You are sedated while a thin flexible camera examines your entire colon - and polyps found along the way are removed in the same session.
That removal is how colonoscopy prevents cancer rather than only finding it. The procedure takes well under an hour, you remember little or nothing, and you need a ride home because the sedatives take hours to wear off. The prep the day before is the hard part, not the procedure.
What to do
Common questions
What happens at a colonoscopy?
The appointment splits into prep, procedure, and recovery - and the procedure is the easy part. The day before, you clean out your colon with a clear-liquid diet and a bowel prep solution so the camera can see the walls. At the procedure, done in a hospital or outpatient center, you get sedation or anesthesia through an IV, lie on your side, and the doctor passes a colonoscope - a thin flexible tube with a camera - through the entire large intestine. The camera shows irritated tissue, ulcers, polyps, and cancer; polyps found along the way are removed on the spot, which is how colonoscopy prevents cancer rather than only finding it. You wake in recovery groggy with some bloating from the air used during the exam, and you need a ride home because the sedatives take hours to wear off. Most people report remembering nothing. Pymander, a free AI doctor available 24/7 by text, can help you plan the prep and the logistics.