Is there anything else you can do besides an enema?

I am on a liquid diet the day before surgery. If that isn't bad enough the coocoo dr has me with an enema at noon and at 6 that day as well.

See I go to a gyn clinic and I never see the same dr, well the preop dr for all the testing was a dr I had seen before. I don't really like her and I believe she thinks I am lying! She thinks what I have is bladder related, yet I have no infection. I do however have 2 fibroids and a cyst on my left ovary that she has some how determined has nothing to do with my situation because my pain is mostly on the right side....but this cyst has been there on 2 ultra sounds a year apart!

Anyway, I can take a sip of drink and be in the bathroom 5 minutes later and keep going all day! So 6-8 glasses of water, on top of broth, etc isn't exactly going to make my day! I go to the bathroom about 4 times during the day after coffee, so I don't believe I really need an enema! lol

I go tomorrow to the hospital preop and plan on talking to the dr there about the enema and the amount of water she has on there and see if there is something else I can do. Laxitives do the same thing as an enema and I'm more comfortable with that anyway.

Have any of you had anything different from an enema?

Thanks for any info

My doctor let me take a laxative. Have you ever been checked by a urologist? The bladder symptoms could be interstitial cystitis. It causes frequency and discomfort. It can also make you feel like you have an infection. Good luck to you.

Do you have a Walgreens near by? If so, go there and get a bottle of citrus of magnesia. The one here where I live has 3 different flavors--Lemon-lime, cherry, and grape. The cherry isn't so bad, but I need a chaser with it (usually cran-apple juice helps to mask some of the taste that I don't like)...lemon-lime is like Sprite/7-up/Sierra Mist...not sure about the grape yet because I haven't tried it. Drink the whole bottle as fast as you can without making yourself puke. Usually within a couple of hours, it will kick in. I swear by this stuff, and use it when I get constipated. I don't take laxatives in the pill form because most of the time, they don't work like they're supposed to on me. Good luck!!

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Originally Posted by Tkaren My doctor let me take a laxative. Have you ever been checked by a urologist? The bladder symptoms could be interstitial cystitis. It causes frequency and discomfort. It can also make you feel like you have an infection. Good luck to you.

I had the hospital preop today and the nurse said the enema is what they tell all patients and the dr or nurses at the office were not available. I'm afraid to do something they did not say was ok to do, but I really can't do the enema! WHY do they tell women to do that?! I had a horrible experience with an enema 28 yrs ago when I had my daughter and I don't want that same thing to happen

They are checking me for that when they do the hysterectomy.

Thanks

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Originally Posted by Safyr Do you have a Walgreens near by? If so, go there and get a bottle of citrus of magnesia. The one here where I live has 3 different flavors--Lemon-lime, cherry, and grape. The cherry isn't so bad, but I need a chaser with it (usually cran-apple juice helps to mask some of the taste that I don't like)...lemon-lime is like Sprite/7-up/Sierra Mist...not sure about the grape yet because I haven't tried it. Drink the whole bottle as fast as you can without making yourself puke. Usually within a couple of hours, it will kick in. I swear by this stuff, and use it when I get constipated. I don't take laxatives in the pill form because most of the time, they don't work like they're supposed to on me. Good luck!!

Will this do the same thing an enema will do? I can get to a Walgreens over the weekend. Just looking for an alternative to the enema.

Please, do not adjust your bowel prep in any way without speaking to the surgeon who will be performing your surgery. Each method works a bit differently and affects the patient differently.

Your doctor is going to proceed with your surgery as if you had followed the pre op orders to the "T." You can cause life threatening issues if you do not follow your doctor's orders and your surgery proceeds. If you are questioned--and you should be--and you didn't follow all the instructions exactly, your surgery could be canceled for your safety.

As an FYI, coffee can act as a diuretic which is why it can cause so much urination. It is not the amount of the coffee, it is how it causes your body to react.

Yeah, my pre-op was VERY different. No enemas. No laxatives. No drinks. No change to diet. Just no food or drink after midnight, with only 8 ounces of water allowed at 7am for my scheduled 1pm surgery. I wonder why some doctors have all this pre-op poo stuff and some don't have any at all. Anyone know?? Is it for planned intestinal procedures as well as hysterectomys? Mine was a planned LSH with exploration by a second surgeon for potential appendectomy (which ended up not being needed).

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Originally Posted by Weiser As an FYI, coffee can act as a diuretic which is why it can cause so much urination. It is not the amount of the coffee, it is how it causes your body to react.

Well, I don't have a regular dr and the dr that did this, doesn't understand that I don't have any problems going to the bathroom! Even the nurse said she doesn't get why they order that when if I drink 2 cups of coffee, I'm in the bathroom at least 4 times doing what the enema will make me do and as for as the 6-8 glasses of water on top of a liquid diet, she told me to try to do at least half, because a liquid diet will have me in the bathroom anyway! lol

I'm not happy about the fact that when I call to talk to someone about this, I get an answering machine! No one to talk to and I don't get why enema's are important in some cases and in other cases, there are no bowel prep at all!


My neighbor offered me fleet stimulant laxitive, I was tempted to take them, but I told her I'd call the dr to see if that would be ok instead of the enema, what did I get.........an answering machine!

The bowel prep is not because you have trouble going to the bathroom. The bowel prep is to make sure your intestines are as empty as possible before the surgery so that complication possibilities are minimized. If your bowel is nicked ( a very rare complication), fecal matter could cause serious problems.

As a previous poster said - bowel prep instructions should be followed to the letter. They are for your safety, no matter how much you may not like the idea. I had to do the magnesium citrate and an enema, not my idea of a way to spend a day, but had I not followed the directions, my surgery could have easily been cancelled. Every doctor's office has different protocols, that is why some have the prep, some don't, some do an enema, some don't.

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Originally Posted by marika614 The bowel prep is not because you have trouble going to the bathroom. The bowel prep is to make sure your intestines are as empty as possible before the surgery so that complication possibilities are minimized. If your bowel is nicked ( a very rare complication), fecal matter could cause serious problems. As a previous poster said - bowel prep instructions should be followed to the letter. They are for your safety, no matter how much you may not like the idea. I had to do the magnesium citrate and an enema, not my idea of a way to spend a day, but had I not followed the directions, my surgery could have easily been cancelled. Every doctor's office has different protocols, that is why some have the prep, some don't, some do an enema, some don't.

Thanks a friend just asked me if it was a drink or up the butt enema. Now would it make a difference if I got the drink if I could find it? As long as the bowels are empty? I wish I would have been able to speak to someone there, but all I got was an answering machine and there is no way I am going to ask my husband to help me with an enema on his 30 minute lunch break.

So if I can do it on my own, how do you do that? I'm really uncomfortable putting anything in that area that should be! Not to mention like I said before, bad experience with an enema when I had my child 28 yrs ago