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Colonoscopy

I

independentfriend

Newbie
Messages
2
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
I had a colonoscopy that will have to be repeated because the bowel prep didn't work properly. That's the first time this has happened to me. My previous colonoscopies were before I started taking dapagliflozin, metformin MR and sitagliptin.

Anybody have any tips on good bowel prep for colonoscopy with diabetes? I've been given senna tablets and advised to take seven days worth rather than five and to have a low fibre / residue diet for seven rather than three days.
 
HCPs are so specialist nowadays in what they do, that I'm not confident the endoscopy unit's medics and nurses understand diabetes properly. [They say diabetes makes food move through the bowel slower - I don't know if that's really the diabetes itself or the medication I take to manage it*] I'm also not confident the pharmacist at my GP (who is the person I see for diabetes) understands bowel prep for colonoscopy. I'm hoping some other diabetics have had similar problems and can explain how they've achieved an empty bowel.

* I say this, because when I last had colonoscopies in 2023, the bowel prep worked fine. The last sigmoidoscopy was 13 months before I was diagnosed with diabetes. I will never know, but I had an HbA1c of 106 at diagnosis and I suspect had had diabetes for years before I was diagnosed. So I am suspicious that the thing hindering the bowel prep from working is some or all of metformin / sitagliptin / dapagliflozin, with my mind hedging towards the metformin as the most likely culprit.
 
I think they changed the disgusting drink they give us; when I had my first colonoscopy in (I think) 2021 - before I was diagnosed with diabetes - they gave me Moviprep, which was vile, but worked. Then when I had the next one, three years later, they gave me an even more disgusting drink which was much harsher in its results, and I don't think was quite as effective. The good thing, of course, was having diabetes meant I was seen early in the day and could have a decent lunch afterwards! The list of foods they tell you not to eat during the week before is awful - just about my entire diet! It's a good job I'm not vegan, or I'd starve!
 
independentfriend said:
I had a colonoscopy that will have to be repeated because the bowel prep didn't work properly. That's the first time this has happened to me. My previous colonoscopies were before I started taking dapagliflozin, metformin MR and sitagliptin.
Click to expand...
independentfriend said:
So I am suspicious that the thing hindering the bowel prep from working is some or all of metformin / sitagliptin / dapagliflozin, with my mind hedging towards the metformin as the most likely culprit.
Click to expand...
Gliptins can slightly delay gastric emptying, but not as a rule as much as glp-1 antagonists. Metformin does not do this as a rule (or may have the opposite effect).
Apart from medication, long standing diabetes itself can cause delayed gastric emptying (gastroparesis) due to nerve damage.
 
I was on metformin t had several colonoscopies and it never affected the prep. Though I’d been on the low residue diet for a couple of months before because of issues with my bowels & it did raise my HbA1c for a time, but it soon came back dien after everything was sorted
 
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