Can I play competitive sports the day before a colonoscopy?

November 22, 2010 6:33 PM

Can I play competitive sports the day before a colonoscopy?

I'm scheduled for a colonoscopy on Wednesday morning and can only drink fluids (soup broth, gatorade, water and juices) all day tomorrow. Assuming I feel okay and am basically empty, would it be too risky for me to play soccer Tuesday evening?

posted by RadiationMan to health & fitness (11 answers total)

If you have to do a bowel prep Tuesday night, you're not going to want to be further than five feet from the toilet that evening.
posted by theraflu at 6:38 PM on November 22, 2010 [1 favorite]

Wear a diaper.
posted by caddis at 6:38 PM on November 22, 2010 [2 favorites]

I am afraid that the answer is a resounding no.
posted by Countess Elena at 6:39 PM on November 22, 2010

You won't want to do anything remotely physical because you will either a) be on the porcelain bowl or b) wanting to gag from the awful stuff you have to drink. The last thing I wanted to do after a full day of bowel prep was run around.
posted by Leezie at 6:41 PM on November 22, 2010

You can if you haven't started the prep before soccer (by prep, we all mean the stuff that liquifies your stool, not just the liquid diet). I would recommend against it, because if you wait until after you will start the prep late and not get any sleep since you will be on the pot all night.
posted by procrastination at 6:53 PM on November 22, 2010

Agree with procrastination -- if the soccer is before the prep, then I'd think it would be ok. But give yourself some time to recover and get hydrated after soccer before beginning the prep. If you started the prep while exhausted from soccer, I'd imagine that would suck even more than the prep by itself.
posted by blue mustard at 7:03 PM on November 22, 2010

No way. Any liquid you drink is going to come straight through you. It's like peeing through your ass.
posted by ms.v. at 7:04 PM on November 22, 2010

Actually the prep starts tonight. My hope is that I'll just be full of fluids by then, but I hear what you're saying. It was just wishful thinking on my part. When I asked the nurse, she laughed for about 30 seconds and told me to take the night off!
posted by RadiationMan at 7:07 PM on November 22, 2010

I was gonna say: is the sport competitive pooping? Because you will win.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 8:01 PM on November 22, 2010 [17 favorites]

Only if the sport is "Who can run to the bathroom fastest"
posted by plinth at 3:09 AM on November 23, 2010

NO. Stay very near a bathroom. All night long. You won't want to do much the day after either except eat and rest.
posted by mermayd at 3:20 AM on November 23, 2010