Reged: 05/22/03
Posts: 3206
Loc: USA, Southern California
Hi Jennifer,
I hope all goes well for you, but I have to admit that I'm glad I'm not in your shoes. I'm scared to death of an endoscope after going thru what I did with the colonoscopy. But then I may be unique in the fact that before IBS I had a very high tolerance to pain overall. Once an IBS'er that went away and I have NO tolerance for pain no matter where it is in my body. It is rather embarrassing since I have to even tell my dentist who once was in ah of how much pain I could handle that he now needs to pull out the big guns to help with any procedure he does to me. I also need much more anesthetic, overall, to handle pain than a normal body. This is another puzzle piece I haven't fit into the IBS disorder.
If it's any help it is usually a given that most people just sleep thru the entire procedure and that the sedation is plenty adequate for most people so they don't even know what happened. I doubt it would be a good idea to loose sleep over it. You need to stay positive with no high anxiety levels or fatigue going into the tests. (Don't let people like me scare you since I'm an exception to the rule.)
There is ONE piece of advise I would give and it is based on my own experience of the colonoscopy experience. That is to tank up immediately after the tests on probiotics. With the "clean out" phase you are washing all the good flora from your intestinal tract and that needs to be replaced ASAP. When mine was over I couldn't figure out why I craved drinkable yogurt so much, but I downed it by the pints with no ill affects at the time. It was later pointed out to me why.
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I wish you all the luck in the world
