Getting ready for bowel prep

Hi eveyone , well i am heading to the castle on Aug 8th Frid ay and i am starting to get scarred. This is my day with solid food.. start bowl prep 10am tomorrow Blah. I know everything will be fine i am just a little freaked out... thanks for listening

Hey Bren,

I am right there with you only I wasnt given a time to start my bowl prep.

Mac

Hey there sisters! This is what I did that helped me. Plan nothing for that day except maybe watching some TV or a movie you can stop and start.

After I mixed up the stuff that morning about 10am (started drinking at noon) I put it in the fridge because some say it makes drinking it easier. I don't mind cold drinks so that is what I did, though after the first couple of times I left it out on the counter because it was then it was TOO cold. I always had a swig of lemonade or 7Up to drink immediately after to get rid of the taste. Mine tasted salty. Then I brushed my teeth if I needed to.

Remember clear liquids ONLY that day of the prep. I set the timer on the oven to remind me of the 15 minutes between each episode to drink. After a while the taste was getting to me so I pulled a trick my kids use when they have to take liquid medicine they hate--roll your tongue up so the tastebuds don't get so much coverage and gulp it down quick. It helped. All in all it took about 2 hours and 45 minutes to get it all down. Then it was over...at least that part! Spent the rest of the afternoon going back and forth to the bathroom. Boy, you do feel cleaned out! At times I felt a little nauseous, but not the whole time. OH yes, and I made my family eat out that day or in another part of the house. NO cooking allowed or it would have been really hard not to want to eat smelling any food cooking before the prep started. Hope this helps and good luck to you all. See you on the post op pages!

I had to drink the gallon prep. I was told that I could stop as soon as my stools were clear. When I just had a flake or two with clear yellow fluid, I stopped drinking the stuff. I had about 1/5 of the gallon left. I was so happy that I didn't have to drink it all.

I was told that if I have a stool in the morning, it doesn't mean that I did the prep wrong. I did have about 2 tablespoons of flakes in yellow liquid in the morning.

I felt like I did it right.

I didn't have a bowel prep for my hyst, but I did have to do one for a colonoscopy I had a couple of years ago. I drank the half-gallon thing, plus I took several laxative pills prescribed by the doctor.

I must say that I had it built up in my head way, way worse than it actually was.

As others have suggested, don't plan many activities other than your prep for thw day. I was all ready for it to take effect in one hour.... but it took nearly FIVE hours to begin to work. So I had to do a bit of waiting first, but that was OK, because I had to be drinking stuff every 15-20 minutes or so anyway so I wouldn't have been able to be at work or anything.

Also, remember to follow your doc's instructions to the letter, and if you have difficulty following the instructions, call to let someone know so they can give further help. As for cooking, I really didn't have any issues with this. I didn't feel like eating a thing once I started doing my prep -- even my Jello and broth lost their appeal!

Once things got "going" (so to speak ) it really went pretty fast. Thankfully there was not much pain or cramping, and it was really pretty much over in a couple of hours.

to you. Here's hoping your prep is fairly easy.

Well the bowl prep was not so bad... drank 2 litres half the bottle... I still have to give myself a fleet enema @ 8pm that should be fun.. I just got my surgery time it is @ 2pm so I don't have to be at the hospital until noon thats ok.... Well talk to you ladies after surgery.. Brenda

I didn't need a bowel prep for my hysterectomy but I did for a colonoscopy. I had to take 3 Dulcolax tablets, then a few hours later a packet of Pico Salax, and another packet after that. It had a fizzy cirtus tase and it wasn't bad at all. Maybe your doctor will allow you to have that instead of the drink you describe.

I am 8 hours into my bowl prep. Two recommendations: Put the liquid laxative in the fridge to get really cold; and don't eat spicy food right before you start Ouch! Stay home, relax, and stay close to the bathroom.

Yes, the bowel prep was yucky, but...It surprised me how good it felt to be cleaned out. I know it sounds a little weird, but it was like a natural high the next morning.

The only really bad thing about the prep is that after all that fasting and cleaning, I hadn't lost any weight!!!