When my doctor recommended I get a colonoscopy, I began
educating myself about the procedure. Like many people, I had heard
horror stories about colonoscopy and I had no desire to undergo the procedure,
but when I started researching and reading about it, it became less scary.
Colonoscopy is a procedure where a tiny camera is inserted through the patient’s
rectum on a flexible tube and travels through the colon while the images from
the camera are displayed on a big screen for the doctor to examine for lesions
or polyps or any other abnormalities.
Most patients in the United States are sedated for this
procedure. During my research, I came across several journal articles written
by people who had chosen to forego sedation during the procedure and had only
good things to say about it. I decided I wanted to be one of the small minority
of patients in the U.S. who voluntarily stay un-sedated. When I called my
colonoscopist’s office several weeks before my appointment to discuss and request
this option, I was met with skepticism and no encouragement that I could endure
the procedure while fully conscious. I persisted.
The morning of my appointment I again had to insist that I
did not wish to be sedated. The nurses were alarmed and delivered stern
warnings about the severity of the pain I would feel. My heart-rate monitor
beeped faster and registered over 100 bpm. They brought in another nurse to try
to convince me. I persisted again, but in order to set the nurses’ minds at
ease, I allowed the IV port to be inserted in my arm so that sedation could be
administered if I started screaming. They were satisfied and backed off trying
to convince me. My heart rate settled back down into the 80s.
Shortly thereafter the doctor arrived. I was already lying
on my left side facing the monitor where the camera feed would be displayed. He
didn’t seem alarmed at all that I was awake and asked if I had any questions. I
said, “no, but I’ll ask them along the way if I have any.” He said, “We used to
do this without sedation all the time back in the day.” The insertion of the
scope was painless and right from the start, I was fascinated by the display on
the screen and the doctor’s commentary. As the camera displayed my colon I
could feel it moving through my abdomen. My colon is apparently exceptionally
twisty so the doctor had to spend some time navigating the “minefield”. When we
got to the ascending colon on the right side of my abdomen, he told me to press
my finger down on it and I could see the indent of my finger on my colon as
captured by the camera on the big screen. It was definitely cool. When we
reached the cecum, the “door” between the colon and the small intestine, I got
to tour a small portion of my small intestine as well and when the camera
backed out, I saw the flap of the cecum close. That was infinitely cool. Near
the end of the procedure the doctor reversed the camera so it was facing down
and told me I was looking out my anus. I laughed. How many people can say they
have done that?
Only a few times during the colonoscopy did I have to take a
few deep breaths to counteract the pressure from the air that was used to
inflate the colon for inspection, but never was the pain by any means
unbearable. My eyes didn’t water, and far from screaming, I didn’t even feel
the need to groan. I even laughed a few times. The nurses were extremely
impressed. Before I knew it, the grand tour was over, the doctor vanished, and I
was wheeled into recovery where I drank two glasses of water, got my blood
pressure taken, passed residual air, then got up and got dressed. While 15 or
so other patients still lay glassy eyed in their beds coming out of sedation, I
waltzed out of recovery after about 5 minutes and went to eat pancakes.
It was the first solid food I’d eaten in
over 36 hours. Breakfast never tasted so good.
So, if you’re reading this because you’re worried about your
upcoming colonoscopy, or you just stumbled across it and you don’t know when
you may need one, rest assured, it isn’t as bad as it sounds when some people
talk about it. Sedation is the default setting for colonoscopies in the United
States, but if you would like to take the road less traveled and request a
sedation free procedure, it brings with it a fascinating adventure. I can say
with certainty that next time I will again be requesting a sedation free
experience.
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