what to eat a week before colonoscopy and upper gi

Diet, tips, and instructions for a smoothen colonoscopy prep

If you lot shudder at the thought of having a colonoscopy to cheque for subconscious colon cancer, chances are it'southward the "prep" that's stoking your anticipation. Information technology's certainly a major inconvenience: getting ready for the procedure takes much longer — an boilerplate of 16 hours, according to one study — than the three hours or so you'll spend at a medical eye the twenty-four hours of your colonoscopy. But what's most off-putting is the purgative part: taking a powerful bowel-immigration substance and coping with the resulting diarrhea.

Information technology's worth the hassle. Colonoscopy can spot small-scale colon cancers while they are treatable and earlier they have spread to other parts of the body. It can too detect and remove polyps, small growths that can develop into colon cancer. Colon and rectal cancers (known together as colorectal cancers) are the third most common type of cancer in men and in women and the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States.

What's involved in colonoscopy prep?

Emptying the contents of the colon is a key requirement for a successful colonoscopy. If the bowel prep isn't up to par, polyps and lesions can exist missed; the colonoscopy may take longer (increasing the hazard of complications); or the whole procedure may need to be repeated or rescheduled, meaning some other round of bowel prep.

Unlike medical centers recommend unlike ways to prepare the bowel for a colonoscopy. There are ii parts: diet and drinking bowel-cleaning liquids. Here are some of the master strategies.

Colonoscopy prep diet

A few days before the colonoscopy procedure — Offset eating a low-cobweb diet: no whole grains, basics, seeds, dried fruit, or raw fruits or vegetables.

The day before the colonoscopy procedure — Don't consume solid foods. Instead, eat only articulate liquids like clear broth or bouillon, black coffee or tea, clear juice (apple, white grape), clear soft drinks or sports drinks, Clot-O, popsicles, etc.

The mean solar day of the colonoscopy procedure — As on the previous day, clear liquid foods merely. Don't eat or drink anything two hours earlier the procedure.

Bowel prep for colonoscopy

The afternoon or evening earlier the colonoscopy, beverage a liquid that will trigger bowel-clearing diarrhea. The verbal colonoscopy prep instructions depend on the bowel prep your physician prefers, the fourth dimension of your colonoscopy, and any prior feel yous've had with colon preps (if ane didn't work before, you'll likely be prescribed a different one).

Y'all can read nearly some common bowel preparations approved by the American Gastroenterological Association, American Higher of Gastroenterology, and American Guild for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. Contact your clinician to talk over the 1 that is best for you.

Colonoscopy prep tips

Preparing for a colonoscopy may be uncomfortable and time-consuming, but information technology needn't be an ordeal. Here are some things y'all can do to help information technology become every bit smoothly and comfortably as possible:

1. Make sure yous receive your colonoscopy prep instructions well before your procedure date and read them completely equally soon as you go them. This is the time to call your clinician with any questions and to purchase the bowel prep she or he has prescribed. Pick upwards some medicated wipes (for example, Tucks or adult wet wipes with aloe and vitamin E) and a skin-soothing production such as Vaseline or Desitin — you're going to be experiencing high-volume, high-velocity diarrhea.
2. Arrange for the time and privacy y'all demand to complete the prep with equally little stress equally possible. Articulate your schedule, and exist at home on time to start your prep. If you take children or crumbling parents who need attention, have someone else exist available to them while you're indisposed.
3. Water can get slow, so keep a variety of articulate liquids on hand.On the day earlier your colonoscopy — when you're restricted to clear liquids — you lot tin can have popsicles, Jell-O, articulate goop, coffee or tea (without milk or creamer), soft drinks, Italian ice, or Gatorade. Only accept nothing with cherry-red, blue, or majestic dye. Drink extra liquids before, during, and after your bowel prep (usually until a few hours before your procedure), too equally after your colonoscopy.
4. To brand a bad-tasting liquid prep like magnesium citrate easier to consume, try 1 or more than of the following if information technology doesn't come flavored: add some Crystal Lite or Kool-Aid powder (again, not red, bluish, or purple); add some ginger or lime; potable it chilled; drink information technology through a straw placed far back on your natural language; agree your nose and drink it as quickly as possible; quickly suck on a lemon piece after you finish each drinking glass; hold a lemon or lime under your olfactory organ while yous drink; suck on a hard candy after each drinking glass.
5. Vesture loose clothing and stay near the bathroom.Better yet, once the preparation starts to work, stay in the bath — because when the urge hits, information technology'southward difficult to concord back. Consider setting up shop near the toilet with music, your laptop, magazines, or books.

Image: roobcio/Getty Images

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Source: https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/preparing-for-a-colonoscopy

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