Bowel prep TriLyte scheduled and I have questions.

I have to do a bowel prep on Monday for a colonoscopy on Tuesday. I'm attending a memorial service on Monday morning at 10:00 am and have to take four Dulcolax tabs at 12:00. As soon as I have a bm which can take anywhere from 1-6 hours I have to drink a half a gallon of something called TriLyte (it didn't say GoLytely) with flavor packs. I don't know if I'll be able to keep it down. It says that the ingredients in it is sodium chloride, sodium bicarbonate and potassium chloride for oral solution. I can have clear liquids only on Monday and clear liquids two hours after I finish drinking the solution. I can't have anything to eat or drink after midnight. I'm on other medications and I told them that I have to eat something substantial with them or I get sick and they told me I could only have clear liquids so I guess I may get sick with some of my medications or maybe try taking some zofran. I also have low blood sugar and they told me that they won't know what time my procedure will be on Tuesday until the day before. My husband has to take our kids to school on Tuesday morning so it would be best if I was scheduled early before he takes them in. They start procedures as early as 6:30 am but can schedule as late as 11:00 am. They said they schedule diabetics first but I need to emphasize that I have low blood sugar. I really hope that I'm able to take the drinking stuff and not get sick from it or I may not be able to complete the bowel prep. My kids get picked up from school at 2:40 and my husband asked me if I could pick up my kids after my procedure and I told them that I wasn't supposed to drive until 24 hours after the procedure. I asked them if that meant I couldn't drive my kids to school the next day and they said no I just couldn't drive the same day of the procedure. I sure hope that I'm able to pick them up on Monday after school without having to stop at a bathroom on the way to school. Maybe I'll have to wear a Depends LOL. The school has some nice bathrooms though. The instructions did say that it could take anywhere from 1-6 hours after taking the Dulcolax for it to produce a bm and then I start drinking the TriLyte.

My biggest worry or question is will I experience horrible gas pains after taking the bowel prep? I do get horrible gas pains when I take just regular laxatives and they double me over in pain. I want to be able to take an anti gas tab if I can avoid the painful pressure of gas. Another thing is does anyone know if it's similar to Go Lytely or if it's different?

My husband only has certain days off from work that he can take off so Tuesday was one day that he could take me in for the procedure and take me home. They also told me I couldn't have anything but clear liquids the day before the procedure. Can anyone recommend something besides popsicles or Jell-O. I can't have anything red or grape according to the instructions because it may interfere with the test. One of the nurses in the office did give me a few cans a high energy nutritional drink of something called Boost Breeze and three of the cans are red mixed berry while two of the cans are yellow tropical fruit flavored. She said I could drink those when I took my medications. I'm thinking about going back and trading in the red ones for yellow ones since I'm not supposed to have anything red but she gave them to me so maybe it's ok but according to the instructions it says I'm not supposed to have anything RED or GRAPE. I'm confused. The yellow ones look like orange juice. Hmm.. is orange juice considered I clear liquid? I don't think so. I really need some suggestions on what to eat that day. They listed on the sheet clear liquids are water, tea, soda, clear fruit juice, Kool-Aid drinks (No Red or Grape), 7-Up, Mt Dew, Gatorade, Jell-O, ice popsicles, chicken or beef broth (strained). How am I going to strain the broth? Is that really necessary or can I just eat it right out of the can? I would think that the sodas that they listed may cause gas which I'm not a big soda fan anyways and I just love water as it's my main drink. I could find some clear Gatorade in any flavor as that would be a nice substitute. :-) I don't think I'll be able to stand not drinking anything especially water the day of the procedure or even not being able to go without my medications but they did say I could take my medications so it will be on an empty stomach but I'll have to take an anti-nausea pill with it. I'm also supposed to take 3 amoxicillin 500 mg tab after my procedure. Any help would be appreciated if anyone has any suggestions as to what I can drink or eat and if I will have bad gas pains. I'm not looking forward to a bowel prep as I've never had to do this. I did ask if there was an alternative like a fleet enema and the dr. said no that would only clean the lower bowels and he wanted the upper colon cleaned out.

To top things off I also have to see a gyn oncologist as I have two ovarian cysts one on each ovary and have been having a lot of pain during a pelvic exam and don't know why. My gyn referred me to see a head of gyn or a gyn oncologist. I got lucky and found a head of gyn oncologist at a teaching hospital who works at an office closer to my home twice a month but I will wait to see what the colonoscopy says first since that may have something to do with my pain. I guess the bowel prep is the worst thing I'll have to go through because I heard it from another friend of mine when her husband had to do it. She basically said he was on the toilet all day. I hope I'm not like that and get cleaned out pretty quickly as I don't want to be up all night. I have three kids to care for as it is and being up all night will just increase my pain. I'd rather sleep through it all and then finish bm in the morning if I could. I just hope I don't get sick from taking my meds on an empty stomach and drinking the TriLytely stuff and hope that I get scheduled early in the morning before my kids have to be taken to school. Thanks in advance for any advice and answers. I sure wish I could be doing a fleet enema instead rather than drinking a half a gallon of this stuff. I get to choose a flavor packet to mix with the solution and they are cherry, orange, citrus berry, pineapple, lemon lime, and one other flavor not pictured but it says on the script to dispense all five flavor packets to patient. I think I'd go with cherry or orange as I'm not a big lemon lime fan.

I had a colonospy last march. It wasn't bad at all. I was in the hospital for 5 day with diviticutis. Definitly don't drive for 24 hours. I did not have gas pains after drinking all of that icky stuff but it did take a few hours to work. Good Luck

Maybe I'll take the Dulcolax tab a little earlier then scheduled since it can take 1-6 hours to work and I really don't want to be up all night. It says to take the liquid stuff after I have a bm after taking the Dulcolax and I can't have any clear liquids until two hours after finishing the TriLytely. Glad to hear it didnt' give you any gas pains. So it was Tri Lytely that you had and did you have any of the flavor packs or was it GoLytely? Just wondering. Thanks for your response. I have to go pick up the kids now but may check later for responses.

I've had a colonopsy a couple of years back and i am a baby, trust me...it was a very simple procedure. I had bleeding from hemmoroids and wanted to make sure thats all it was, and it was. Peace of mind. Relax, you'll be just fine. I wish more people would do this test it can be a real lifesaver.

Thanks for the responses about the colonoscopy being easy. For that part I will be sedated and I'm not worried at all about that. I was awake for my TVH and didn't see or feel a thing so being on conscious sedation for a colonoscopy is no big deal and I know I will get through it. I just hope I'm able to hold down the liquid bowel prep and not have horrible gas pains. I also hope that I'm able to pick up my kids at school on Monday the day of the bowel prep which I start at 12 noon (taking the four Dulcolax) and then start drinking the liquid after I have a bm. My husband has to work and I didn't even think about what the prep could mean to me as far as picking up the kids from school and he can't take two days off from work. Hopefully I'll be ok for the 20 min ride to school and back home. They get out about 2:40 pm and we usually don't get home till about 3:30 but I can always use the school bathrooms if I have to. I doubt if the Dulcolax will be working then though if I take it at noon. Maybe I can take it a little earlier so I don't have to be up all night long if the liquid stuff takes awhile to work if my husband will be home to pick up the kids from school. I will attend a memorial service at 10:00 and can take the Dulcolax with me and take it right after the service is over and then drive on home. I'm not sure how long the service will last.

My biggest concern is the bowel prep itself as I'm not sure if I'll be able to hold down the liquid bowel prep. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. I'm supposed to put water in the full gallon as it has powder in it and then shake it up and then drink a half a gallon of the stuff. I really hope that the Dulcolax doesn't take as much as six hours to work or it will be 6 pm before I can drink the liquid bowel prep. It doesn't take long for the liquid stuff to work after drinking it does it?

The sample that the dr's office gave me didn't come with any Dulcolax and I didn't realize how many different types of Dulcolax there were out on the market so I hope the one I have will be ok. The pharmacist told me which one was best to take and charged me .25 for each tablet so I spent a dollar on four of them. He said it was the one used with all the "lytely" preps. I'm glad I took a couple boxes of Dulcolax up to the pharmacist to ask which of the ones I should take because they had different ingredients in them. Now my kids are sick and I have come down with a cough as well so I'm not sure if I will still be sick on Monday but if I am I hope that the procedure doesn't have to be cancelled. It's not like I am having general anesthesia and will have a tube down my trachea. It's just conscious sedation. I was told not to take my pain meds the morning of the procedure and I asked the nurse why as I have done this before when I was sedated before my epidural injections and she said it may mess up the sedation with the anesthesia meaning it may make me more sedated. I told her that my pain meds don't make me sleepy at all. I didn't tell her that I kept waking up during my epidural injections and they had to keep giving me more then the normal amount of sedatives because of my high tolerance to sedatives as I'm on muscle relaxers anyway. I will have to inform the dr. of that and also remind them to give me antibiotics before the procedure. I was told I could drive my kids to school the next morning so even if I have the procedure at 11 on Tuesday I can drive at 7 am the following morning before the 24 hours are up. I even questioned this saying after they said no driving for 24 hours after the procedure, "I can't take my kids to school the next morning if I'm scheduled later in the day?" and they said just no driving the same day of the procedure. I thought it was something that my husband actually asked if I could drive the same day of the procedure. Right before my neck surgery it was supposed to be outpatient but I heard from the nurse if it was outpatient a nurse would go home with me. My husband was hoping that he could go out that same night after my surgery leaving me home alone with my three kids so I made sure that the dr. kept me overnight anyways due to my bad experience with general in the past. It was a good thing I stayed overnight as I needed morphine every three hours at night and had to keep my on oxygen the whole night because my O2 sats were low due to the amount of morphine they had to give me because of my pain med tolerance. I had basically waited to long to have surgery because of a neurologist telling me that I didn't need surgery and that I was to young. It turned out that I indeed needed the disc removed and I had disc fluid leaking from the disc in my spinal canal and there was compression on my spinal cord according to the orthopedic spine surgeon. After my hysterectomy I loved my epidural for post op pain but after my discectomy I couldn't have an epidural because it wouldn't reach that high.

Can't wait till Monday's prep is over. Tuesday won't be a big deal as the bowel prep will be done and I will have had a good night's rest hopefully. I only remember seeing posts from ladies that had problems with drinking the prep and they said that they threw it up and couldn't get it down and had to call their dr. so I only heard nothing but bad stuff about it. Should I drink it at room temp or does it matter? Thanks again.

It wasn't too bad. I had to do it in January for a colonoscopy and again on Feb. 8 for my TAH. I didn't find it too bad. Drinking Gatorade or flavored Pedialyte helped me with the dehydration fear. I 'm not a big fan of jello so I didn't eat as much as I should have and the first time I had a bad headache the next day. The second time I had almost a gallon of Gatorade throught the day
( I had to prep the am and pm before my surgery ) and I was fine. I t helps keep the electrolytes, sodium and sugar levels up.
My dr. said it was ok.

Just my opinion.

	Quote:
I think I'd go with cherry or orange as I'm not a big lemon lime fan.

Don't go with the cherry if it's red! The red drinks, jello, etc. stain the bowel mucosa, making it hard to visualize any changes in color.

I hope it goes easy for you. I remember playing catch with my DD in between trips to the bathroom the first time. The second time, they gave me the concentrated stuff and I had trouble keeping that down, but apparently the prep was adequate to their needs.

Hope this colonoscopy answers some questions for you!



Audrey

I had a colonoscopy this Spring. I think I had Golytely but it was definitely a lemon-lime flavor. One tip which really makes this drink easier is to chill the liquid really good. The colder the better. This really helped me. (My sister-in-law gave me this tip and it was true for me.)
All the best to you. The colonoscopy itself is really not bad as you'll be out and then it'll be over.
Take care.

I had to do a colonoscopy 3 times, I could do just about anything besides that again, The first time, I had to drink that jug of stuff and after the first couple of glasses I was so sick, I just kept throwing it up and my DH finally took me to the hospital because of dehydration...so the second time they told me to pick up a bottle of fleets phospo...it's a little bottle about 45 ml ( not sure if this particular one is available where you are...anyways I picked up a bottle of ice tea and mixed half of it with some iced tea and drank it and then repeated the procedure....this was MUCH easier on the stomach than trying to drink all that other stuff, also make sure to drink lots of water once you are done until you have to stop at midnight. I can't vouch for the pills as I didn't have to take them. Within an hour and a half you could hear the old guts rumbling and you continue to go until there is nothing left, by the end of 3-4 hours you should almost be passing water (so to speak)I think I only went about twice after that between midnight and 6 am.
More than anything you feel tired and dehydrated and the same thing after the test only then you will be adding the sleepiness from the sedation. The actual procedure was a breeze.
I drank gingerale, bouillion cubes in water and ate jello.

You'll be just fine
Inascent

Thanks for all the responses.
I like the chilled idea. I can use the water right from our refrigerator when I fill up the gallon. As for how I'm going to work it out with taking the kids to school and picking them up, I did get a hold of a dr. on call on Friday evening because my husband says they need him to work on Tuesday. I will try to reschedule the test for Wednesday. The dr. told me that after I drop the kids off at school I could then take the Dulcolax tab to get the first part of the prep over and after I pick them up from school I can then drink the liquid to finish the second part of the prep. He also said that my dr. will be at the same center on Wed as Tuesday and can do an endoscopy if needed as I forgot to mention that I have been vomiting stomach acid in my sleep when dreaming. It's kind of gross but really annoying and I'm already on aciphex at bedtime.

I did ask my dr. about the fleet stuff and he said that it tends to cause more nausea and vomiting. Anyways I do have zofran to take and will take it before taking the bowel prep to hopefully minimize any vomiting. My dr. did say I could do this. As far as the flavor packets they came with the stuff and even the stuff that the nurse gave me in the office is ok to drink and they said they were only concerned with the fruit juices or Jell-O as it contains a red dye. I don't think they would be giving out a sample packet of cherry flavor to a patient having a bowel prep without saying not to take the cherry stuff if it would have a dye in it. You've all been a great help to me. I did pick up some clear watermelon Gatorade, banana ice pops, Pedialyte, vegetable broth (never knew they made that) and chicken broth), pineapple Jello-O in a box to make, and some already prepared orange Jello-O so that I would have some clear liquids to take the day before the procedure. We don't have any ginger ale but I can always pick up a bottle on Monday. I'm glad that I may change the day to Wed instead because I'm going to a memorial service or funeral on Monday for a mom that lost twins. It's very sad and I may be posting over in aching hearts about that a little later. I was crying for about six days about that and maybe I've got some PMS going on as well because I also have a lack of appetite. I'll have to chart my calendar a little better because I don't have aunt flo to remind me of if it is PMS or not as I did keep my ovaries. I've been doing ok the last three days and haven't been crying so maybe it was PMS and a little bit of acceptance over the loss. Sorry to ramble on but I really appreciate the responses about the prep. I think I remember reading about someone holding their nose while drinking the stuff helps. Maybe I'll just taste a little of it first before actually swallowing it and then chase it down with water. I can usually do this with a horrible tasting laxative that I have to take called Mirilax but it doesn't taste as bad if I take it with something mixed like Gatorade or a little sugar. I'm sure the flavor packs will help. Let's see, should I start drinking the Gatorade before the prep? I can't have anything until after two hours after drinking the liquid prep. I think after I take the Dulcolax I will just start drinking the clear Gatorade. I'm so glad that they made the clear water colored Gatorade. :-) and I also have one liter of Pedialyte to take later on plus two cans of broth and banana pops and water to drink. I think I'll be ok. I'll just be going to the bathroom a lot both ways as it will fill up my bladder and emptying the other way as well so not looking forward to a sore bottom but I do have some Tucks with witch hazel to help with that. s