I am a 51 year old male who is not good when having to go to hospital for any treatments. I visited by doctor due to weight loss, I had blood samples taken and had to provide 2 stool samples ,one of them  contained blood so they referred me to have a colonoscopy. This was a very frightening for me, I was nervous the whole wewek running up to the colonoscopy, should I have sedation or gas and air, My appointment was at 9am in the morning so I had to stop all intake of food from 3pm the day before the examination. They gave me plenvu to drink 1st sachet at 6pm 500ml and then 2nd dose at 9pm . Having read various reviews I wasnt sure how it would be for me, I mixed the first sachet with 500ml of water and drank it over the 30 minute period, the taste was ok it had a mango taste to it, I held my nose so I couldnt taste it fully then drank plenty of water with each mouth full, I was waiting for the bowels to open but after 2 hours nothing happened, 9pm time for second sachet this was a different taste more of a fruity taste not bad but again held my nose whilst drinking it again plenty of water with each mouthfull , This was harder to get down than the first sachet but it had to be done, Again no bowel movements in the first hour, the second sachet did make me fell a little sickly but nothing too bad wasnt sick, After about 2 hours I felt like I needed to go to the toilet and yes the sachets had started to work and my bowels started to empty , mainly just liquid coming out, You can control it and you know when its time to go to the toilet, Went to bed and only had to get up once in the night to use the toilet, 6,45 wake up call as this gave me 15 minutes to have my last drink of water as you can not have anything to drink 2 hours prior to having the colonoscopy. All the time I was feeling very nervous and didnt want to go through with it but I knew this had to be done. 

Arrived at the hospital the waiting room was full , I had my wife to support me as she knew how nervous I was, After 45 minutes my name was called out panic set it , the nurse asked variuos questions and explained the proceedure and then asked did I want sedation or gas and air, she informed me that If I choose gas and air but I could ask for sedation at any point through the proccedure, she then inserted the canular this is normal practice because if they need to carry out any other proceedure whilst they are examining they are prepared for it. The nurse then took me to the changing room to get ready again very nervous , got undressed from waist down and put on the paper shorts that they provided and just sat waiting to be called in. After 20 minutes the surgeon came in and went through what he was going to do and then to sign the consent form. This was it in I go there was 3 lovely nurses in the room that made me feel very comfortable I laid on the bed the nurse showed me how to use the gas and air if I need it . Time to get started the surgeon explained what was going to happen and off we go, to be honest not sure why I was so nervous as this was pain free a little uncomfortable at times when the camera was going round the bends so a little puff on the gas and air di the trick, it was very interesting to watch the camera moving around , My stomach had a slight dull ache at times but that was all, 20 minutes later all done and time to get dressed and go home.

WOW what a great feeling knowing it was all over , no sedation so it meant I could go home straight away.  So anybody reading this I want to reassure you that if I can have it done and feel no pain then anyone can , Looking back being nervous for nearly a week wasnt worth it, If anything drinking the plenvu was worse than having the colonoscopy done. A big thankyou to the Surgeon and the nurses as they made this an easy journey. So all of you who read this rest assured you will be fine and NO nead to worry, hope this has helped you  All the best