Thank you for all the replies. In answer to various questions and points raised - the pain was awful right from the start and got worse. I had explained in advance that I was nervous and was promised sedation. That was not offered on the day and I demanded it, so a very annoyed doctor came and jabbed me with something. It had no effect at all. The person doing the colonoscopy was also very irritated with me and really belittled me and humiliated me, which made me even more stressed. A few kind words might have calmed me down. Apparently the drug I was given doesn't work if you are highly stressed. I do wonder if they even gave it time to take effect, no sooner had I been jabbed than the procedure started.
I thought it was an established fact that bowel prep can cause flares?
I think there are meant to be good reasons for not totally knocking a person out during a colonoscopy, increased risk of bowel perforation, but I think twilight sedation is the gold standard, isn't it? I naively expected that this was what I would be getting! I'd been reading this forum and hadn't taken in the differences between medical practice in America and that in the UK. My feeling after my experiences over the last few years is that we don't experience the highs or the lows that Americans receive. I'd love to hear whether anybody in the UK has been given twilight sedation on the NHS? The doctor barely had the time to jab me with a needle!
With the way you were treated, that's uncalled for. Are you able to find another GI? I can try tagging some members who are also in the UK and see if they've had a better experience with their GI and maybe you could try seeking them out. Hannah-Rose, Misty-Eyed, Terriernut, emmaaaargh, xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx, Niks, Sascot, StarGirrrrl, and valleysangel92 what has been your experience with scopes in the UK and is your GI any different (see the quoted post above)? Any information is appreciated. Thank you!
I've heard of many people in the UK not being offered sedation. In the US it is standard to give twilight sedation because the procedure is painful. If the pain is too much for the patient to handle then the procedure cannot be completed and it's a failed attempt, all that for nothing. It's also the standard here that your GI performs the scope not someone else.
I had one GI years ago who began the procedure immediately after the drug was put into my IV. It did not have time to take effect and I was yelling and struggling the whole time until the sedation finally took effect and I woke up yelling at the staff in the recovery room. One bad experience can make you never want to do it again so I understand where you're coming from. I never went back to that GI and I reported him to the hospital. He was not gentle in any way and clearly wanted this done as fast as possible.
When I saw a new GI years later (that experience made me avoid seeing a GI and I got medication refills from my previous one instead by contacting each other by phone only) I told him what had happened and said that I don't want to feel anything and to please not start until I'm ready. When I was taken back to have my first scope with him I was given medication to calm me down and then given twilight sedation (Versed). Every couple minutes he would ask me, "how are you doing?" Meaning, "are you ready?" Each time I would say, "I'm not ready, I'll remember this!" He asked about 5 or more times and each time would ask the nurse to give me a little more medication until my replies became slower and slower making it clear that the Versed was working and he could begin. I've had 3 scopes with him and each time has been awesome, meaning I remember nothing and the prep is once again the worst part about the procedure. My last scope was done by a specialist further south for a second opinion and they were supposed to do a balloon dilation if needed so I was given general anesthesia instead of twilight sedation.
Scopes are usually done with twilight sedation because they need the patient to move around some during the procedure but in some cases it doesn't work well enough or the patient has far too much anxiety so in those cases patients can be given general anesthesia. When I was a kid having these scopes done I was given general anesthesia.
While bowel prep does irritate the bowels and makes them empty their contents it does not cause flares. Scopes are needed to monitor disease activity on a microscopic level which imaging tests won't see and it's also used to screen for colon cancer which were are at a higher risk of getting.