‘Hello darkness, my old friend. I’ve come to talk with you again’. Ahh, the dreaded annual, routine, colonoscopy. I got a little spoiled because my last scope was July 2019. I decided to hold off in the thick of the pandemic out of safety concerns and did a fecal calprotectin test instead. Then, I got pregnant…so I had quite the enjoyable hiatus.

This time around, I decided to try SUTAB, a 24-pill prep + Magnesium citrate, rather than my typical Miralax-Dulcolax-Magnesium citrate. Without insurance and utilizing the patient savings card that’s online, SUTAB can be costly. I went here and printed out a coupon, I was able to get it from the CVS Pharmacy in Target for $50. While it’s more expensive than most preps, to me, it was worth the try.

Thoughts on doing a pill prep

So, this entire experience was a bit complicated for me. The night before my scope, I was miserable from the Magnesium citrate and the initial 12 pills. First off, I’ve come to learn that most GI’s do not make you take magnesium citrate on top of the typical prep. I’m just one of the lucky ones. Magnesium Citrate has always made me vomit, even if I take Zofran before. Prior to this prep, I always did the lemon flavor. I switched to the cherry flavor this time, GAME CHANGER. I had no problem getting it down…but it only stayed down for about an hour or so.

I threw up an unbelievable amount multiple times and never had a bowel movement. After not eating a solid meal for three days I was anxious and worried that I wouldn’t be cleaned out enough and that I was going through this hell for nothing. Sadly, Reid and Sophia witnessed it all go down and it broke my heart that they had to see me so sick and weak on the bathroom floor.

I relied on many members of the IBD community and medical professionals on social media to help guide me through the unknown. I took a Zofran and went to bed. I never woke to use the bathroom. I set my alarm for 3 a.m., took another Zofran, did NOT take the second 10 ounces of Magnesium citrate, and timed the remaining 12 pills every 3 minutes (rather than taking them back-to-back). I found that tip on Twitter and it made a huge difference! I decided not to take the second bottle of Magnesium citrate because in the medical instructions from the SUTAB box it says *not* to take any additional laxatives.

My scope was scheduled for 8:30 in the morning. I finished the pill prep at 4 a.m. and between then and 6:45 a.m. when we got on the road to hospital, I got completely cleaned out. I didn’t get nauseas, and everything fell into place. Now, I credit this with the fact I barely had anything in my body, which makes the prep much easier in my opinion.

If you would have asked me my thoughts on SUTAB vs. my typical go-to, Miralax + Dulcolax + Magnesium citrate the eve of the scope, I would have told you I would never do a pill prep, again. But once I took the Zofran, didn’t take the Magnesium citrate, and timed out the pills, only having to chase with pure water was amazing and very simple. All you have to do is drink 16 ounces of water with the 12 pills, and then an additional 32 ounces of water spaced out after. You can have more water if you want it.

My mom was laughing because she was watching me do multiple loads of laundry, make my son’s school lunch, pump milk for my 4-month-old, shower and get dressed…all on 4 hours of sleep, while in the middle of colonoscopy prep. As an IBD mom, I felt empowered in that moment of all I was capable of doing in the midst of what previously had been a nightmare.

Unfortunately, what is generally the “easy” part of the process—the hospital portion and the actual scope was very emotional and painful for me. My GI had ordered my usual routine labs to be drawn through my IV (to try and save me a trip) but I was so dehydrated from the prep and breastfeeding that the nurses could not get any blood. It took sticking me 8 different times. I felt like a human pin cushion. The IV was placed in a very tiny vein in my hand and the Propofol burned SO badly going in that I almost couldn’t handle it.

I kept asking for my husband Bobby to be allowed in recovery and felt like no one was listening to me. The nurse was gruff and kept poking me, even after I told her I would just go to a lab this week once I was hydrated. The blood pressure cuff even bruised my arm. I cried a lot of tears and the experience brought me back to a traumatic 2008 hospitalization for an abscess in my small intestine that involved 8 tries to get an IV.

My recommendation—do NOT allow labs to be drawn after you are done prepping for a scope. Save yourself the pain and the prodding. I overhead the nurses talking (outside the curtain) of my “room” saying they refuse to ever do this again to a patient and that we should all just go to labs to get bloodwork, rather than trying to get it done when we’re all terribly dehydrated. I had so many band-aids and gauze all over both my hands and arms, the nurses even sent me home with more gauze and band-aids in case I bled in the car. Fun times.

The best news

Luckily, the heaviness of this entire ordeal lifted a bit when my GI walked into the recovery room and said, “your small bowel and colon could not be more gorgeous. It was so pretty in there!” Best compliment you can give a gal with IBD!

She said even my anastomosis site (where my large and small intestine were reattached in 2015) …looked perfect. She explained how ulcers develop and indicate lack of blood flow. No ulcers, mucosal healing, and no biopsies needed. I feel incredibly fortunate that I have been lucky enough to hold onto my remission that came about because of my bowel resection surgery in August 2015.

I understand that “remission” is a complicated term in the IBD world. It doesn’t mean symptom-free, it doesn’t mean a cure…to me, it means I have many more days that I feel well than when I don’t. It means my Crohn’s disease doesn’t have to dictate or rule my life and that I’m able to be present for my family and for myself. It’s knowing that remission can go away in the blink of an eye. It’s happened to me before, and I know it will happen again. But for now, I’ll take a deep breath and enjoy this reprieve from the havoc I know my disease is capable of causing and continue to do all I can to stay well by staying on my biologic, keeping tabs on my lab work, and checking in with my GI whenever I feel like something may be starting to go awry. Remission is not something to be taken for granted. I often get asked what I do to “stay” in remission, I honestly don’t feel like I deserve much of the credit other than being a compliant patient and being very in-tune to how my body speaks to me through symptoms.

Moments that helped me get through

When my kids kept bringing me play food to help me feel better when they realized I couldn’t eat “real food” all week.

How my mom flew in from Chicago to help with the kids and to be an added support (like she does for every scope, procedure, and hospitalization).

When my husband, Bobby, came home late from work and rather than sitting at the kitchen table to eat, I caught him standing at the sink with his dinner plate and back turned so he wouldn’t be eating in front of me.

Knowing I was going to have a breakfast date with Bobby at our favorite spot and keeping my eye on the prize after going so many days without eating solid food.

Using my frozen breastmilk stash the day before and day-of the procedure to ease the burden of having to use energy and my body to feed Connor.

Reading all the comments on Instagram and hearing from friends and family near and far over text message and through phone calls really helped lift my spirits and conquer this as an exclusively breastfeeding mama.

Long story short—Aside from checking with your GI and getting a prescription for SUTAB, I would recommend trying the pill prep and from a patient perspective remind you to do the following:

• Have your GI provide you with a prescription of Zofran (if you don’t have one already).
• Take Zofran 30 minutes prior to taking the pills.
• Set a timer on your phone and take one pill every three minutes.
• While the pills are large, they are no bigger than a Prenatal vitamin and are doable.
• For my self-imposed liquid diet this is how I plan it out for a Friday morning scope:
  • Last solid meal Monday evening
  • Tuesday-Wednesday full liquids
  • Thursday-Friday am clear liquids…and don’t forget my favorite tip of all…GUMMY BEARS! They are considered clear liquids, just steer clear from the red and purple ones.