Screening colonoscopy for colorectal cancer is a commonly performed procedure with an established survival benefit. Up to one-third of patients experience abdominal pain, nausea, or bloating afterward, which may last hours to several days.
Belly Pain or Discomfort
They might use water or a suction device as well as certain surgical tools to take off a polyp. All these things can move and stretch your colon, so you might feel uncomfortable for 1 or 2 days afterward.
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.
What if I've taken all my preparation and am still passing solid stool on the day of my exam? In this case, your procedure will need to be rescheduled. You may be prescribed a different preparation for your next procedure. Please call the triage nurse to reschedule your procedure with a different preparation.
You can start eating regular foods the next day. Keep eating light meals if you are not able to pass gas and still feel bloated. For the first 24 hours after your procedure: Do not drink alcohol.
Will I be up all night with colonoscopy prep? Probably not, if you start on time. While everyone's body is different, most people are able to complete their round of purging before going to sleep for the night.
Pain after the procedure: Some people have stomach pain after a colonoscopy. A person may also experience mild irritation to their rectum, gas, or other digestive problems. These symptoms are usually mild and tend to go away in a few days.
The First 24 Hours of Recovery
Because a colonoscopy is performed with the patient under the effects of sedation, the patient will need to arrange for a ride home. Once they are at home, patients should allow themselves at least 24 hours to rest and recover.
Thinner and more flexible endoscopes may cause less stretching of the mesentery, which is one of the principal sources of pain during colonoscopy.
Background. Colonoscopies performed in the afternoon (PM) have been shown to have lower adenoma detection rates (ADR) compared to those in the morning (AM). Endoscopist fatigue has been suggested as a possible reason. Colonoscopies tend to be technically more challenging in female patients.
Mild abdominal pain/discomfort immediately after a colonoscopy is not rare, occurring anywhere between 2.5% to 11% of the cases [2]. Though it may have a host of etiologies, it is most commonly a result of air insufflation, endoscope looping, and/or manual pressure maneuvers used during a colonoscopy.
Absolutely no straining. You may go up and down stairs and carry on normal activities otherwise. 5. You may have a light meal following the colonoscopy and resume your regular diet the same day or following day.
Looping was both more frequent ( P = 0.0002) and less well tolerated in women than in men ( P = 0.0140). Conclusions: This study is the first to document pain at colonoscopy accurately. Looping, particularly in the variable anatomy of the sigmoid colon, is the major cause of pain, especially in women.
This is a rough way to do it, but yes, you will have a very temporary weight loss of one to three pounds typically. But, just as with your bowel habits, these few pounds will return as well once you resume your normal diet.
Can I shower, eat breakfast, or brush my teeth the morning of my colonoscopy? You may not eat anything the morning of your procedure, but you may continue to drink clear liquids up until 2 hours before your procedure. You may shower and brush your teeth.
Preparing for your colonoscopy:
Take the day off: It is recommended that you take the day off work on the day of your procedure. You should not make any important decisions for the rest of the day following the procedure. You should not drive for the rest of the day.
So, the more polyps you have, the higher your cancer risk. Someone with just one or two small polyps is generally at lower risk of having or developing colon cancer than someone with three to nine, or more.
You may pass liquid and/or liquid stool after your colonoscopy but, within one to five days, your bowel movements should return to normal.
Recently, several studies have shown that bowel preparation for colonoscopy could change the fecal microbial diversity and composition, and these effects could last up to 1 month [13-15]. Bowel preparation also affects the change of gut metabolome but this is recovered within 14 days [16].
Bleeding is one of the most common complications of colonoscopy, accounting for 0.3-6.1% of cases[35,36].
During the test
You don't normally need medication to make you relax while you have the test. The endoscopist will first check your back passage for any abnormalities. They then gently put the colonoscope into your back passage and up into the large bowel. This is uncomfortable but is not usually painful.