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• Posted November 2, 2024

Prepping for Colonoscopy? An Expert Offers Tips to Make Things Easier

Everyone knows that colonoscopies save lives, but that doesn't make drinking a lot of liquid laxatives in preparation for the procedure any less daunting.

Luckily, one expert has some helpful tips on how to take some of the pain out of the process.

The purpose of a colonoscopy is to examine the colon and rectum for abnormalities such as polyps, colon cancer or inflammation. For that, the colon must be cleared out, and loads of laxatives are the only way to accomplish that.

But Dr. Derek Ebner, a gastroenterology fellow at the Mayo Clinic, has some suggestions on how to make colonoscopy bowel prep easier.

"The entire spirit of doing the colonoscopy prep is to make sure that there is nothing in the colon," Ebner noted.

Still, "we frequently hear that the colon preparation can be a challenge," he added in a Mayo Clinic news release.

So, when should you start bowel prep?

Review your prep guidance a week or two before your colonoscopy; you may be encouraged to make small changes in your diet starting a week prior to the procedure.

Often, the day before the colonoscopy is when you'll start drinking the bowel prep solution, and this is where people often struggle, Ebner noted.

But there are ways to make things easier.

"There's a couple of tricks. Often, cooling the solution and drinking it through a straw can be helpful. Others like to have a small lime or lemon wedge that they just bite into after doing some of the solution," Ebner said.

Chewing gum between sips of the solution may also help by reducing the unpleasant taste and dryness in your mouth. And if taking the solution is spread out over two days, as it often is, that can also help.

"Half of the volume is done the day before the procedure, the other half is done the day of the procedure. That helps make it a lot more tolerable. And, in fact, we get a better clean out by doing that splitting," he noted.

Some folks also struggle with adnominal cramping, bloating or nausea during the bowel preparation process.

"For those that do have nausea, slowing down how fast you're consuming the fluid can oftentimes be really helpful," Ebner added. 

More information

The National Library of Medicine has more on colonoscopies.

SOURCE: Mayo Clinic, news release, 2024