Yep, the prep is the worst part. Drinking that gallon of horrid salty lemon-lime gatorade was way worse than the procedure. It helps to keep it cold- tastes WAY worse when it warms up.

I've only had one colonoscopy, and that was over 10 years ago. My doc first ordered a procedure that only went in for 12 inches or so, and I pulled a no-show. On my next office visit, he said, "oh, I see what kind of patient you are", and ordered the "the works," so that I'd get the good drugs and not be so freaked by it.

If you have an option, definitely go for the good drugs. You won't care about farting and you won't feel pain. I want to say I got an IV drip of Demerol and Valium. Is that possible?? Anyway, I was pretty blissed out, but coherent enough to roll over when they told me to.

And who knows, you might even have fun. I did. There was a monitor mounted on the wall that projected the live camera view as the scope snaked along. I was so fascinated with the "show" that I pointed at the monitor and yelled out, "Look!! It's the Discovery Channel, and I'm the STAR!!!"

Come to think of it, the doctor and his staff had a lot of fun laughing over that too.

I kind of envy all of you who can be sedated for this procedure. I have an adverse reaction to all sedatives. ALL of them. Even versed, which everyone swears would NEVER give a person such a reaction. That means that any sedative in my system will act like a bad speedball with a caffeine chaser. I was a teenager the first time it happened. I grabbed the doctor by the front of his white coat and threatened his life. I was frighteningly serious about it. He backed out of the room with his hands up.

I had both of my colonoscopies cold, without any sedation at all. I've developed good breathing and body awareness techniques due to being a heavy masochist BDSM player. The doctor was pretty flipped out about doing a colonoscopy without sedation, but I was very reassuring, and we did it together. The most difficult moments were when the scope had to turn a corner. The strangest thing happened somewhere around 10 minutes in. I was breathing deeply and exercising body awareness while this very intense thing was happening to my body. Even though the procedure was the antidote to eroticism, I caught a strange endorphin buzz. Plus, it was absolutely fascinating to watch the live video feed of the inside of my digestive system along with my doctor.

Yes, the recovery room was full of windy sounds. Since everyone had been well and truly cleaned out prior to the procedure, there was no odour at all, and the hospital staff doesn't even notice the noise since it's so constant. I was the only patient who was awake since everyone else had been given good drugs. One of the recovery room nurses was astonished that I would have had that procedure without sedation, and she said, "Dios, mio! No sedation!! You're so STRONG!!! You can have as many children as you want!" And then she made a squeezing motion like a quacking duck's beak with her fingers and thumb, and made explosive squirting noises with her mouth. Yes, really.