Had my first colonoscopy 4 months ago, after going for a couple of years with every red flag symptom under the sun.

The procedure was a piece of cake. As the standard is where I'm from (Norway), I was only administered some sedatives - but honestly I couldn't feel much difference. I watched the procedure on the screen, which was quite fascinating.

The worst part, by far, was the emptying / prepping. A month prior to the colonoscopy I took a stool sample (negative for blood), but my doc wanted to be safe.

In the end they nothing was found, not even polyps.

EDIT: I had put of going to it for the longest time, but a friend of mine (35 years old) was diagnosed with stage 4 last year, which pushed me to get it checked out. He had experienced prolonged constipation, that's it. When the tumor was found, the cancer had spread to both of his lungs and liver. He's still alive, and fighting it.

My doctor recommended a combination FIT+DNA test instead of colonoscopy (brand name "Cologuard"). She said it's not quite as good as the "gold standard" colonoscopy, but it also doesn't have the risks of colonoscopy.

And the FIT+DNA test is so cheap and easy, you can do it every year or three instead of every 10 years with the colonoscopy.

She still recommends colonoscopies for high-risk patients, but she thinks the risks outweigh the benefits for low-risk patients, so she recommends Cologuard in those situations.

I appreciate this risk-adjusted and probabilistic approach rather than one-size-fits all recommendations.

Yeh if you want to improve the screening rate then someone needs to figure out how to make the prep easier.

I didn't actually mind the prepping too much personally. Just to be safe I started early to go on the long end of what they suggested with the diet and basically just ate baked, unseasoned chicken for 10 days. Then did the bowel prep; a lot of people hate the drink, but idk. I thought it was fine. Maybe better to assume it will suck though, that way you at least can't be disappointed.

> In the end they nothing was found, not even polyps.

Same here, thank god.

> The worst part, by far, was the emptying / prepping.

This. The procedure itself was a snap (I was completely sedated; I'm in Canada), but it was NOT a fun 2 days of "pooping" pure liquid and being hungry. I don't think I was away from the toilet for more than 20 minutes at a time.

> The worst part, by far, was the emptying / prepping.

Protip to those who have it coming up: Ask for the pill prep instead of the "sludge" prep. You end up spending the day on the toilet either way, but at least it doesn't taste as bad with the pills.

I did one two years ago without sedation, I wanted to work afterwards. I didn't feel any pain, so sedation is really not necessary

> The worst part, by far, was the emptying / prepping.

As described in one of the great modern tales of legend:

https://singletrackworld.com/2009/02/the-picolax-thread-retu...

How old are you? I’m 37 and my doc says you get one at 45

I ended up paying 15000 usd due tó complications.. that was the worst part for me

I had a colonoscopy without any sedatives and I agree, the prepping was worse. Not eating for 24 hours was easy, drinking the solution the night before was unpleasant, and drinking the solution the day of was awful.

My pro tip would be to take the day off work. Trying to work while drinking the solution in the morning didn't really work.