A colonoscopy is considered the gold standard among colorectal cancer screenings. Although it takes a little time and effort to get ready for one, it’s worth it since it is the best way to get a clear look at your entire colon and catch and treat any abnormalities. If you have good results and no family history of colon polyps or colon cancer, you probably won’t need another colonoscopy for 10 years.
"A colonoscopy requires a clean colon," says gastroenterologist Stuart Triester, MD. "Your bowel must be empty so that we can get a good look inside. That means a liquid diet the day before your test, and a laxative the night before and again early the day of your test."
Your doctor will prescribe a liquid diet before you start your laxative, or prep. You can drink water, black coffee, tea, clear or lighted-colored juices, clear broth (chicken, beef or vegetable), sports drinks, and gelatin without fruit.
Stay away from alcohol, milk, milkshakes, smoothies, orange juice, tomato juice, grapefruit juice, cooked cereal, and juices or gelatins with red or purple dye.
As for the prep itself, today doctors have a number of different colonoscopy preparations available to use. Increasingly, the most commonly used preps are much smaller in volume than in the past.
To make it go down a little easier, you can mix your prep with a flavoring agent that’s light in color — something like Crystal Light, Gatorade or Sprite. Some people also prefer to drink it chilled and/or through a straw.
The standard of care is a split-dose prep, which means you’ll finish the first part of the prep at approximately 6 p.m. the night before your procedure, and the second part about six hours before the procedure itself.
Depending on when your procedure is scheduled, you may have to get up during the night to complete the prep. It’s worth it, though, because bowel preps are better when they’re done this way. Think of the split dose as a second rinse in the washer.
