The First Week after a Colonoscopy After polyps are removed it can take up to a week for the patient to fully recover. During this time, patients should avoid all strenuous activities, which includes lifting anything over five pounds.
It could take 2 to 3 days before you have a bowel movement after your colonoscopy because you completely emptied your colon and rectum ahead of the procedure.
After the test, you may be bloated or have gas pains. You may need to pass gas. If a biopsy was done or a polyp was removed, you may have streaks of blood in your stool (feces) for a few days. Problems such as heavy rectal bleeding may not occur until several weeks after the test.
You may not have a bowel movement for several days after a colonoscopy. You should, however, pass gas normally after a colonoscopy.
Eat a diet rich in prebiotics. These are foods like fruits, vegetables, oats and whole grains that are high in fiber and feed probiotic bacteria. Avoid processed foods, wheat products, sugar, hydrogenated fats, alcohol and high fructose corn syrup for several days after your colonoscopy.
Probiotic foods such as natural yoghurt or kefir contain live lactic acid bacteria that can multiply in the intestine and thus displace unwanted organisms. A balanced diet with prebiotic and probiotic foods can thus contribute to the development of a healthy intestinal flora after colonoscopy.
Post-Colonoscopy Complications
Call your doctor right away if you have any of these symptoms after your test: Severe pain or cramping in your belly. A hard belly. Trouble passing gas or pooping.
Complications related to colonoscopy include, but are not limited to, the following: Continued bleeding after biopsy (tissue sample) or polyp removal. Nausea, vomiting, bloating or rectal irritation caused by the procedure or by the preparatory bowel cleansing.
After a colonoscopy, eat foods that are soft and easy to digest to ease side effects such as bloating or gas. This may include eggs, white toast, and applesauce for breakfast. For lunch or dinner, choices could include lean chicken without skin, mashed potatoes, and soft-cooked carrots.
The medicine you received during the procedure may stay in your body for up to 24 hours. You may feel tired or sleepy and have difficulty concentrating. Once you get home, relax for the rest of the day.
Some colonoscopies are done using gas and air as a patient preference, which can make you feel dizzy or lightheaded for a short period. After sedation, you may feel a little more tired for the rest of the day and will be advised to avoid driving for 24 hours, or operating any machinery and avoiding alcohol.
Bleeding is one of the most common complications of colonoscopy, accounting for 0.3-6.1% of cases[35,36].
You may experience loose stool or no stool for up to three days following the procedure.
Up to one-third of patients experience abdominal pain, nausea, or bloating afterward, which may last hours to several days. Fortunately, severe complications including hemorrhage, perforation, and death are rare, with a total incidence of 0.28%.
Physicians should therefore suspect a CP if a patient has fever, abdominal pain or distention following the colonoscopic examination, even if the patient presents with these symptoms several days after the procedure.
Fatty, rich foods and those with a high fiber content, for instance, should be avoided. These foods are healthy options to enjoy for about a day after your procedure: Applesauce. Yogurt.
Recently, several studies have shown that bowel preparation for colonoscopy could change the fecal microbial diversity and composition, and these effects could last up to 1 month [13-15]. Bowel preparation also affects the change of gut metabolome but this is recovered within 14 days [16].
Conclusion: Our study has shown a significant reduction in the duration of pain days post colonoscopy in patients taking probiotic compared with placebo. No significant effect was seen in terms of return to normal bowel function or bloating post colonoscopy.
Another probiotic mixture containing strains of Lactobacillus plantarum Lactobacillus lactis subspecies cremoris and Lactobacillus delbrueckiidiminished the presence and the severity of intestinal symptoms and improved stool form when given to a large outpatient group for 4 weeks after colonoscopy.
While there are risks associated with even the most routine medical procedures, the benefits of a colonoscopy significantly outweigh the associated risks for people ages 45 to 75. The American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy estimates that only three in 1,000 colonoscopies leads to serious complications.
Mild abdominal pain/discomfort immediately after a colonoscopy is not rare, occurring anywhere between 2.5% to 11% of the cases [2]. Though it may have a host of etiologies, it is most commonly a result of air insufflation, endoscope looping, and/or manual pressure maneuvers used during a colonoscopy.
Following your colonoscopy
The air pumped into your colon may cause continued bloating and cramps for an hour or so. You should, in fact, pass gas during and after the procedure to relieve the lingering cramps. You'll feel groggy after the procedure and should arrange to have a friend or family member take you home.
Colonoscopies performed in the afternoon (PM) have been shown to have lower adenoma detection rates (ADR) compared to those in the morning (AM). Endoscopist fatigue has been suggested as a possible reason. Colonoscopies tend to be technically more challenging in female patients.