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Terrible reaction to colonoscopy prep

Discussion in 'Your Living Room' started by California Sun, Sep 24, 2019.

  1. California Sun

    California Sun Active Member

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    I had a very bad reaction to the colonoscopy prep liquid. I am thinking it happened from ingesting so much salt at one time. As I drank the stuff, I noticed the tinnitus in both ears becoming worse and worse, then the hearing faded out until I could hear almost nothing. Both ears. Then I became dizzy. I was sick all night, finally had to take a valium. Needless to say, I wasn't able to go to the appointment. I went through all that horrible prep for nothing. I'm still feeling really bad. This is the last time I ever do this.
     
  2. Bonlyn

    Bonlyn Active Member

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    I am so sorry. Terrible, wish I could give you a hug.

    Praying it will go through your system quickly and then you will feel better than before you took the salt potion. :)
     
    • Optimistic Optimistic x 1
  3. Brother_of_Nool

    Brother_of_Nool Member

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    Wow, that’s rough. Thanks for giving us the heads up. I never thought about sodium content in medical stuff.
     
  4. redwing1951

    redwing1951 Well-Known Member

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    I am sorry to hear your horrible reaction. I was able to use an alternative liquid with less sodium once I asked my doctor about the sodium content. I hope next time you can do the same. It's important to have the procedure done. I understand that you might not want to but talk to your doctor about an alternative.
     
    • Informative Informative x 1
  5. Clare

    Clare Active Member

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    A yearly FIT (fecal immunochemical test) such as Cologuard can let you avoid the prep altogether. It is a test that is more likely to give a false positive than a false negative, so it's a good way to screen whether you need to do a colonoscopy at all.
     
    • Informative Informative x 1
  6. California Sun

    California Sun Active Member

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    Thanks for the heads-up. I will tell my doctor what happened and ask about the alternative.
     
  7. California Sun

    California Sun Active Member

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    Thanks for the virtual hug. The dizziness had subsided by mid-morning. Most of my hearing--what's left of it, anyway--had returned by evening. The other symptoms returned to their previous level by then as well. Losing all my hearing was a very frightening experience. Not being able to eat didn't help matters, either--I've always noticed that the symptoms tend to become worse when I am very hungry. I think that salt solution must have caused me to retain a lot of fluid--yesterday I was peeing a lot more than normal.
     
  8. redwing1951

    redwing1951 Well-Known Member

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    California Sun I believe the product I was given was Golytely....the prep is still barbaric just less sodium.
     
  9. California Sun

    California Sun Active Member

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    I think that may be the one I was given.
     
  10. California Sun

    California Sun Active Member

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    Just checked--it was GaviLyte-C
     
  11. Bonlyn

    Bonlyn Active Member

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    Glad that you have stabilized. It can be quite bothersome to have to live your life always thinking " if I do this will it put me in a dizzy tizzy, and if it does, how long will it take me to get out of it."
    But by your sharing -- it gave insight many of us may have not realized and we now have a colonscopy thread with comments that people can search under. Good tidbits from Redwing and Clare too. Thanks again for sharing and maybe saving someone from unnecessary angst.
     
  12. California Sun

    California Sun Active Member

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    I wanted to share my experience because I thought it was something those with Meniere's should know about.
     
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  13. wendy

    wendy Member

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    I had a nurse friend whose husband did not want the prep so he elected to do three days of clear liquids. Apparently that is an option though I would be really hungry!
     
    • Informative Informative x 1
  14. California Sun

    California Sun Active Member

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    It wouldn't be an option for me. It would be impossible for me to go for three days without eating. I barely can do the 24 hours without eating.
     
    • Agree Agree x 1
  15. California Sun

    California Sun Active Member

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    When I saw the ENT yesterday, I told him about what happened after drinking the colonoscopy prep. He said that in all probability it was the large amount of salt in the prep that brought on that terrible attack.
     
  16. AnneT

    AnneT Well-Known Member

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    I’m doing colonoscopy prep, for scope tomorrow. I had one 3 years ago, and was fine in terms of Menieres.

    But yes my bottle of Colyte has 5 grams of sodium, so 2500 mg in each “run”, each spread over 8 glasses of fluid. Plus extra fluid as needed.

    It makes nervous... I don’t want to undo my gentamicin treatments. I’ve got 12 hours before I start drinking the stuff... maybe I’ll call their hotline and ask if I can do the low sodium one, or spread the intake of this one over more than 2 hours. And whether I can take some of my Diamox... but that might put me at more risk of dehydration.
     
  17. California Sun

    California Sun Active Member

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    The first time I did the prep for the colonoscopy, I didn't have any problems in terms of Meniere's but I remember that prep was spread out over a longer period of time than the one that caused me to become so ill.
    Colyte was the same prep I had the terrible reaction to.

    I have Kaiser for insurance, and after I had that terrible reaction I wrote a letter to their Gastro dept detailing my experience. They called me after receiving the letter and told me that given the experience I had, that I should not drink that prep again. They had not heard of a reaction like the one I had but considered it serious enough that they had informed those doctors at the medical center who might order a colonoscopy of my experience so they would be aware of the possibility for their Meniere's patients. They did tell me there is an alternative prep that can be used which involves Gatorade and Miralax, to discuss this with my primary doctor, and that I would have to get a new order from her to have the procedure.

    I have no idea if a reaction like the one I had would undo the Gentamicin treatments you had. I have not had Gentamicin. The reaction I had started to subside after about 12 hours, and I was mostly over it after about 36 hours. I had not been that sick in 20+ years. The symptoms did return to the low level they were at before I drank that poison. One thing I noticed was after drinking that poison, I was peeing a whole lot more for the next couple of days, which leads me to believe that all that salt ingested all at once caused me to retain a lot fluid.

    I am not even a salt-sensitive person. I don't eat a lot of salt but I do eat some and it doesn't cause me problems, but then I'm not ingesting massive amounts of salt over a very short period of time.

    I suggest that you call the hotline and run this by them.
     
  18. Joney

    Joney Active Member

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    I had a colonoscopy about a month ago and was very nervous about it after reading this. The prep I had was a bottle of Miralax with 64 oz of fluid ( I chose watered down white grape juice), with two Dulcolax pills. I drank a ton of water all day and didn’t have any issues at all.
     
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  19. California Sun

    California Sun Active Member

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    That sounds like the alternative prep I was told about. I am going to talk to my PCP about that when I see her. I'm willing to try that, but am I NOT drinking that poison Colyte again.
     
  20. AnneT

    AnneT Well-Known Member

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    Thanks for sharing your experiences. I decided just to go ahead with the Colyte, since I’d been ok with it 3 years ago.

    This time around I was a bit nauseated - not terrible, but I don’t remember having that last time. I was more off balance during the first half of the Colyte last night, so took some Ativan and gravol. I was fine for the second half today.

    I’m glad I did ok with it - it’s definitely a huge salt load, so something to consider for us meniereians.
     
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