[collinstevens]

If you're worried about getting a colonoscopy, don't be.

I got one last year and it was the best sleep I ever got.

It was two days of the prep stuff you drink to shit your brains out which is a little rough, but I have a bidet, no big deal.

Then you go to the hospital, you dress down into a gown, nurses come in, they put some things on your chest, you get a little cold, they put a nice warm blanket on you, they start an IV, they wheel you into the procedure room, and then you pass out.

You suddenly wake up and I felt like I had an amazing nap and I was incredibly comfortable. Then you have someone drive you home and that's all there is to it.

It was really no big deal.

The only thing that sucks is you pretty much just drink powerade and eat chicken broth during the prep.

[Zanfa]

Honestly, even without any anesthesia or sedatives, the worst part is drinking the laxative for prep. If you can sit through a visit to a dentist, you can likely handle the procedure itself without any meds. I was actually surprised they even do general anesthesia for it in the US.

[sokoloff]

I ended up declining general anesthesia at the last moment when the doctor offered a consent doc to using my data in the training set for ML detection, leading to a quick discussion of being in the computing field, and he offered that I could stay awake and watch the video feed instead. Hell yes, I’d prefer that!

So, I got some kind of pain relief or relaxant but no anesthesia and it was really interesting and enjoyable to watch the procedure.

The prep was only slightly inconvenient and the overall process didn’t come anywhere near to how people talk about or build it up.

[crimony]

Honestly the picolax part of the prep is okay for me, I hate the low fibre diet of the prior 3 days. White bread, boiled skinless potatoes and chicken breast. Nothing with any colour or texture. Blech.

[balfirevic]

> If you can sit through a visit to a dentist

Do you mean with local anesthetics?

[Zanfa]

Yes, dentist with local anesthesia is worse than a colonoscopy without meds.

[denton-scratch]

That's not my experience. Dental local anaesthesia has improved hugely since I ws a kid; the only really unpleasant dental procedure I've had recently was a root-canal. Routine filling replacements were uncomfortable, but painless, and much quicker than a colonoscopy.

[DanBC]

> they wheel you into the procedure room, and then you pass out.

This is the bit that a lot of people have a problem with, and there's usually some choices in the amount and type of sedation you get.

In the US they use much heavier sedation than other countries - use of propofol is not uncommon in the US - and it's one of the things that makes colonoscopy more risky than it needs to be.

[kwhitefoot]

I didn't have any sedation or other medication when I had a colonoscopy (in Norway). It was uncomfortable but not painful.