Three Tips For Coping With The Laxatives You Need To Take Before A Colonoscopy

Though a colonoscopy is never fun, it's essential if you're old enough to be vulnerable to colon cancer and ulcers in the large intestine. Before you lie unconscious on a table in your gastroenterologist's office, you'll need to clear and prep your colon to make it easier for the doctor to see any problems. Since this preparation process will involve at least a few laxatives, read and remember these three coping tips.

Before You Start Using Liquid Laxatives, Include Plenty Of Fiber With Your Meals

Laxatives can come in the form of fiber, liquid, capsules, and even foodstuffs like chocolate. Since liquid laxatives are generally the most powerful and your goal is to completely clear out your bowel by the time you go to your gastroenterologist appointment, you'll need to focus on them.

However, the more time you have until your appointment, the more leeway you'll have for taking fiber supplements together with your meals. While fiber won't be able to carry you all the way toward a cleared colon, liquid laxatives won't have to address anything it succeeds in wiping away. This means you'll have to use liquid laxatives for a shorter amount of time and your overall suffering with them will be less.

Buy Flavoring For All The Water You'll Have To Drink

To properly flush out your colon, you're going to need to drink a ton of water. To make the task easier, you might as well preemptively buy a bunch of water flavoring packs from your local supermarket.

One additional advantage to this is that you'll be able to try out new water flavoring varieties that you've never had before.

Put An Audio Book On Your MP3 Player And Take It With You To The Bathroom

No matter what you do, you're going to spend a substantial amount of time in the bathroom with diarrhea during the bowel preparation process. So instead of going in with no entertainment or awkwardly opening a large book on the toilet, why not take your MP3 player? You can use either a shirt pocket or a clip to anchor the device to your clothes.

Since your sessions in the bathroom will be longer than normal, you'll want entertainment that can distract you as much as possible from all the trouble you're going through. While some people are perfectly happy with listening to music tracks while they have diarrhea, a relatively short audio book that's very immersive and intellectually stimulating could very well be the trick for you.

For more help, contact a center like Clinical Gastrointestinal Associates, PC.