What preparations should be made before colonoscopy?

Colonoscopy is an important method to detect intestinal problems, but many people feel scared when they hear the word "colonoscopy". Many people will encounter many unexpected troubles when doing colonoscopy for the first time, and may even be asked by the doctor to re-prepare the intestines and undergo another examination.

Who needs a colonoscopy?

If any of the following symptoms persist for two weeks or more, you should go to the hospital for examination;

① Changes in bowel habits: frequent diarrhea or constipation; stool shape changes or becomes thinner than before;

②Mucous and bloody stools: stools often contain bright red or dark red blood and mucus;

③ Tenesmus: Always feel that the stool is not completely discharged, but the stool cannot be discharged;

④Persistent abdominal pain; the pain is mostly in the middle and lower abdomen, with varying degrees of severity, mostly dull pain or bloating;

⑤Anemia is often accompanied by fatigue and unexplained weight loss.

So what preparations should be made for a colonoscopy?

【Before the inspection】

1. Diet: Eat a low-residue diet 2 days before the examination, and have a semi-liquid low-residue diet for dinner 1 day before the examination, such as porridge (it is not recommended to drink milk to avoid bloating), and do not eat vegetables and seeded fruits such as watermelon.

2. Intestinal cleanliness: The success or failure of colonoscopy depends on the cleanliness of the intestine. Oral diarrhea medicine is one of the most commonly used, reliable and safe methods in clinical practice.

1) Catharsis method: Take 2 fruit laxative tablets orally on the evening before the examination. Take magnesium sulfate orally as a catharsis at 10:00 am on the examination day (ask the nurse to instruct on how to soak magnesium sulfate powder). Half an hour later, start taking 2000~2500ml of warm boiled water and sugar and salt water orally. After taking it, you can walk more and gently massage your abdomen to speed up excretion.

2) A very small number of patients will experience vomiting during the bowel preparation process, which may be related to the stimulation of magnesium sulfate and drinking a large amount of water in a short period of time. The magnesium sulfate can be mixed into the beverage and taken orally, and then boiled water can be taken slowly, with no obvious abdominal distension as the standard.

3. Observation of the catharsis effect: Generally, defecation will begin after about half an hour (if there is still no defecation after 4 hours after drinking water, it is ineffective). Generally, patients can basically clear the feces in the large intestine after 5-7 consecutive diarrheas. It is best to have diarrhea until the discharged fluid is clear water without fecal residue. If there is still a lot of feces in the intestine during the examination, it will affect the insertion of the endoscope and observation, and even the entire colon examination cannot be completed. If it cannot be cleared, you need to inform the doctor and nurse in time, and perform enema treatment if necessary. You should strictly fast after clearing the intestine.

4. Capacity supplement: For the elderly and weak, those with poor physical fitness, those who have frequent diarrhea and those who take longer examinations, the doctor will give an appropriate amount of intravenous infusion to supplement calories and maintain physical fitness.