Steve, sorry for your experience. I have only had prep issues one time but my scope was clean. I had been in a flare for a long time and by the time of the scope, I hadn't eaten solid food in a few days. I drank the prep and nothing happened. After completing the prep and still not going to the bathroom, I called the dr. He told me that if I hadn't eaten, I probably didn't have solid waste. Turns out he was right. In the future, I would ask for a different prep (there are several) and if you don't go, call the on-call doctor. He can always call in more prep to a 24 hr pharmacy. btw, preps are the same regardless of your weight so if you happen to be a very large man, you may need more prep than a 100 lb woman.

That's a bummer. I think the GI team should have tried to give you a enema or two (or three) to see if that would help if they knew you hadn't gone. I don't always clean out completely from my preps either and have had to have enemas in the GI lab prior to the procedure so that my doc could move forward with the colonoscopy.

I agree with Sharon to try a different prep, and get with your doc to put a plan in place for tips on how to avoid this going forward.

I have really good luck with the gatorade prep which is basically gatorade/miralax and then you also take dulcolax over the course of a day or two. Starting to eat a low fiber diet a few days prior, and starting the liquid diet sooner may help also.

Our GI team tells us to drink half the prep, then wait 4 hours and do the other half. Evidently, the second half gets rid of the lingering residue and the 4 hours in between is the key to making this work.

I doubt an enema at the time of the procedure would be enough cleaning because the scope travels through the entire lower bowel and into the small intestine some.

I want to clarify my statement about an enema. I'm not suggesting it's a substitute for a prep. Also, I'm not talking about a little bottle of Fleet enema but an actual tube in your rectum inserted and monitored by a GI nurse. What is there to lose? No, it may not clean you out good enough to have a meaningful colonoscopy but after you've been on a liquid diet, you've consumed all your prep, a proper enema or two may stimulate your bowels enough to were you can go pretty intensely prior to the procedure. I've done it. Sometime there's not enough time to do this since your doc may be booked for another colonoscopy after you, but my GI doc was able to let me wait about an hour to see if the enemas helped and then was able to scope me.

Yes I had a nightmare experience for mine, but have long since gotten a new doctor and he simply doesn't think a yearly colonoscopy is necessary like my other GI. I wish I could help but I wouldn't wish magnesium citrate on my worst enemy. It will clean you out and burn like hell. I never heard of Movil.

My problem was quite the opposite as yours, I just wish I was as smart as you for getting a room near the hospital. So thanks for that tip.

I know it's frustrating. Best wishes to you