Thank you so much for your kind words.  Yes, it was terrifying, and of course, after C, you always suffer with scan anxiety.  This was my second, and checking to see if any abnormalities.    I was at my wits end with worry, awful.  Thankfully, they said I looked cancer free, but took a number of biopsies due to the inflammation.  My CT scan is due in February, also surveillance.   Thank you again. x

I’ve had 3 colonoscopies all with sedation.The first 20 years ago where the sedation was spot on. There was no feeling or memory of the procedure.

The second was six months ago and the pain was bad. The third, a couple of days ago was excruciating. The consultant doing the procedure said I had a long and loopy bowel.

There is no doubt in my mind that the present day sedation medication is inadequate. 

I had a colonoscopy about 10 years ago and had a similar experience to those described here - excrutiating pain, I was screaming and the pain relief did nothing. The colonoscopy had to be abandoned as my heart rate was high and my blood pressure was on the floor. Like others said, the consultant was fairly uncommunicative and I felt that it was my "fault" that I it couldn't be completed while the nurses (female) were lovely. 

I have been experiencing pain recently and may need another colonoscopy and am terrified of having that level of agony again. I have just done some cursory research and there is substantial evidence going back at least to 1996 that shows that colonoscopies in females are more difficult and more painful. This is due to the bowel being longer in females as well as if you have had surgeries, eg c-sections (I've had two) there is high chance of adhesions due to scar tissue which causes pain in colonoscopy. 

Solutions can be to use a paediatric scope - which is enraging, yet again men are seen as the standard body size/shape - and less inflation of the bowel using air as well as asking the patient to change positions throughout before giving up on the procedure.

Someone here had said about NHS pracitioners not being well trained. My one was via the NHS but it was at a private hospital and it was absolutely horrendous.

I would consideer general anaesthetic but there are risks associated with this and in the past I have reacted badly to this too. 

There is a procedure where you swallow a pill-sized camera but if any issues are detected, you may still need a colonoscopy.

It would be best if alternative procedures that allow treatment could be developed, but I fear that as it is mainly women who experience agony during colonoscopy, it is not a priority.