Doing A Colonoscopy Without Anesthesia

Although this is available as a podcast, I encourage you to see the video on YouTube.

In this episode, I discourage you from doing a colonoscopy without anesthesia, even though that's what I did.

I mention three reasons why you might want to avoid anesthesia:

1. You lack a ride.
2. You need to save money (if you lack insurance, you may have to pay extra for anesthesia).
3. You are against anesthesia due to a phobia.

In the episode, I mentioned I had "PTSD" about feeling the probe inside me after the procedure. I didn't mention that that sensation only lasted for three hours, and it was mild. I didn't want some people to think I suffered for days or weeks.

Being afraid of anesthesia is reasonable since, every year, patients have complications, albeit rarely.

Michael Jackson died because he overdosed on propofol, the same drug used to sedate you during your colonoscopy.

Luckily, your physician will be better than the Moonwalker's doctor.

I do not practice medicine, and believing everything you read online is stupid, so I encourage you to be skeptical about what I say.

Still, I may opt for sedation when I have to do a colonoscopy again at 60. Or I'll ask the doc to lube my ass up thoroughly!

Why some colonoscopies without anesthesia are painless

A friend explained why some colonoscopies have almost no pain and others are torture. As Mojca Hrabar said, some countries never use anesthesia during colonoscopies. So why did Charles Locher and I suffer, whereas others have not?

READ WHAT A FRIEND WROTE:

Most colonoscopies in Estonia are done without anesthesia. You only get anesthesia if you ask, and there must be a reason for them to agree. I have had 3 colonoscopies so far. The first one w/o anesthesia - it was a nightmare because the doctor was sadistic, and it hurt like hell. He would tell me to get myself together as if it wasn’t painful. I feared my colon was going to rupture. When I left the operating room, he said, “Don’t hate me for too long; I know it hurts.”

For the second one, I insisted on anesthesia for that exact reason.

The third one was without anesthesia, and it was very mild and had no discomfort at all because the doctor was humane and he used a flexible colposcope. It all depends on the doctor and whether it’s a flexible colposcope.

The first time, the doctor used a very inflexible colonoscope. The third time, they had a very flexible one.

The colonoscopes are probably all flexible; the difference is how well the doctor uses them. From my first colonoscopy, I remember that he was pushing a straight, inflexible metal tube inside me.

Dr. Peter Attia explains why you should do a colonoscopy every 1-3 years

You can read what Dr. Attia says or listen to this video:

Here's what one research study says about the risks of anesthesia during a colonoscopy. It was made in 2016, so there may be more recent data:

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