've no idea what brings it on. Anyway, I'm a single man with no one to drive him home, and I get a bad reaction to many drugs, so I decided to get it done without sedation. I was told I could get an inhaled drug during the procedure, often given to women in childbirth, but decided not to take up the offer.

Well, I got the cramp when they inflated the bowel. The procedure lasted about 30 minutes, and it's hard to say how much of that involved bowel cramp, but it was probably less than 3 minutes in total, although it felt like far longer. I can easily understand how someone who has never experienced bowel cramp would 'freak out' if they experienced it for the first time during a colonoscopy. If you've ever had cramp in your leg, it's just like that, but you can't hold it to ease it like you can do with leg cramp. It's bad, but not intolerable.

I'm 66, and have experienced occasional bowel cramp throughout my life. It's a pretty bad pain, but it's only been really bad on about a dozen occasions. I've no idea what brings it on. Anyway, I'm a single man with no one to drive him home, and I get a bad reaction to many drugs, so I decided to get it done without sedation. I was told I could get an inhaled drug during the procedure, often given to women in childbirth, but decided not to take up the offer.

Well, I got the cramp when they inflated the bowel. The procedure lasted about 30 minutes, and it's hard to say how much of that involved bowel cramp, but it was probably less than 3 minutes in total, although it felt like far longer. I can easily understand how someone who has never experienced bowel cramp would 'freak out' if they experienced it for the first time during a colonoscopy. If you've ever had cramp in your leg, it's just like that, but you can't hold it to ease it like you can do with leg cramp. It's bad, but not intolerable.

I don’t usually write reviews but thought I would write about my experience having a colonoscopy on 26/06/19. I am 32 / female. I was very anxious about this procedure so much so that I nearly cancelled my appointment. 

Before my appointment I surfed the internet looking for reviews of what to expect and found a mix of responses. YouTube was the most beneficial to me as you could see the procedure so knew what to expect. 

Moviprep is what it is. It cleanses your bowel so expect lots of tummy grumbles and water flushing through. I was nervous taking this as I suffer from piles and a fissure but it was ok. I used wet wipes to wipe and Vaseline after every bowel movement which kept it comfortable. Taste was ok! 

I was so stressed about having the sedation as I hate the feeling of drowsiness and feeling out of control so debated having this right until I was in the theatre room. I was advised by the specialist doing my colonoscopy to have sedation as I have endometriosis and also had a c-section which encourages adhesions that can stick the bowel to other areas of the body. Adhesions can make the bowl stiff and painful in those areas which is what I struggle with so I do suffer with quite a bit of pelvic pain. 

Due to being anxious I decided to start with a painkiller via cannula only and no sedation. The specialist said he could top up the painkiller or give sedation during the procedure if it got painful. I had 25ml Fentanyl (opiate painkiller) to start. I then upped it to 50ml as felt some discomfort from the gas which totals to half of the allowance they could give me. It it took away the discomfort. The whole procedure was performed with this dose. I completely felt myself (no feelings of drowsiness etc) and I had no sedation. I could feel the tube inside me which felt like pressure even when turning the bends. It was totally manageable. 

Please don’t let this procedure freak you out. I spent days stressing about it and it was over in 15 mins. Where as I know everyone is different I hope you can take comfort from this post as I suffer with pelvic pain and this procedure was performed on me with minimal pain killers. I hope this review helps.

Having had a colonoscopy in May 2019 due to two positive results on the bowel cancer screening programme I thought it might help if I posted my own experiences.
I'm 68, male and with no other health issues except very early stage glaucoma. In fact to make my life even more fun I had my glaucoma investigation on the Thursday morning (confirmed but emminently treatable by using eye drops for the rest of my life) with the colonoscopy scheduled for midday Friday. So back from the eye department and pretty much straight into the MoviePrep having not eaten anything since Wednesday night! The MovePrep is what it is. I didn't find it tasted too bad at all and managed to sip it all down. I would suggest it's worth chilling it though (just seemed to make it more pleasant) and I'm not going to describe the results, I'm sure we can all imagine them! But, again, it's not horrific but I would suggest applying something (Vaseline was my choice) to prevent any soreness developing. If I have to tell you where to apply it then you might want to think a bit more about this!
By the time I felt safe enough to go to bed it was late but I was never going to sleep well anyway. I freely admit to being scared of what the next day would bring. So wife drives me to the hospital and in we go. By this stage with lack of food, being totally empty and pretty much stressed out I was not at my best but everyone, every single person throughout the whole business was SO helpful and SO re-assuring that I started to relax, a little. Was shown how to change into the hospital gown and left to do it. Yes, leave your dignity in the car park, but don't worry you can pick it up again on your way out! Had a cannula put in but if you've ever had blood taken it's just like that and then wheeled in to what I had come to think of as the "Room Of Doom". Me, two delightful nurses and the consultant. Some equipment and a big screen on the wall. I wasn't asked if I wanted sedation but A:- I kind of think they'd decided I needed it and B:- if they had asked I would have said Yes Please! So sedation in. I didn't fall asleep, I remember pretty much all of the procedure (although I would have said it took about ten minutes but it took far longer so maybe I have forgotten some of it?) and was chatting happily away to everyone. But, looking back, I was VERY calm so the sedative obviously worked because I had been near terrified earlier. I watched the screen and can honestly say I felt no pain whatsoever. Just a sort of strange feeling of something moving around inside me but definitely nothing painful at all. The Consultant told me that he had removed one small polyp and that although he was sending it for a biopsy he wouldn't expect it to be of any concern (it wasn't) and then out for a spell in recovery before dressing myself, thanking all the staff I could find and then driven home. Where I slept for about ten hours straight.
OK, I know I've gone on a bit but that is my experience. Basically that procedure could have saved my life and it wasn't in any way anything to fear. I hope your's goes just as well and I'm sure it will.