Bowel Prep question....

Hi everyone,

Ok, I'm a bit confused right now. I'm hoping someone here can help...

At my pre-op, my doctor gave me these instructions:

buy Fleet Phospho-Soda. On Sunday, wake up, and start drinking clear liquids. Then, start the laxitive.

That is all he told me. I didn't ask him to get more detailed, because I guess I assumed the instructions in the laxitive would make sense for the reasons I'm using it.

So, today, I went and bought the stuff. It is an oral saline (for some reason, I had assumed it'd be a powder... not sure why I thought that). Anyway, so I got it home, and read the instructions. On the instructions, it says clearly, "this is used for constipation. This should not be used for bowel cleansing."

Hmmm....

The instructions also say mix 1 tablespoon in a full glass of 8 oz. liquid, then drink at least 1 extra full glass of liquid. Do not exceed 3 tablespoons over a 24 hour period.

So, I suddenly had questions, so I called my doctor's office.

Here were the questions I asked:

1) do I follow THESE instructions on the box, or are there other instructions since I'm using this for bowel cleansing and not constipation?

2) this says not to be used for bowel cleansing. Did I get the correct product?

3) since it says do not exceed 3 doses in a 24 hour period, when do I start my first dose and when do i take my last dose.

Well, a nurse called me back and told me my doctor is not in the office today (which tells me she did not speak to him, but maybe she spoke to a different doctor).

This is what the nurse told me to do (she said this was according to a "bowel cleansing instructions sheet using Phospho-Soda" they give patients before surgery. My doctor did not give me any sheet (there are about 8 or 9 doctors in this practice, so I'm sure each doctor has their own way of doing things).

According to this sheet she had, she said this:

mix 1 1/2 oz. of the Phosopho-Soda with 4 oz. of clear liquid and drink this AFTER dinner on Saturday night.

Then, Sunday morning, wake up and repeat this same things once and that is it.

My doctor had told me to start this on Sunday morning.... but that is all he said... he did not talk about how many times, or dosages (and like I said, I didn't think to ask becasue I assumed the instructions on the box would be black and white).

So, I told the nurse that my doctor said to start it on Sunday. She then said, "well, this is what the sheet says that we give patients. He must not have had the sheet in front of him."

So, THEN I asked her, "how much is 1 1/2 oz? Is that a teaspoon or more or less?" She then said, "oh, I think it is 30 mL."

I'm not a math person, so I do not speak in oz. and mL. I do understand teaspooon, tablespoon, etc.

So, I clarified with her again, "so this is what Dr. XXXX (my doctor's name) woudl want me to do?" She said yes.

SOOOOO, now I'm confused.... could it be that my doctor didn't have the sheet in front of him, and he meant to say for me to start this Sat. night, or the nurse is right in that I should just go by these insturctions on this sheet, which is different than the instruction on the box?

I guess I feel weird calling back saying I don't believe the nurse....

But, then again, maybe it doesn't really MATTER when I start this, and all that matters is that I'm cleaned out.

I then asked her, "how do I know that 2 doses (Sat. night) and (Sun. AM) is enough?" She said I will know. That is all she said....

I've never done this type of things before. I have this huge fear that I'll check into the hospital on Mon. morning and they'll say I did the bowel prep wrong and cancel my surgery.

By the way, my surgery is 7:30 AM on Monday morning, so I know I have to be cleaned out by then!

Help!! Does anyone have any advice here? But, like I said, maybe this is not as big of a deal as I think it is.

Thanks!!

Ah, yes - my friend Fleets Phospho-Soda.

Here's what I know:

The bottle is 1 1/2 oz (hard to believe, but it is.) You add it to 4 oz of ??? water, juice, I picked lemonade.

You do that 2 times.

For me, my doc had very specific instructions because they were "blanketing" me with antibiotics. So here was my deal.

7:30am - anti-nausea pill

8:00am - Fleet

10:00am - antibiotics (2 different horse pills)

12:00pm - antibiotics (2 different horse pills)

2:00pm - Fleets

4:00pm - antibiotics (2 different horse pills)

6:00pm - I honestly forget now, but something else that I didn't want

I know that everyone that I have read on here has had differing instructions.

Hopefully you can talk to the tomorrow. Hope this helps, but it probably made things worse (sorry).

Hi Renee,

Thanks.... no, you did not confuse me.

So, it sounds like your instructions were just like the instructions from the nurse in terms of dosage. The nurse said 1 1/2 oz. with 4 oz. of clear liquid. Sounds like that is what you were supposed to do.

My doctor told me to start it on Sunday morning. This nurse told me to do it on Sat. night for the first dose and Sunday morning for the second dose

To be honest, I'd RATHER start it on Sunday so I'm not up in the middle of the night on Sat. night going to the bathroom. So, maybe I should follow the dosage the nurse gave, but just do it at like 8 AM on Sunday and then again at like 4 PM on Sunday. That sounds more appealing to me (not like there is ANYTHING appealing about this, so I guess "appealing" is all relative in this case. )

So, one bottle is 1 1/2 oz??? wow. So, according to the instructions the nurse gave me, I need to do two doses (just like you did), which that must mean I need to buy another bottle of this stuff?

I wonder if I should call the doctor's office back tomorrow, or if I should just do what the nurse told me, and not worry about it?

I just called my mom, and asked her. She told me that I could go to a pharmacists and just ask him/her about it (tell them what my dr. said, and then what the nurse said), and then if the pharmacist does not know, then call my dr.'s office back again.

Maybe I can do that.

My mom didn't seem to think it mattered if I started it on Sat. night or Sun. morning, since I won't be eating any solid food on Sun. Maybe she's right.

I think I was just concerned about the dosage (1 1/2 oz. with 4 oz. of water.... it just seemed really concentrate). But, Renee, since YOU had the same instructions, maybe that IS correct. If this product is meant just to releave consitpation, I'm guessing they would not put "bowel cleansing" dosages on the box.

	Quote:
Originally Posted by Loves to Run I just called my mom, and asked her. She told me that I could go to a pharmacists and just ask him/her about it (tell them what my dr. said, and then what the nurse said), and then if the pharmacist does not know, then call my dr.'s office back again. Maybe I can do that.

Moms know everything. I agree with her.

I have done this prep for colonoscopies (dad had colon cancer). I never read the box before (and I have done this about 4 times). I read it while I was sucking down antibiotics and had the same reaction that you had about the instructions that they had. It probably doesn't matter about Saturday night verses Sunday morning - EXCEPT - as you pointed out - an overnight love affair with the potty.

Hey There LovesToRun

I had my sugery at 9 am and had fleets phospho soda clensing the day before. 8 am one bottle of fleets in 8 oz water (others have used lemonade or 7 Up) supposedly if it is very cold it doesn't taste so bad. I was allowed to eat normal breakfast and lunch and another fleets at 2 pm then clear liquids. I would not have wanted to start the night before as I did spend much quality time (bring a book!) in the bathroom. About 4 hours after second dose, I was feeling very empty and grumbly. I was glad I was scheduled for early surgery.
Get the second bottle and call your doctor's office tomorrow to verify instructions. You want every step of this to feel right to you.
All the best.

Thanks so much for the help! My stress-o-meter has gone WAY done now. haha.

I just felt like when the nurse told me 1 1/2 oz. w/ 4 oz. of liquid when the box said 1 tablespoon with 8 oz. of liquid, I felt like they were asking me to OD on something.... I'd like to be able to make it to my surgery and not make Sunday my last day on earth! haha.

But, I feel much more at ease now that you had the exact same dosages. And, the nurse said she was reading verbatim from the sheet they give their patients.... So, obviously, the instructions on the box must NOT be for bowel cleansing (which is probably why it says all over the instructions, "this product is not for bowel cleansing"). They must put that warning on there so people don't try to use this product for weight loss or something.... obviously for surgery, it is ok, but the product propbably does not want people to do this over and over again for weight loss or dieting or whatever. So, now it all makes sense.

But, I'll still go ask a Pharmacist, JUST to get another opinion.

My doctor must have been spacing out or something. How could he have expected me to know these dosages when all he told me is, "start the laxitive on Sunday morning?"

Well, I think he was stressed out on Tuesday. On Monday, we had a huge snow storm, and I found out that they had to close their office on Monday and cancel all appointments. So, I bet he was inundated with appointments on Tuesday that they squeezed in from Monday's cancellations. Who knows.... but my doctor obviously thought I was either a mind-reader, or he just plain forgot to give me the details other than just the product name and when to start it.

I think I'll do it on Sunday only. My doctor DID say to start it on Sunday, so I feel OK about doing it only on Sunday. I really want to get a good night's sleep on Saturday because I'm not sure how much I'll sleep on Sunday night due to nerves.

Thanks so much for your help!!!

Take care!

I too am having surgery on Monday the 4th at 2 pm. My dr told me to take 3 tablespoons(phospho soda) on Sunday at noon, followed by 8 oz of water, then drink as much as I possible can all day, follow with 2nd dose at 6 pm followed by as much liquids as possible until Midnight on Sunday.
I am not allowed to have any food from Midnight Sat. night forward only liquids, and yucky jello, ice pops or water ice.
When I took my instruction sheet to the pharm. they gave me 2 bottles which are 1 1/2 oz each and they are flavored lemon ginger (sounds yummy LOL)

I plan to mix it with either water or lemonade and I was told to put it in the fridge the day before as it tastes better cold vs room temp.