On the day of the procedure, you will likely be given an anaesthetic so you don't feel any pain or discomfort. As you may feel drowsy or weak prior to and after the colonoscopy it is best to arrange someone to drop you off at the hospital before the procedure and take you home afterwards.
Unlike many other countries, all patients (except for rare circumstances) undergoing colonoscopy in Australia should be given sedation to make them very comfortable during the examination.
Most patients choose to be sedated during a colonoscopy, and wake up in the recovery room with little memory of the procedure.
What happens during the procedure and straight after? The colonoscopy lasts for between 25 to 45 minutes. Most people have a mild anaesthetic or sedation to minimise any pain or discomfort. The sedation also means you may remember very little of the procedure or nothing at all.
The drug used for sedation is generally Propofol, although midazolam may be used at the discretion of the anaesthetist. Oxygen is administered but no intubation or anaesthetic gases are used.
One of the causes of pain during insertion of the colonoscope is stretching of the mesenterium by loop formation of the instrument and the degree of the pain is different from types of looping formation.
Is a sedation-free colonoscopy painful or uncomfortable? Most patients report little or no discomfort during the procedure. You can request sedation during the procedure if you change your mind and feel you need it, although it has been my experience that this seldom occurs.
Zighelboim and his colleagues perform thousands of colonoscopies each year, and he assures patients on the fence that, “Tons of people have this test done, even without sedation, and do just fine.” “There's nothing to be scared of,” he says.
None. I perform totally unsedated colonoscopy about once or twice a month. This is in patients who – for various reasons – do not want any sedation. The big advantage is that the patient recovers immediately after the procedure and can go to work or drive right away.
After your procedure:
You will be discharged when you are alert and stable. The doctor or nurse will speak to you about your plan of care. Remember you must have an escort to drive or accompany you home. You may return to work the morning after your colonoscopy (Not the evening of the colonoscopy).
You won't be completely unconscious, but you'll sleep through the procedure and probably have no memory of it. The medication commonly used for deep sedation is propofol, which is not an opioid. It acts fast, wears off quickly, and is safe for most patients.
While we use general anesthesia in some cases, most of our patients get monitored anesthesia care now for colonoscopies. That means going to sleep in one room and then waking up in the recovery area, in terms of what you might remember about it.
Rock explains. Propofol works quickly; most patients are unconscious within five minutes. "When the procedure is over and we stop the intravenous drip, it generally takes only 10 to 15 minutes before he or she is fairly wide awake again.”
Following a normal colonoscopy, most patients are ready to return to work and all other routine activities 24 hours after the procedure.
Most colonoscopies take only 15-30 minutes to complete.
On the day of the procedure, you will likely be given an anaesthetic so you don't feel any pain or discomfort. As you may feel drowsy or weak prior to and after the colonoscopy it is best to arrange someone to drop you off at the hospital before the procedure and take you home afterwards.
Most colonoscopies are associated with little or no pain (66%) and are easy or only mildly difficult to perform (58%). Patients who have had sigmoid resection are especially easy and painless to examine while women, especially after hysterectomy, are at higher risk of having a painful experience.
After the test, you may be bloated or have gas pains. You may need to pass gas. If a biopsy was done or a polyp was removed, you may have streaks of blood in your stool (feces) for a few days. Problems such as heavy rectal bleeding may not occur until several weeks after the test.
A colonoscopy is very safe. Problems happen less than 1% of the time. It's rare, but you can bleed or have a tear in the intestine. Or you could have side effects from the medicine.
Only about one percent of us undergo colonoscopy without sedation. The big secret: it doesn't have to be painful. And it's probably safer than with sedation.
You may be offered things to make you more comfortable and make the test easier, such as: painkillers. sedation – medicine given through a small tube in your arm to help you relax. gas and air – you breathe this in to help you relax.
Usually if a suspected colorectal cancer is found by any screening or diagnostic test, it is biopsied during a colonoscopy. In a biopsy, the doctor removes a small piece of tissue with a special instrument passed through the scope. Less often, part of the colon may need to be surgically removed to make the diagnosis.
Everyone's experience is different, but you can rest assured that the colonoscopy itself is painless. You will receive anesthesia so that you don't feel pain or remember the procedure. Most centers use medications that stop working quickly. That means you shouldn't feel any lingering side effects.
Many patients are so comfortable that they do not even realize the procedure was completed. Your body is completely covered during the exam. You may be wondering how much of your body is exposed during a colonoscopy.
A colonoscopy procedure typically takes 30-60 minutes, depending on whether the doctor needs to remove polyps or take biopsies. However, patients and caregivers should plan to spend 2-3 hours total at the hospital or endoscopy center to account for the time needed for preparation and recovery.