An Overview of Bowel Prep
A very important part of a
colonoscopy is being able to see inside your large intestine or
colon. If your colon has too much food in it, your doctor will not be able to see your colon clearly. To help your doctor see it better, you will need to clean out your bowels by either using special medications or giving yourself an enema. Cleaning out your bowels is called a "bowel prep." The bowel prep is one of the most important parts of having a colonoscopy, even though it is done on the day before the procedure.
This article discusses bowel prep using one of several types of liquid solution.
(If your doctor has prescribed Fleets Phospho-Soda® for your bowel prep, then click Bowel Prep Using Fleets Phospho-Soda for specific information on this specific type of bowel prep.)
To help clean out your bowels, you will be given a prescription for two medications.
The first will be for a liquid solution of either:
- Nulytely®
- Golytely®
- Colyte®.
Each of these drinkable medications does the same thing -- cause
diarrhea. Most people find that the lemon-lime flavor tastes the best, but if this is not available, a good alternative is the plain-flavored version. You can then add lemon or strawberry-banana Crystal Light to help flavor it.
Your second bowel prep prescription will be for Reglan®, also called metoclopromide. Reglan is an anti-nausea medicine that will help the drinkable medication go through your system faster.
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