Colonoscopy Experience

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Allow me to share with you my journey regarding my recent Colonoscopy experience on June 25, 2010 at UP-PGH. Why did I have to undergo this kind of medical procedure? In the latter part of  March, I often experienced prolonged constipation and a sudden change in my bowel movement. In mid-May, during the busiest time of my schedule, I saw blood in my stool. When I pressed the lower part of my anus I saw fresh blood on my hand. This was when I tried to check if there’s an open wound in it.



What are the symptoms of  a bowel problem? Symptoms of bowel problems are often very non-specific and the same symptoms can be caused by a number of different conditions, some relatively minor and some potentially life-threatening. And praise God that mine is not the latter. Common symptoms include abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, constipation and diarrhea, a change in bowel habits, bleeding and unexplained weight loss.

I’m a person who would always try to self-medicate first. Like I posted in one of my blog articles here, I prefer vegetarian diet which helps lessen the frequency of my constipation. But as the saying goes, "If problems persist, consult your doctors",  it is still best to consult a specialist if things didn’t work out according to your expectation. I still suffer from bowel problems most of the time. So I had myself checked by a Gastroenterologist at the Philippine General Hospital as this was home to a specialist on gastrointestinal problems. When the doctor heard all my complaints, he advised me to undergo colonoscopy procedure since colon cancer cell is active in our genes. My grandfather died of this disease.



The preparation is the most crucial part in doing this kind of test, not the pain that you will experience during the actual procedure. If you’re working, I suggest you should take a day’s leave prior to the medical test in order to prepare yourself. Make sure that you have family or friends to accompany you in the hospital. This is not a problem for me since my older sister will undergo the same test, too. Lucky enough for me because she’s a nurse and she’s the one asking for all the medical details and I just follow the instructions she has given me. The hardest part of this preparation is the intake of 2 bottles of castor oil and going to the bathroom every hour of the day. On the last day of preparation is the water therapy, no food intake at all, or else all your sacrifices will be wasted.


During procedure, the first dose of anesthesia wasn’t enough as my sister-in law told me that I was shouting in pain and she gave instruction to stop the procedure. So my doctor decided to add another dose of anesthesia. By the way, I have low tolerance for pain. You will probably feel some unpleasantness and your stomach area may be slightly painful so make yourself comfortable. The procedure usually takes 30 minutes. It depends on what they find in your colon that will require further time to study its appearance. But I fell asleep then. It’s true that you can’t remember anything about the procedure and when I woke up I felt like groggy. Remember that your body has had a bit of a shock so you must begin to eat and drink gradually after medical procedure.

The colonoscopy procedure will cost you P8,000-9,000 for Pay Ward at UP-PGH and will only cost you 500-1,000  when you are on Charity ward (exclusive of medicine fee of less than P1,000 on both wards). So you have a choice. Anyway, you will be lying on the same bed and will be assisted by the same group of medical personnel whether you're on Private ward or Charity ward. Everything went well for me as my diagnosis did not result in anything negative. I had redundant colon and anal fissures caused by forced release of stool and a few polyps, but the specialist said there was nothing to worry about it. Need lots of water intake and high-fiber diet, meaning more veggies! God is so good.