Has anyone ever been completely awake during a colonoscopy or observed one in person?

Question

I am interested in knowing how much discomfort is involved with no drugs. I have had 1 colonoscopy with fentanyl and versed.

If you are in the medical profession and perform or assist during colonoscopies...I would like to also know that if you are under conscious sedation - how does the doctor know you need more medication for pain? Can you speak or are you mostly asleep? I am trying to decide what drugs (if any) for my next colonoscopy. After my colonoscopy, the doctor told my husband that "she did fine. What does that mean - exactly?

Answer 1

OK i have not only had to have this procedure but i have observed and assisted with numerous.

Now from the pt standpoint i was given information about the procedure and i asked for specific medication as i have issues with some drugs. The physician used ketamine for my procedure as i have very unplesent respiratory issues with fentanyl and versed was not enough to sedate me.

Some physicians may also use valium but it is mostly physician preference and drug cost that drives what is used. (IE what is considered formulary)

Now you can have the procedure done without sedation, but as the procedure requires muscles to be relaxed to ease with passage of the scope and sometimes dilation of the intestinal tract with gas the use of sedation makes for a muche better outcome.

It is also safer for the pt to have some sedation.

With conscious sedation you are awake but the combination of medications makes it so that you forget the procedure and you are very relaxed so you realy dont care what is happening. Amnesia producing or sedative hypnotics are the terms used.

You can talk to the physician though you may not make sense. and you are able to answer questions.

you can also express to the physician that you are having discomfort and can be given more medication. Your vital signs are also closely monitored during the procedure and they are also a good indicator of need for more or less medication.

Now the doctor telling your husband that you did fine means that you tolerated the procedure well without adverse reactions or effects.

Answer 2

Officially it is a low to moderatly uncomfortable procedure though some that have had it without sufficient medication do say it was the worst pain they have ever experienced. Tests carried out in scandinavia to see if people could tollerate the test without meds showed about a quater could with no real problem, a quater could not and the test had to be abandonned and the rest struggled through in varying amounts of pain. Going into the procedure without meds means it is odds on to be unpleasant.

Something to consider is that pain relief does not make the process painless. The nature of the type of pain and the way demerol/morphine derivitives work means that it will only be duled to some degree not prevented. The reason patients are also given amnesia causing drugs like Versid is to make them forget the nasty bits and so avoid trauma afterwards. Patients that say they felt nothing almost always should say they don't remember feeling anything.

When a doctor says 'she did fine' they are just reassuring the relative. The patient may have been struggling and crying throughout (not that uncommon) but the doctor is hardly going to say so, especially a sthe patient will not remember and will think it was a breeze unless told otherwise.

Answer 3

The phrase 'she did fine' doctors use to tell a loved one that everything went well and there were no complications.

A few of my relatives have has colonoscopys and have taken the drugs which are minor sedatives. You are awake but can not feel anything, there is no pain or discomfort but you will need someone to drive you home. I have never heard of anyone going in for one and not recieving medication.

Answer 4

A colonoscopy without drugs is OK if you have a really good doctor who cares about your comfort. There are some who don't care or don't wait for drugs to take effect and loud screams can be heard from those operating rooms. The doctors drive that winding road way too fast at times.

Answer 5

If you are under concious sedation, that means that you'll be able to talk to your doctor, and it's actually an advantage for him as well. Therefore you can tell him that you need more pain medication. Although, the level of conciousness depends a lot on the meds thay use and their quantities.

It is a highly displeasant sensation without the drugs, and it is not reccomendable. I say you take them. And, btw, you cannot decide what medication you can take, the doctor will.

Answer 6

i had colonoscopy last year. i was awake during it. and the only discomfort if any was the pressure, or even watching them do the procedure.on the screen that they were viewing. i just wanted to see. it was no pain just funny feeling if that. i was on a very small amount of verced, and demorrhal, very little due to other illness and my allergies to other meds, it is a very harmless procedure as you know from your last one. and when the doctor says you did well, it means exaxtly what he said you did well during the procedure. no discomfort you were a good soldier

Answer 7

I have been completey awake during a colonoscopy - it was very painful.
I have also had conscious sedation - it was also very painful and the doctor was not nice although he did give me pethidine as well it did not work.
I have a condition known as Crohn's Disease and require many colonoscopies. My advice is to definitely choose a doctor who uses an anaesthetist.

Answer 8

I had a colonoscopy in the 80's when they didn't give you any sedative. DON"T do it without a sedative. It is best to have a sedative. If you didn't get enough sedation you can tell the doctor and they will put more medication into the IV. By saying she did fine means that you didn't scream.....know what I mean....

Answer 9

I can tell you from my own colonoscopy that I did wake during the procedure and was told to stop pushing. I responded that I couldn't take it anymore and was immediately given more meds to put me back to sleep. I am unsure what meds I was given. I felt no pain per se, I felt extreme pressure, as if I was trying to keep my bowels from moving when they were completely full.

Answer 10

Yes in most cases they will let you watch the monitor while they are performing the procedure. It's is not really uncomfortable until the procedure is over. But if you want to go home you'd better be able to expel that gas! That the uncomfortable part.