Two bottles of Magnesium Citrate sounds harsh to me. Two days before the procedure I ate a very light diet of soft foods. The day before the procedure I consumed clear liquids/foods only. Nothing red or orange. Jello, lemon flavored Italian ice, 7 up/Sprite, boullion, popsicles, clear tea, etc. At 4 p.m. I took two Ducolax tablets. Nothing to eat or drink after 6 p.m. (My procedure was at 7 a.m. the next day). The morning of the procedure.....a fleet enema two hours before procedure and one one hour before procedure. By the time I got to the enemas I was already cleaned out. This was a very gentle prep. I never felt really hungry and my bottom was not irritated at all. I'd call your doc's office and verify the need for the two bottles of Magnesium Citrate.

This is a more extreme prep for a pouchoscopy than most of us do (you'll find many threads on this topic if you do a search). All that most GIs seem to require are a couple of Fleet or tap water enemas the morning of the procedure, and maybe no breakfast. If you got the instructions from the staff they may have just given you the instructions for a flexible sigmoidoscopy, since that's all they had, and that's how the procedure will probably be coded and billed.

The doctor confirmed the amount and I am getting very nervous about taking it. My husband thinks that I'm overreacting, but when I go to my surgeon for a scope there's no prep at all. I understand that they want me completely cleaned out, but this seems very drastic to me and quire frankly, after my MRE last week, and how I felt after drinking the contrast, I can only imagine what this will be like. I honestly don't know what to do. They were going to add Miralax to this delicious MRE mix, until I said, "wait a minute, this is going to go right through me, please ask someone if this is something that I must do." As it turned out, they decided that I didn't need it.

My surgeon is working along with the GI. Should I ask him if he thinks that this is a bit much, or should I just confront the GI again?

I just had a scope done last week - here's what I did (I weigh 110 lbs)...

No food 12 hours before
Clear liquids only
ONE bottle of magnesium citrate mixed with Apple juice (you can't taste it at all)

That was plenty for me. I would start with that and see what else you need to do (maybe a 2nd bottle) just until you have a clear output.

Good luck!! They have given me more instructions before too, I think just to be cautious and make sure you get cleaned out.

Thanks everyone. ColoradoCarrie, what size bottle did you drink? Good idea about mixing it, I guess, mine is going to be grape flavored, so maybe I'll mix it with grape juice. if you say you couldn't taste it, I'll believe you. Did the doctor tell you to take one or two bottles? With me, I think that they're looking for something since I haven't been feeling well and they thought it might be Crohn's, so perhaps that's the reason for the 2 bottles.

They usually state no red drinks, and grape flavor has red dye in it. You should not be drinking grape juice for the same reason, unless it is white grape.

Jan

Sorry to say, I usually received "bowel prep" from my surgeon for pouch-related looksee, but it is a normally generated office bowel-prep and it looks like it's for colons -- a bit more volume!

I ask my surgeon and he pretty much says just don't eat anything for a while previous and he's been fine. However, since your surgeon is the one recommending, I'd probably stick with that.

I don't think the bowel prep will hurt your bottom too much more .. I usually felt pretty good after liquids and bowel prep, knowing everythings all clean out, and it gives your insides a chance to rest a bit!

I would push back and ask your surgeon to talk to the GI if the GI doesn't understand... I have never prepped for a scope with my pouch and I know from experience that if I eat low residue for a day I'd be going 'clear' by the next morning. Getting dehydrated stinks and two bottles of mag cit sounds like overkill.

Hi Mema

It's funny because I had the same issue come up. When my surgeon does my scopes annually, it's just clear fluids the day before. Actually there were times she did a scope "on the fly" in her office and I had zero prep, just went for a poop right before the procedure.

When my GI does the scope, he orders the whole gambit, two boxes of mag citrate powder (cranberry or orange flavour) and follow a strict drinking plan of clear fluids. At first I thought for sure I'd get dehydrated with my jpouch, but I was fine. He said there are instances when he wanted a completely clean view.

In any rate, if you are having doubts, maybe call into the office or just take one of the mag citrates. They can always instill a bit of saline and suction it out with the scope if there is too much stool in there anyway.

Best of luck

I think two bottles is an awful lot. As jpouchers we just don't need that kind of cleaning out. My past scopes (with my surgeon not my GI) have been two fleet enemas a few hours before apt time. I think the GI docs just have that prep ingrained in them because of all the actual colonoscopies they do.

If anything, maybe just use one bottle.

Thank you all for your responses as always.

Jan, the Magnesium Citrate is grape, but has no dye in it, and if I were to mix it I would only do white grape juice. I'm very confused right now. However, I've decided to call the GI doctor tomorrow and just let him know again that I have a Jpouch and I just want to make sure of the amounts that I have to take and the fact that I'm using the grape.

Nothing like making a pest of myself, but I really don't care. The instructions, also, were very unclear. This too shall pass, right? Quickly I hope!!

If you take the Mag Citrate "this" will pass more quickly than you like.

Grape is fine as long as it isn't red or purple.

For me, I worked with my GI and now I do:
clear liquids the day before
morning of procedure two enemas

Even with that, I lose weight (I'm already thin) and I feel weak. After the last one, she said that the next time I could have clear liquids the day before after I eat breakfast.

There's really not a lot sitting in there to clean out. I find with the liquids it really flushes things.

If you are concerned, keep talking. Let them know others in your situation are doing different things. No reason to put yourself through more than you need to.

I would be VERY happy doing clear liquids and then 2 enemas. I'm just wondering if the guy has ever worked with a jpoucher before. It's making me VERY nervous. I'll be calling him sometime this afternoon and hopefully he'll get what I'm saying to him. Otherwise, I guess I'll be pretty drained by the end of this battle, or should I say bottle(s).

Hmmm, I have scopes a few times a year. In the office usually nothing, in the endoscopy room just liguids after midnight.

Called the doctor and the reason that they want me to do this is because they want to be able to see all the way up the small intestine, and they want it to be as clean as possible, which now makes sense. I balked at the 2 bottles, and the end result is that I will be taking one at night and if I'm not cleaned out enough by morning I'm to take the second bottle. My procedure is not until 1:00, so I'll play it by ear. Feel better after it was explained to me. They think that I have Crohn's and they want to be able to see anything and everything because of the narrowing of my intestine.

Thank you all again for all of your replies.

I'll just hold my nose and drink very quickly and pray I don't throw it up. I thought that once I had my Jpouch I would never have to do a prep again....guess I was wrong.

I just want to find out what the heck is wrong with me at this point.

Allison did you ever find out the reason you were having pressure in rectum while driving?

Mema, sorry you had to deal with this prep (like you said, you imagine you never have to again!). It still seems like way overkill...hope you felt ok after it. I've had every kind of scope/endoscopy done possible with my digestive tract this year, and other than a clear diet, fasting the night before, and maybe an enema in the morning, that was all I ever had to do. Hope you don't have to do it ever again!

Thanks, so much, clz81 - that seems to be what everyone is saying. I think it's because they really want a very clean picture of what they're looking for, and even though I'm dreading tonight very much, I have to do what they're asking me to do. Tomorrow morning I have to do the same thing. As everyone says, the prep is the worst thing, although, I'm not looking forward to the procedure either. Just hope that they don't use the same tube for the endoscopy that I'll be having as well (did I say that before)