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.
Sedation
A nurse will administer a sedative through an IV to numb your body, so you feel no pain. You will feel sleepy during this procedure, but you will not completely fall asleep. It is sedation, not anesthesia. Still, it means your colonoscopy is not painful.
Colonoscopies aren't usually painful because most patients receive a sedative before the procedure starts. The sedative makes you so sleepy that you usually don't feel or remember anything of the procedure.
Most often, either moderate sedation or deep sedation with the anesthetic propofol are used for colonoscopies. An anesthesiologist is sometimes present for moderate sedation — sometimes called conscious sedation by patients, though the term is technically incorrect.
The colonoscopy procedure
It should take 30 to 45 minutes to have your colonoscopy. But you might be at the hospital for around 2 hours from getting there to going home.
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.
When you go in for a colonoscopy, you usually receive some type of anesthesia to help you manage the discomfort. These days, more people are receiving deep sedation with propofol for the colonoscopy, which lets them fall asleep rapidly—and quickly wake up.
Almost all colonoscopies in the United States are performed with patients under a level of sedation or anesthesia that prevents them from feeling anything. Often, patients are asleep for the entire procedure.
A colonoscopy allows an examination of the entire colon (1,200–1,500 mm in length).
With minimal and moderate sedation, you feel comfortable, sleepy and relaxed. You may drift off to sleep at times, but will be easy to wake. With general anaesthesia, you are completely unaware and unconscious during the procedure.
You'll be given local anesthesia shortly before your procedure to give it time to start working. This usually only takes a few minutes. While you shouldn't feel any pain, you might still feel sensations of pressure.
The colonoscopy usually lasts around 30 minutes or less and is typically performed while you are under a general anaesthetic. Because of the sedation, you should arrange for someone to collect you and take you home following the procedure.
Insufflation of the bowel is necessary to improve visualization during colonoscopy, but it is one of the main causes of the abdominal pain experienced by the patient.
Pain after the colonoscopy
It is normal to experience some stomach pain after the procedure, usually because the air causes gas. This sensation may be mild or intense, but it typically only lasts an hour or two. Some people experience mild stomach pain for a day or two after the procedure.
Bleeding is one of the most common complications of colonoscopy, accounting for 0.3-6.1% of cases[35,36].
The effects of the sedation could last up to a day, so you should not drive or operate any machinery until the following day. You may feel gassy or bloated for a while after the procedure because of the air that was injected into your intestine during the colonoscopy.
Complications related to colonoscopy include, but are not limited to, the following: Continued bleeding after biopsy (tissue sample) or polyp removal. Nausea, vomiting, bloating or rectal irritation caused by the procedure or by the preparatory bowel cleansing.
You may need a catheter (fine plastic drain tube) put in your front passage to drain the urine from your bladder until you are able to pass urine comfortably on your own.
Regardless, many people are anxious or fearful before a medical procedure, especially if they're worried their doctor may find cancer. The bottom line: it's worth it. If you're at an average risk, you only have to have a colonoscopy once every 5 to 10 years.
Polyp removal is not painful because the lining of the colon does not have the ability to feel pain. In addition, a sedative medication is given before the colonoscopy to prevent pain caused by stretching of the colon.
Conclusions: Combining colonoscopy with three-quadrant hemorrhoidal ligation is a safe and effective method of treating symptomatic internal hemorrhoids. The procedure is convenient for both physician and patient and makes more efficient use of time and resources.
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.
IV sedation works quickly, with most people falling asleep in roughly 15 to 30 minutes after it's been administered. Once the IV sedation is removed, you will begin to wake up in about 20 minutes and be fully recovered from all sedative effects within six hours.
In contrast, a state somewhere between being very sleepy, being relaxed in consciousness, and yet not unconscious, characterizes sedation. The patients will not feel pain, but are aware of what is going on around them.