This article now rates highly on Google for searching about pain during colonscopy, and as someone who has just had their first one, I wanted to share some useful bits for anyone who is wondering how painful it might be and whether to have sedation or not.
The bottom line is, MOST people who have a colonscopy unsedated will experience at most moderate pain, many had only mild pain or none at all. Only 20% experienced severe pain (note that these figures are for unsedated - when sedated, the number experiencing any pain will be much lower).
Whether you experience pain or not will depend on many factors, including the shape and size of your body/colon, existing medical conditions, the skill of the doctor, and to some extent how relaxed you are during the procedure.
I did it without sedation on the doctor's advice and it was aboslutely fine. It was like having gas after a spicy meal, but that was just my experience. I am only 32, and yet a large adenoma was detected and removed which was thankfully not cancerous, but the doctor said the procedure likely saved my life as from the size and histology it had a good chance of turning cancerous within the next few years. I can't tell you how unbelievably happy I am that I had the colonscopy, despite not sleeping for 4 days before out of fear.
My advice would be, if you are unsure about sedation, then have the cannular put in but no sedation to begin with, as the odds are you will be fine. Start the procedure and see how you get on. If it's too painful, sedation can be administered during the procedure no problem in most cases, and can be increased if needed.
The key thing is TALK TO THE DOCTOR and tell them how are you feeling. Mine was enormously comforting and guided me slowly through the procedure when he saw how nervous I was, and it made such a difference. The nurses were amazing too, and having a hand to squeeze makes everything all the more tolerable :)
Definitely DON'T skip it because you are nervous, it's just too important if a doctor has said it's required. I guarantee that undiganosed colon cancer is MUCH worse.
By full sedation, I assume you mean a general anaesthetic - which was the question posed by the original poster.
In the UK (and elsewhere) the risks and benefits of what degree of sedation or anaesthesia, if any, should be used are routinely considered .
The number of deaths attributed to the use of general anaestetics is now quite low in the UK* (0.001% or 1 in 100,000). The number of patients suffering an allergic reaction is slightly higher (0.01% or 1 in 10,000). The number of patients suffering permanent nerve damage is significantly higher (0.1% or 1 in 1,000).. Overall there's about a 0.111% chance of serious complications under general anaethetic. Not massively significant to an individual patient but when set against the massive number of operations performed by the NHS every year (over 5 million) and the almost equally massive number of endoscopies (over 3 million) you can see why there's a reluctance to use general anaesthetics more often. By not routinely offering a general anaethetic with an endoscopy the risk of over 3,000 people per year suffering serious complications (and potentially 30 people dying) is massively reduced.
That said, your surgeon should assess the balance of risk and benefit for each individual patient and if there is a high risk that you would suffer emotional trauma by not being given a general anaesthetic that should be taken into consideration. It would be worth discussing your fears and concerns with your consultant before your endoscopy to discuss what options are available under your specific circumstances.
I didn't have any - I believe they would have if they had found them. I was conscious throughout and epxerienced at most 2-3 minutes of pain - like extremely bad trapped wind.
Sorry to hear that. At the time I had my colonoscopy, I was suffering from stage 3B anal cancer - with bleeding and acidic discharge leaving me with an extremely sore backside. I was very worried but they were able to put some numbing gell on the area and I didn't feel it.
I found this whole thing really painful and unpleasant. I cried out in pain and would highly recommend getting a sedative if you can. The camera turning the corners it a sharp jab of severe pain for several minutes. I honestly couldn’t cope with those bits. I found it awful but had to be done and I know that. Just wish I’d taken sedative as would have really helped
9 gastroscopies, 3 colonoscopies and a pill cam later, i have never had sedation or pain relief. Not trying to appear macho and tough, we are all differant.For me a colonoscooy is uncomfotable with occasional, short lived bad cramps as they navigate the corners. The pain is very manageable with deep breathing and only lasts a few seconds. The prep is by far the worst bit. Moviprep is disgusting to drink and certainly needs will power to complete but please make sure you do. A clean bowel is key to a successful exam. The last thing you want is for the Doc to be unable to see the tissue .At best they will have to abandon the procedure and rescedule, at worst they could miss importent tissue markers and polyps.
My wife gave birth to my 2 sons without pain relief due to the speed of delivery, now that is pain!!!, at least for her
Hi I had a colonoscopy couple of years ago they supplied me with a small plastic bottle with a nozzle liquid already inside you lay on side insert nozzle squeeze within 3 minutes you have to be on toilet or its to late you take this before going to the hospital it really cleans you out, I had an hours journey to hospital every thing still cleaned out. Camera slightly painful more it felt like a lot of gas.
The thing I found wurst was the other end on the way down you keep feeling sick but if you can manage its a help to doctors to many have drugs it takes longer for each patient at eather end of the body..
