I had my second one a few weeks ago - removed 3 tiny benign polyps, due back in 3 years.

My PCP is now recommending people in their 40s have one to serve as a baseline. Essentially the test is looking for changes. If you have your first one at say 55, you are already in the risky age range, and they feel not so well prepared if they don't have a previous result to compare it to.

I've had two different preps (same docs!!), and Mrs. Road Fan has had three still different ones, and none were really too onerous. Irritation is the major issue.

Pain in the procedure? Who knows, I was out cold due to the anaesthetic.

Road Fan

Timely,

Mine is scheduled of 14 of Nov. I am not to happy about a day and a half ol liquid diet? I will see how it works with my type 2 diabetes. I was told to drink the ROCKET JUICE with a straw? Makes it taste better? My doctor said it was time to do this. I am 67??

Pop's

Drinking the lemon lime halflytely now. Sort of taste like Hammer Recoverite......sort of.

From experiance, don't try to work the afternoon prior to the proceedure. The 30 minute drive home, after starting the "cleansing process", almost caused me to replace the car seat.

Good luck Gary.

Even better, take a driver with you. I was under general anaesthetic (so wawyyy under) and there's no way I could have driven safely the rest of that day!

In my case the wife took off work tomorrow. She will drive me there and bring me home. I am planning on some Mexican for lunch!!

Way past due.

However, my wife and I just had ours this year at 68 and 70. We procrastinated, also.

It was only recently that the push for all to have colonoscopies got a lot of attention. When we were 50, nobody had them that I know of.

If you are over 50, definitely need to get a colonoscopy. Had my first one about 20 years ago, almost killed me (or so I thought at the time). Now 20 years later, it's a relatively painless procedure. Done with a scope, and they put you out.

Had my procedure today and let me tell you it was nothing. First off the new prep where you only drink a half gallon was no big deal. The procedure itself was even less of an issue. I got up on the gourney and made some small talk with the cute nurse while she put the IV in. Next thing I know I am waking up and leaving 15 minutes after that on the way to a Chinese Buffet . I have no idea what happened between those first two events. More good news was that the Doc found no evidence of my prior Colitis. He did find some "mild diverticulosis" of the decending colon and the sigmoid colon. No polyps or other funny business

Hey that is great, hope mine goes as smooth.

Pop's

I had my first colonoscopy at age 59, in early 2006. They found two polyps, one small enough to be removed during the colonoscopy, the other was too large and required surgery. I had a right hemi-colectomy in March 2006, removal of the right half of my colon. The recovery was something less than pleasant. The good news was the biopsy came back negative for cancer. The polyp was the type that eventually turns into cancer and was classified as "pre-cancerous" and showing signs it would turn malignant had it not been removed. Like many people, I put off the colonoscopy for years. Had I been more prompt, I could have avoided the surgery. And if you think a colonoscopy is expensive, it pales compared to major surgery and time in the hospital.

I bought a bike just before my colonoscopy to try to deal with blood pressure, high cholesterol, and high blood sugar issues. Since I've started riding, and with medication, all have dropped into normal ranges and my weight has gone down from 172 to 145. I haven't felt this good in over 30 years, both mentally and physically.

A few tips for getting the gallon of prep juice down. An ice cube in the mouth for a minute before the dose numbs the taste buds. Drink through a straw, with the end of the straw far back on the tongue where there are fewer taste buds. Drink as fast as possible, and it's OK to rinse your mouth out. The colder the prep fluid, the better. I know some people had problems with gagging and these techniques helped.

Neither the prep nor the procedure is any big deal - not for our he men and she women bicycle riders.

I had to take 2 pills followed by only a half gallon of prep. Not bad at all.

I have my second scheduled for December. My dad had colon cancer, and watching the products of his digestive tract being pumped out of his nose was enough to make me resolve not to follow in his footsteps.

I had my diagnosis at 42 and just turned 50 a few weeks ago. You are never too young to have anything. Pay attention to your family history of illness (grandparents, parents, uncles, aunts, siblings etc.) Many diseases can be hereditary. When that is so, there is a greater chance of someone getting something. I now have to get a colonoscopy every year. Ohhh! boy!!! what fun........but its what helps to keep me alive since if I ignore it, I could get cancer again and it could progress to a later stage when it is not curable. Live each day to the fullest.

words of wisdom - thanks!

Dr called me Friday.....a week after my procedure. He wants to see me tomorrow.......Maybe he just wants to congratulate me on having an awesome colon

He wants to tell you the photos didn't turn out.
Got to do it again.

I have the 8x10's hanging on my wall in the living room. Ill bring him a few copy's

Those were His personal photos.
He wants them back.

And I was about to autograph them too......

Ok, getting a colonoscopy is very important. I've had them and they're not that bad, don't be afraid, just get it done! I had to post this piece by Dave Berry, it's funny.

This is from newshound Dave Barry's colonoscopy journal:

I called my friend Andy Sable, a gastroenterologist, to make an appointment for a colonoscopy. A few days later, in his office, Andy; showed me a color diagram of the colon, a lengthy organ that appears to go all over the place, at one point passing briefly through Minneapolis.

Then Andy explained the colonoscopy procedure to me in a thorough, reassuring patient manner. I nodded thoughtfully, but I didn't really hear anything he said, because my brain was shrieking, quote, 'HE'S GOING TO STICK A TUBE 17,000 FEET UP YOUR BEHIND!'

I left Andy's office with some written instructions, and a prescription for a product called 'MoviPrep,' which comes in a box large enough to hold a microwave oven. I will discuss MoviPrep in detail later; for now suffice it to say that we must never allow it to fall into the hands of enemies.

I spent the next several days productively sitting around being nervous. Then, on the day before my colonoscopy, I began my preparation. In accordance with my instructions, I didn't eat any solid food that day; all I had was chicken broth, which is basically water, only with less flavor. Then, in the evening, I took the MoviPrep. You mix two packets of powder together in a one-liter plastic jug, then you fill it with lukewarm water. (For those unfamiliar with the metric system, a liter is about 32 gallons.)

Then you have to drink the whole jug. This takes about an hour, because MoviPrep tastes - and here I am being kind - like a mixture of goat spit and urinal cleanser, with just a hint of lemon.

The instructions for MoviPrep, clearly written by somebody with a great sense of humor, state that after you drink it, 'a loose watery bowel movement may result.' This is kind of like saying that after you jump off your roof, you may experience contact with the ground.

MoviPrep is a nuclear laxative. I don't want to be too graphic, here, but: Have you ever seen a space-shuttle launch? This is pretty much the MoviPrep experience, with you as the shuttle. There are times when you wish the commode had a seat belt. You spend several hours pretty much confined to the bathroom, spurting violently. You eliminate everything.

And then, when you figure you must be totally empty, you have to drink another liter of MoviPrep, at which point, as far as I can tell, your bowels travel into the future and start eliminating food that you have not even eaten yet.

After an action-packed evening, I finally got to sleep. The next morning my wife drove me to the clinic. I was very nervous. Not only was I worried about the procedure, but I had been experiencing occasional return bouts of MoviPrep spurtage. I was thinking, 'What if I spurt on Andy?' How do you apologize to a friend for something like that? Flowers would not be enough.

At the clinic I had to sign many forms acknowledging that I understood and totally agreed with whatever the heck the forms said. Then they led me to a room full of other colonoscopy people, where I went inside a little curtained s pace and took off my clothes and put on one of those hospital garments designed by sadist perverts, the kind that, when you put it on, makes you feel even more naked than when you are actually naked.

Then a nurse named Eddie put a little needle in a vein in my left hand. Ordinarily I would have fainted, but Eddie was very good, and I was already lying down. Eddie also told me that some people put vodka in their MoviPrep. At first I was ticked off that I hadn't thought of this, but then I pondered what would happen if you got yourself too tipsy to make it to the bathroom, so you were staggering around in full Fire Hose Mode. You would have no choice but to burn your house.

When everything was ready, Eddie wheeled me into the procedure room, where Andy was waiting with a nurse and an anesthesiologist. I did not see the 17,000-foot tube, but I knew Andy had it hidden around there somewhere. I was seriously nervous at this point. Andy had me roll over on my left side, and the anesthesiologist began hooking something up to the needle in my hand. There was music playing in the room, and I realized that the song was 'Dancing Queen' by ABBA I remarked to Andy that, of all the songs that could be playing during this particular procedure, 'Dancing Queen' has to be the least appropriate.

'You want me to turn it up?' said Andy, from somewhere behind me. 'Ha ha,' I said. And then it was time, the moment I had been dreading for more than a decade. If you are squeamish, prepare yourself, because I am going to tell you, in explicit detail, exactly what it was like.

I have no idea. Really, I slept through it. One moment, ABBA was yelling 'Dancing Queen, Feel the beat of the tambourine,' and the next moment, I was back in the other room, waking up in a very mellow mood. Andy was looking down at me and asking me how I felt. I felt excellent. I felt even more excellent when Andy told me that it was all over, and that my colon had passed with flying colors. I have never been prouder of an internal organ.

Just got back from my follow up. Not the best news but not earth shattering either. The biopsy came back with active Ulcerative Colitis. Dr was surprised since the amount of colon that he saw inflamed was small and high. He put me on Asacol and wants to scope me again in two years.......

Hey guys,

did my colonoscopy this morning. I took the two pills and drank the rockey fuel. got off of the commode around 9pm last night. Got up at 5am had to be there at 6am for a 7am appointment. I had the same cute nurse give me the margarita, I woke up around 8-8:30 had a cup of coffe and went to I Hop for pancakes. I passed with flying colors. I was a little worried, as I was layed off my part time retired job, some of my reloading dies broke, and you know all bad luck comes in threes. But not this time I got some first rate pictures that are just great. I suggest to anyone to get it done. The only hard part for me was the liquid diet.

Pop's

Great news