Colonoscopy - is an anesthetic used?

debzcar

I need to know if an anesthetic is used during a colonoscopy, my Dad is going for one and won't let me drive him into the hospital. I'm concerned that if there is an anesthetic involved that he will be unable to drive afterwards. Anybody have any experience of this procedure?

Alun

Haven't had one myself, but have witnessed a good few in connection with my work (long story). Generally it's a (fairly strong) sedative that's administered and he'll be pretty groggy during the procedure itself.

Personally, I'd recommend he be collected afterwards to be on the safe side, although the hospital themselves might be able to give you more information.

foxshooter243

debzcar wrote: »

I need to know if an anesthetic is used during a colonoscopy, my Dad is going for one and won't let me drive him into the hospital. I'm concerned that if there is an anesthetic involved that he will be unable to drive afterwards. Anybody have any experience of this procedure?

had one myself recently, and to be truthful i couldnt remember much about it, remember being taken in for the colonoscopy next thing was coming round in recovery, they were pretty insistent that i be collected
and would only let me go when they talked to my driver-so i guess youd
better make sure he has a lift to and fro-tell him the procedure is a dawdle-although he will feel rather windy afterwards-hope this helps.

padi89

This is what will happen.You will be wheeled in, the nurse/doctor will be bantering away with you while another gives you an anesthetic.Then he/she will tell you whats going to happen and.............the next thing your being wheeled out , you won't remember a thing and no you wont have a sore arse after.
The worst part is having to clear you bowels out before hand, you will have to drink a potion to give you the runs :eek:

Mr. Presentable

I've had one. There was no anaesthetic. No sore arse, no imbibed potion before - just a saline colon cleanse beforehand, and a lot of wind after. No biggie.

*Spelling - should it be anusthetic? Sorry.

ladybirdirl

As said before your Dad will not be allowed drive.
Most hospitals use the cleansing medication the day before, he then has to be fasting for day.
He will be wheeled to the suite, be given a very strong sedative (some realtive of Haldol I think) & off to sleep he will go
Some people are sore after,some not, some feel queasy.He will be brought round,offered some tea & toast & about 4 hours after the procedure is done he can go home if he's well enough.

Definetly arrange for a lift & reassure him it's very safe & he won't remember it

Alun

Yes, as others have said, it's very strong sedative rather than an anaesthetic as such.

With the ones I've seen, the patient has been what you'd call borderline conscious ... enough to struggle a bit and put up a bit of a fight, especially right at the beginning when the endoscope goes round the first 'bend' from the rectum to the colon, which is the most uncomfortable part of the whole procedure, but not really aware of what's going on.

nesf

foxshooter243 wrote: »

had one myself recently, and to be truthful i couldnt remember much about it, remember being taken in for the colonoscopy next thing was coming round in recovery, they were pretty insistent that i be collected

Yeah pretty much the exact same as how it was for me. I had no discomfort afterwards or anything like that. Cleaning out the colon with that drink though was not a pleasant experience.

debzcar

Thanks everyone, that clears up the whole matter (no pun intended), I'll definately drive him in and out, and on the way back I'll have all the windows open in the car!

Ckal

padi89 wrote: »

This is what will happen.You will be wheeled in, the nurse/doctor will be bantering away with you while another gives you an anesthetic.Then he/she will tell you whats going to happen and.............the next thing your being wheeled out , you won't remember a thing and no you wont have a sore arse after.
The worst part is having to clear you bowels out before hand, you will have to drink a potion to give you the runs :eek:

Yup, 100% correct. I've had two. I gots Crohn's. :rolleyes:

Saruman

I had two.. first one i was knocked out for. The second one i was awake and thought it was great fun. I watched it on the monitor.
As Ckal said, the worst part is the drink you have beforehand to clear you out. It was a few litres of this stuff that was so nasty tasting it made me want to vomit with every mouthful. This was only the first one though.

The second i was already in hospital and not eating (on a drip) so nothing in there but blood and mucus.

Similar to Ckal i have ulcerative colitis. I have been fine and medication free for years and then in the last week i had a flare up! Im not too happy about it but at least this time i know what it is where as last time by the time i figured out what was wrong i was in hospital for 10 days.

The funny thing is, in talking to my mom and trying to figure out if anything was different before it happened... the only thing i came up with was that in the 2 weeks before the flare up, i was based in the office on the helpdesk instead of being on the road (IT engineer). As a result i would actually have breakfast and i had hot weetabix every day. There are two things about this, first im not a milk person. Not sure if im lactose intolerant but i have never liked milk although i love milk products. Secondly my mom can not eat weetabix for any period of time. She said she gets bad cramps and diarrhoea. She does not have UC but does get the odd IBS symptom.

Oh debzcar i assume by now (just looked at date) that your dad had it by now?