Take the Dread Out of the Colon Exam

NOTICE: If you are currently under the care of a doctor regarding your colon, do NOT adopt these recommendations. Follow your doctor's instructions instead.

If you think you need a colon exam but keep procrastinating on seeing your doctor, there is something you can do which may make the exam unnecessary. Purchase a Fecal Occult Blood (FOB) home test kit from your pharmacy. The test is non-invasive and risk-free. Follow the instructions VERY CAREFULLY. If it is negative (normal), the colon exam is not necessary. Repeat the test in 12 months. Thereafter, repeat the test every 24 months.

If the test is positive, the results may be wrong (a false positive). However, this would require seeing your doctor. The next test will probably be a Fecal Immunochemical Test (FIT). If this is negative, the colon exam is not indicated. If it is positive, only then you have to have a colon exam.

The colon has to be made free of fecal material and fluid for a proper exam. The following preparation is for ADULTS only. It has been used in a hospital in British Columbia, Canada since 1982. It has been effective, safe and associated with little or no discomfort. But, there can be exceptions. And, YOU may be an exception. Use at your own risk. Also, do NOT use this preparation if you may require emergency abdominal surgery on the day before your colon exam.

PREPARATION FOR COLON EXAM:
Purchase the following items from your pharmacy:
1 bottle (300 ml) of magnesium citrate (Citro-Mag).
3 bisascodyl (Dulcolax) 5 mg tablets.
1 bisascodyl (Dulcolax) 10 mg suppository.
3 small cans (235 ml) of Ensure (not Ensure-Plus).
NOTES: Most pharmacies will sell individual bisascodyl (Dulcolax) tablets and suppositories. You may omit the Ensure, if you do NOT have Type I Diabetes.

Day Before the Colon Exam:
1. Do not eat solid food on this day.
2. Consume 1 can of Ensure and drink clear fluids (water, clear soups, clear broth, clear or strained fruit/vegetable juices, soft drinks, tea, coffee without cream and gelatin) for breakfast, lunch and supper. You may omit the Ensure, if you do NOT have Type I Diabetes.
3. Between meals, drink at least 2 glasses of water.
4. At 2:00 p.m., drink the entire bottle of magnesium citrate (tastes better chilled). Patients on a low-salt diet may take magnesium citrate, but not more than 2 bottles within a 7-day period.
5. At 8:00 p.m., take 3 bisascodyl tablets with 1 large glass (250 ml) of water. Do not chew the tablets. Do not take antacids (Tums, Rolaids, Maalox, Gelusil etc) within 1 hour of bisascodyl tablets.
6. After 10:00 p.m., nothing by mouth except prescription medications taken with water.

Day of the Colon Exam:
1. Shortly after waking, insert 1 bisascodyl suppository into your rectum. Retain the suppository for at least 15 minutes before evacuation.
2. Do not eat or drink until after the examination, except for 1 cup of tea, coffee without cream, clear fluid or water.
3. Patients with Diabetes (both Type I and II), do NOT use your diabetes medications till after the exam.

LIMITATION OF LIABILITY:
You expressly understand and agree that Dr. Mark Lui shall not be liable to you for any direct, indirect, incidental, special consequential or exemplary damages and injuries (including physical or psychological injuries) which may be incurred by you, however caused and under any theory of liability, unless you have a signed written consent for the use of this recommendation from Dr. Mark Lui.

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