****UPDATE: Please note that I wrote this article before I developed a worse and severe PEG allergy. MiraLAX is PEG only so if you have a PEG allergy this is not for you! I am still looking for a prep I can use due to this allergy and hope to write an updated post once I found one! It's hard to find a prep that will do its job without fillers. The MiraLax was the best option until I developed a much worse and severe PEG allergy. If you have found a natural prep that works, please comment below! *****
Upper endoscopies have become a pretty regular occurrence with my Esophageal Crohn's disease. My ulcers form in my esophagus so I am lucky in the fact that I usually only need the upper endoscopy procedure to check on my disorder. However, I still have all the other fun symptoms of Crohn's such as severe diarrhea, abdominal pain and cramping, etc. With these symptoms come the dreaded procedure to check on your disorder: the colonoscopy.
A lot of the preps that were available a few years ago aren't even available anymore because there's now black box warnings on them and they've been pulled off the market. This made research very difficult because a lot of forums were out of date, but it also raised my awareness to how bad these preps are for our bodies! Preps on the market now will probably be removed and have black box warnings very soon. With the help of my wonderful pharmacist (she has helped me so much on this journey), she found me several preps that were available without polysorbate 80, which is one of my allergies. Polysorbate is a filler in so many products and I assumed this is what caused my horrible reaction last time. However, when I researched the ingredients I realized that the preps available without polysorbate had preservatives such as BHA and artificial sweeteners such as aspartame and Sucralose found in Splenda. I have severe intolerance to preservatives as well as artificial sweeteners. The only sweetener I eat are agave, coconut sugar, and monk fruit because these are natural. I was actually hospitalized for eating Splenda because it was causing me to pass out in Physician Assistant school. It's no wonder that the prep is so awful and the fallout from the prep is terrible on our bodies. Nothing but liquids and these horrible fillers are an awful combination!!!
So what is the most natural way on the market to prep? My GI doctor and nurse were kind enough to allow me to prep with Miralax (get it here). There's just one ingredient in Miralax and that's wonderful. I mixed a 238g Miralax bottle with 32 ounces of Nuun (I used two Nuun tablets in 32 ounces of water) to stabilize my electrolytes. I drank this over a couple of hours. It tasted like Nuun only thicker. None of this gagging on prep because there weren't any of those awful fillers or taste! Then, I drank another 32 ounces of electrolytes over another couple of hours (2 tablets of Nuun with 32 ounces of Nuun). Get the variety pack here and the tri-berry Nuun flavor here. (Since writing this post I have changed to a different hydration drink. I have trouble with dextrose. If you don't have a problem with dextrose then Nuun is a great product! I have started using Buoy and Lyte Show. Both are great and don't have a favor or sugar so you can add them to anything. I like to add them to oat milk and hot teas throughout the day. They have a salty taste so it's good to add them to something with flavor to it. I tried adding them to le Croix, but the salt taste was pretty strong for it. I like to add either product to whatever drinks I can throughout the day. Really helps with hydration, energy, and headaches. Find Buoy here and Lyteshow here)
I was clean enough, but I think next time for extra precaution I am going to use a suppository as well just to make sure I am completely clean. I think that's a good idea with this prep, but everyone is different. Usually they suggest using Dulcolax pills, but the amount of fillers and colorants in these pills was crazy. It had polysorbate, parabans, and dyes. Even if you don't have an allergy like myself, polysorbate is being discovered as a carcinogen so it's just good to stay away from these harmful fillers. If you're like me and take a lot of precautions not to expose your body to these bad ingredients, then it's worth asking for this prep. Plus, you'll feel a lot better. I found a Dulcolax suppository that only had the active ingredient and hard fat (get it here). I was fit in last minute for my colonoscopy so I was so relieved to find this! I still can't believe I actually found another product with so few ingredients (a big thanks to my pharmacist again)!
There's not much gluten free to eat that also follows my tweaked autoimmune paleo diet. So I drank beef broth and chicken broth. If you can find local that's best, but I like Whole Food's 365 broth (find it here). It's free of added MSG, no antibiotics, or preservatives. What's even better is that it is onion free, which is EXTREMELY rare to find (make sure you don't get the low sodium because it does have onion powder)! The last thing you want is MSG to cause a migraine or a headache when you're prepping! I drank the Nuuns as described above, teas (see my YouTube tea video here), and Fanta jello because it's the only kind I could find at the last minute without high fructose corn syrup. I avoid high fructose corn syrup at all cost! It causes terrible cramping. The last thing you want is to add is terrible abdominal pain! I drank medicinal, white, or green teas. I love the brands Numi, Tea Republic, and Traditional Medicinals. I always avoid black teas and teas with caffeine. These will aggravate your GI tract further.
And lastly, don't forget something for that sore booty! I absolutely love Jade Bloom's suture. It's all natural ingredients and therapeutic essential oils. You can get it here. It's amazing and helps you heal much quicker than anything I've tried. And the best part is it's natural!!! I wish you luck and hope this helps you to not dread your next colonoscopy. I now have nothing to fear and am happy to have no more dread of this procedure!
May you be well :)
~ Brooke
The Lord is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” -Deuteronomy 31:8
Opmerkingen