I'm surprised and shocked by the number of people here that had problems with colonoscopies. Mine was fine, no pain worth mentioning, just a bit of disconfort. And it was all so quick, just around 15 to 20 minutes. Done in September.

I was very relaxed about it, had not read anything negative, only read the information sent by hospital, so maybe that helped me feel relaxed. I had a choice of gaz only or intervenous sedation and I chose gaz because I wanted to be alert and see the procedure on the screen. They gave me Buscopan by injection to relax my bowels.

I wonder if some of the NHS consultants are not very experienced or trained properly to preform colonoscopies... and thus the problems encountered by so many patients on this thread. The difficulty in recruiting qualified staff are making the NHS employ people that are not fully trained, I've read many trainee doctors are routinely left in charge of patients on their own... Sad times for a country that is one of the richest in the world.

My advice to anyone reading this and dreading to have a colonoscopy is: don't worry, it should be pain free. Ask your hospital if the consultant is qualified and experienced to do colonoscopies. Ask this in writing and demand a reply in writing too. If they refuse to put it in writing... go elsewhare. You have the right to choose where you want to be treated.

I had to research the matter as I was so disappointed with myself having to stop the procedure - with so many people reporting they only felt minimal discomfort but for some, like me, had excruciating pain (with semi-sedation) - I had to stop the procedure 10 minutes in when they reached the ascending colon on the left. 

I am now waiting for the procedure to be completed under general anaesthetic.

Essentially from my findings, everybody is different… if you have a beautiful straight bowel (no loops) then you’ll experience no or very little pain (easily comforted with gas and or semi-sedation).

However if you have loops and curves, then the pain levels differ significantly. 

The below information was from a study of 240 people (all semi-sedated)

The degree of pain were significantly higher in reverse alpha loop (55.9 mm), gamma loop (48.6 mm), uncommon loop (55 mm) than in N loop (34.1 mm), alpha loop (35.7 mm), none (11.6 mm). 

Women experienced more pain than men significantly. 

So please do not feel disappointed if you couldn’t handle the pain, we can’t change the way our bodies were formed. And it has nothing to do with your pain threshold. 

For most people, it’s a simple; up, across and down procedure - with no pain, maybe a little discomfort. 

But for others, it could be very painful - so please do not beat yourself up if you had to stop the procedure, as I did. 

I had to research the matter as I was so disappointed with myself having to stop the procedure - with so many people reporting they only felt minimal discomfort but for some, like me, had excruciating pain (with semi-sedation) - I had to stop the procedure 10 minutes in when they reached the ascending colon on the left. 

I am now waiting for the procedure to be completed under general anaesthetic.

Essentially from my findings, everybody is different… if you have a beautiful straight bowel (no loops) then you’ll experience no or very little pain (easily comforted with gas and or semi-sedation).

However if you have loops and curves, then the pain levels differ significantly. 

The below information was from a study of 240 people (all semi-sedated)

The degree of pain were significantly higher in reverse alpha loop (55.9 mm), gamma loop (48.6 mm), uncommon loop (55 mm) than in N loop (34.1 mm), alpha loop (35.7 mm), none (11.6 mm). 

Women experienced more pain than men significantly. 

So please do not feel disappointed if you couldn’t handle the pain, we can’t change the way our bodies were formed. And it has nothing to do with your pain threshold. 

For most people, it’s a simple; up, across and down procedure - with no pain, maybe a little discomfort. 

But for others, it could be very painful - so please do not beat yourself up if you had to stop the procedure, as I did. 

Thank you so much for posting. I had a colonoscopy today and was in so much pain they had to stop. It took nearly an hour to get to the bend on the acsending colon and I was screaming in pain. I've now been referred for a ct colonoscopy. I just hope I can tolerate that (with the prep involved. Again. Sigh)