Hi Steph

I thought I should report back on my overall experience of the colonoscopy and prep.

I was quite nervous about the moviprep as I had read such awful stories. To be honest, it was no big deal. I made the prep up the day before and put it in the fridge. When the time came to start taking the moviprep, I poured the correct measure in a glass from the refrigerated jug and drunk it as quick as humanly possible. Mine was a lemon flavour but it tasted a bit sour and was quite strong but nothing that I would say was extreme. In fact, I had an apple juice on standby so I could drink that to take the taste away but I found I did not really need it. My advice is to drink this whilst it is cooled and then it is not that bad.

The moviprep worked fairly rapidly with me and within the hour, I was on the loo but each visit was only  3 or 4 minutes long and I made about 4 trips with each of the 4 doses so that was not really that bad. No where near as bad as I had read on the internet and listened to people’s stories on youtube.

I arrived at the hospital for my appointment at 1.15pm feeling a bit apprehensive but I have to say, the staff were amazing and made me feel very relaxed. I chose to have no sedation or gas but to have it on standby should I need it. By 2pm, I was ready to go for the colonoscopy and was waiting in a small private room when the doctor who was to perform the treatment walked in and sat down and just chatted with me about what to expect but I immediately felt relaxed and I knew I could trust him to do a good job.

Once I was in position on the table, there was two other nurses. One was to make sure I was comfortable at all times and the other was to assist the doctor if needed. My procedure took longer than expected and in fact it went on for an hour as it took 40 minutes to navigate to the end before withdrawing the camera (not sure what this is called). I did have pain on about three occasions and the nurse kept asking me if I would like sedation or gas and I declined this. The pain on each occasion only lasted 5 to 10 seconds. In fact during the procedure, the nurse asked me if I was OK as I was not saying anything and I replied that I was just thinking about my dinner that my wife was preparing for me as I was starving. Everyone laughed and then finally, the procedure was complete and I was given the ‘all clear’ which was amazing. I am now fully better after being unwell for several months and it is unclear as to what my medical situation was that made me feel so poor but this seems to be in the past now and I am looking forward to the future.

All in all, if I had to have it again, I would not be at all worried and it is really not such a big issue. The NHS staff were amazing and this made it easier to deal with. I hope this helps anyone else who may be worrying about their upcoming procedure. My advice is, don’t worry, it really is not as bad as you think and it will be over before you know it.