Any Golytely Advice?

Oh well, the 18th is the day! I'm getting nervous especially not looking forward to the preperation. I have to take Golytly (sp?) and don't know what that is, but I don't think it's going to taste like a milkshake. I also have to have clear liquids starting Tuesday and then a lovely Fleet enema the night before. Any suggestions on how to give yourself a Fleet enema?

You're right. Think of it this way - it won't ruin your taste for milkshakes.

Here's the info from the manufacturer:
http://www.braintreelabs.com/prodinf.dir/go_prod.html

You add water to the powder that's already in the jug, shake well, and chill - do this the night before. Your doctor's "clear liquids" suggestion will make everything, uh, go more smoothly. It's kind of a salty, clear liquid. Not disgusting, merely yucky. You drink 8 oz. of it every 10 minutes until the whole 4 liters is gone. The directions say it'll start taking effect within an hour, but I think it took more like 1:40 for me. I never felt sick or crampy or nauseated with it. Maybe a little chills. Put on a good radio station in the bathroom, turn on the heat lamp, and have a good book handy. Afterward, you should feel fine - just a little lighter.

It comes in two "flavors" -- bad and worse. No, I'm sorta kidding. There's pineapple and plain. For a test last year, I'd used the pineapple and didn't know there was a choice. Since I hate pineapple, I sorta gagged it down. This year, before my surgery, I asked about other flavors. The pharmacist told me about the plain, said it was a little salty, and recommended that I put a little container of Crystal Lite Lemonade powder in with it. Even with the lemonade masking, I could tell I was glad to have a little flavor. If you just tell yourself that it'll be over soon and don't get behind on the schedule (it's hard to drink 16 glasses of something -- one glass every ten minutes!), you'll get through it.

The directions say to not eat anything solid for four hours before you start. And, I have a couple of suggestions to add: 1) Start as early as you can. Directions said 6 pm -- the effects will last for about 4-5 hours so, if you want a good night's sleep, start early!; 2) Don't use toilet paper. By the umpteenth time you've used it, you'll be very sore! I took the advice of those who'd gone before me (on this site) and used Cottonelle wet wipes (or Baby Wipes) and every few times applied a little soothing cream used for hemorrhoids -- awww, felt good.

It took 57 minutes to start working on me, and the next morning I was 2 lbs. lighter!

Happy chugging . . .

I did the plain stuff the first time. The next time I tried to improve the flavor by adding Wylers Lemonade Mix - the kind thats just lemon flavor, with no sweetener. (I was trying to avoid the NutraSweet, y' see?) My lemon version was just gross. Sour on top of salty. Blecch. The Crystal Light trick is probably better, since it's sweetened.

Another thing is to *chill* it. The colder it is, the less you taste it. I put a mug in the freezer (after figuring out where the "8 oz" mark was), then used that mug each time. You can also pour it over ice. One of the doctors on the obgyn.net board suggested putting it in a blender of ice. I'd be afraid of having to drink that much more, just due to the ice melting. If you do that, chill it first, then do the blender thing.

You can also rinse your mouth out and use mouthwash after each "dose", which really does help.

The thing that made it so yucky the first time was that I didn't know what to expect. I felt like I was drinking poison. The label warned of nausea, cramping, chills, etc. as "possible" side effects. So the *expectation of feeling horrible made it that much worse. It wasn't nearly as bad as I'd expected. It wasn't so "traumatic" the second time.

Use a time for the 10 minute intervals. If you forget, or let more time go by between doses, it takes longer, and doesn't work as thoroughly.

Cheers!