“Are you fully sedated for a colonoscopy?”
I am a 56 year old male. I want to know if you are fully sedated for a colonoscopy?
10 Answers
Most of the time you are fully sedated. However, in some places, lessor level of sedation is given, in which case patient is sedated, but can be aroused if needed. It all depends on what part of the country (US) you live and the standards of care in that area.
99.9٪ of the time you are.
Not always.
You can do it unsedated if you like, but usually these are done with sedation. You are breathing on your own (no breathing tube) but you are asleep and won't remember the procedure.
Usually the patient is asleep right through the colonoscopy and wakes shortly after.
Yes
It depends on your GI specialist. I do my colonoscopies under deep sedation, I have an anesthesiologist with me using Propofol. Some GI specialists use what we call moderate sedation, or used to be called conscious sedation, which is twilight type.
Yes patients are fully sedated
It depends on where your colonoscopy is done. Many gastroenterologists use Versed/fentanyl which have relatively long half lives and care must be taken not to oversedate patients as this can cause respiratory failure. The down side to this is that as a result, patients are kept on the lighter side of sedation and therefore there is a greater tendency to wake up during the procedure. Many gastroenterologists are using Propofol sedation which is much quicker onset and shorter acting but has the disadvantage of needing an anesthesiologist to administer, thus making it more expensive. However because of its short acting nature, respiratory compromise is a much less common issue and patients rarely awaken during the procedure. You should talk to your gastroenterologist about his/her sedation practices to find out what they would use.
It is standard to get some kind of IV sedation for a colonoscopy. How deeply you go to sleep varies depending on what drugs are administered. States and communities differ on which drugs are used. Meds like Versed and fentanyl result in less sedation compared to propofol. You can ask your doctor which med is typically given in your area.
