Do NOT Eat or Drink ANYTHING the Day of the Test,
EXCEPT:

1.) Your second dose of the bowel prep, or:

2.) Your morning medicines with a small sip of water at least 4 hours before the exam. DO NOT CHEW GUM, HARD CANDY, or SMOKE.

HMO insured patients may require a referral or precertification.
You will need to bring your insurance cards, referral, and co-pay at the time of the visit.

Stop taking all aspirin and aspirin products (see attached list). Tylenol is permitted before the test. Discontinue any other medications only if directed by the office. Specific Instructions for special situations such as diabetes are given on the Medicine Instruction Sheet.

Clear Liquids ONLY for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
NO Solid Foods or Alcoholic Beverages.

NO red or purple colored drinks, please. You may have Gatorade, Water Ice, Popsicles, Ginger Ale, 7-Up, Sprite, Coke, Pepsi, or Any soda, Jello (yellow or green) and chicken or beef broth. You may have black coffee and tea. You may use sugar/sweetener.
Milk and cream are NOT allowed in the coffee or tea. You may continue to drink clear liquids up until midnight of the day before the colonoscopy.

Do NOT Eat or Drink ANYTHING the day of the test,
EXCEPT:

1.) Your second dose of the bowel prep, or

2.) Your morning medicines with a small sip of water at least 4 hours before the exam.
DO NOT CHEW GUM, HARD CANDY, or SMOKE UNTIL AFTER YOUR PROCEDURE.
If the test is scheduled after 1 PM then you may have small sips of water up to 8 AM, then nothing more afterwards.

THREE to FOUR DAYS BEFORE THE COLONSCOPY:

Purchase the Miralax and Ducolax at your local drugstore and the Gatorade at the local supermarket. No prescriptions are needed for any of these medicines
.

NOTE: Bisacodyl tablets may be substituted for Ducolax tablets and will work equally as well. Powerade may be substituted for Gatorade, but neither can be red or purple. Glycolax is the generic of Miralax and will do the same job and may be cheaper.

MIXING THE SOLUTION:
The night before or in the morning of the day before the Colonoscopy, please MIX:

All of the 255g bottle of Miralax (or Gylcolax)
with 64 ounces of warm Gatorade/Powerade (no red or purple)
in to two separate quarts (1/2 of the bottle per quart) of the solution.

Once all the powder has dissolved, place the two quarts in the refrigerator so it is cold when you drink it later.

TAKE 2 Ducolax tablets two hours before beginning the first dose of the Miralax Solution.
                   Do NOT chew or crush the Ducolax tablets and take with water.

___ Begin after Work, but no later than 7 PM the night before the colonoscopy.
Drink ½ of the Solution. Drink 8 ounces every 10-15 minutes till finished ½ the solution (Mix in the morning of the day you use as detailed above).

___ Or Begin the day before the colonoscopy at ____am/pm.
(Mix the night before as detailed above and place in the refrigerator.)

THE SECOND DOSE MUST BE FINISHED 4 HOURS BEFORE ARRIVAL AT THE CENTER FOR YOUR PROCEDURE

___ Begin the second dose the evening before the colonoscopy at ___pm.

___ Begin the second dose the morning of the colonoscopy starting by ___am

If you cannot drink the preparation or the bowel movements are not clear or light yellow after you finish taking the preparation you can reach our Doctors on call at 609-265-1700 for recommendations and help.

NOTE: No prescriptions are needed for any of these medicines.

Do NOT Eat or Drink ANYTHING the day of the test,
EXCEPT:

1.) Your second dose of the bowel prep, or

2.) Your morning medicines with a small sip of water at least 4 hours before the exam.
DO NOT CHEW GUM, HARD CANDY, or SMOKE UNTIL AFTER YOUR PROCEDURE.

What are the side effects?

Occasionally, some patients may develop nausea, and rarely vomiting. The best remedy for this is to take a break from the Miralax Solution for about an hour to allow it to move downstream, and then to resume drinking at a slower rate. It usually takes 1 or 2 hours to complete each quart container, and diarrhea generally continues for about an hour or two after completing the prep (Many have found that drinking the prep through a straw and chilling the solution improves tolerance).