Oh, I am feeling for her! I have been through this twice, you are right, the prep is the worst part, the colonoscopy is a breeze compared to the day before. First off, everyone is different, so she may start having to go to the bathroom within a few minutes or a few hours, it just depends on her metabolism. She will be purging for quite a while and quite often. Again, it differs with everyone, but she shouldn't plan on going out anywhere once she starts the meds. Mine lasted about 4-5 hours total, towards the end it will all be clear liquid coming out. I went through about a roll of toilet paper, probably used the bathroom about 20-25 times during the course of the purging. Tell her to get books and magazines at the ready, she will be spending a lot of time in the bathroom. As for the powdered medicine mix, I would call her doctor. I used a liquid that I could mix with Gatorade or clear liquid the first time, it was the most vile thing I have ever drank. The second time I asked about getting the dosage in pill form, that is an option not many people know to ask for, but if you can get it by all means it is the kindest way! I wouldn't have her eating any mints or hard candy, but I was allowed to have all the clear liquids I wanted. Again, ask the doctor, but I think what the candy is made of might have a negative effect. Gatorade was my drink of choice, it provides electrolytes that your body needs and really quenches your thirst. Yes, she should stop drinking at least 4 hours before the procedure, longer if possible; this will prevent them from having to insert a catheter to relieve her bladder during the procedure. I stopped at midnight (my procedures were at 8 am and the other at 10am) and took tiny sips of water during the night, the purging medicine is salt based so it makes you really thirsty. So basically I would get ahold of the doctor on Monday and see if they will prescribe the pills. The liquid is so nasty I don't wish it on anyone and the after effects are bad enough so any way to make it less miserable is the way to go! Best of luck with the procedure and results, and I hope this info helps!

Hello again everyone. Just wanted to do an update. Well, DH was not able to keep the prep down at. all. He has rescheduled for next month. Dr. is going to try a different type of prep. DH is not the type to be afraid of procedures, he donates blood, & even had a colonoscopy 10 years ago. I'm a (currently unemployed) phlebotomist & I totally get that people have serious needle phobias. It might not be rational to those of us for who it is no big deal, but it's a serious, anxiety laden procedure for some. You have to have a lot of compassion with sensitive individuals like that. Heck, my irrational fear is flying so I'm a white-knuckle flyer, So, not everyone can physically & emotionally deal with every single thing thrown at them. I've seen a lot when I was the one drawing the blood. I was dx'd in July with CRVO.... central retinal vein occlusion that came out of nowhere. I lost some vision in my left eye & now I have to get injections IN MY EYE. Not fun, but I can do it. Now, if I had to go to the dentist and get a shot in my gums, you would see me running & screaming out of the dentist office. So, we all have our fears & phobias. LOL No one should be made to feel "less than" just because they fear a procedure--IT's NORMAL to not want to be poked & proded, imho. I've had 4 colonoscopies myself, so I kind of know the ropes. One of my preps was a breeze, & one other gag-inducing one--not so much. We also started earlier too, but he just couldn't get past the second step of liquid prep. On top of vomiting up the prep, he ended up with chills & fever & a horrific headache. It IS a shame that he will have to repeat this in a month, but we are hoping for a much more condusive (to his system--at least ) prep. To the poster wondering...He can't drink coffee or tea or any kind of carbonated drinks to begin with EXCEPT for Diet Coke, but did NOT drink that yesterday, due to the coloring. Everything needs to be clear as you mentioned. I had everything in place for him.... bottled water, jello, broth, popsicles, reading materials, juice with no pulp, extra TP, soothing wipes for a sore bottom, loose jogging pants for running to the commode (even a pair of Depends if needed) -- but even with the best-laid plans, when it came to keeping it down-- it just wasn't in the cards for him. I know the prep is a pain, but in my case during my second colonoscopy, 3 pre-cancerous polyps were removed & it may have saved my life. The small amount of discomfort for me was totally worth it. Kind of like having mammograms & pap smears etc.--not fun, but can be life-saving. Thanks again for your interest & all your thoughtful replies! Blessings, ~~ katclaws Will let you know how it "goes" (pun intended) next month!

Fit and FOBT have significant amounts of false negative reporting especially in right sided, i.e. The cecum area of the colon. Also sigmoidoscopy can not find proximal polyps either. The reason countries use these methods is that they are cost effective but not as effective in preventing and finding tumours. My DH had a negative FIT two weeks before his colonoscopy that found his cancer. The cost benefit out ways the health benefit in many societies but my DH and many with right sided proximal cancers die because of the use of only FIT, FOBT and sigmoidoscopy. In source poor areas the 3 false negative FIT out of 1000, i.e. the amount of cancers that go undiagnosed until in advanced stages, outweigh the benefits of using colposcopy. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4143449/#!po=8.33333

Glad all went well! I have never had one. They attempted to once about 10 years ago but stopped because of a too sharp of a turn. Since I was ready for the procedure, they sent me for an x-ray . they didn't find any polyps but I wonder what they would have done if they had. I forget the name of the procedure but it was how they did it before they started doing the colonoscopies. I remember drinking some kind of white drink. Yuck!