I had a colonoscopy in 2011, using Halflytely prep. I get heart pounding a lot, both daily and at night, when I have anxiety with it when I wake up. I managed to do pretty well with the Halflytely prep, although the heart pounding was a problem at times.
Now, in October 2016, I'll need another colonoscopy, but the Halflytely prep I used before is no longer available. The doctor wants me to use Suprep, which is a different formulation, and is normally in two stages, half done the day before the colonoscopy and half at 3 am the day of the colonoscopy. I'm concerned about the fact that the prep has different ingredients, and also starting the second part of the prep at 3 am. Every time I wake from sleep, I get very strong heart pounding in my chest, anxiety, and I am slightly off balance. (I'm 75, no spring chicken, and there is no way I could run to the bathroom repeatedly when waking from sleep. If I tried, the heart pounding would get worse and I'm likely to lose balance and fall on the way. So, the doctor now wants me to do both preps the day before the colonoscopy, at 10 am and then at 3 pm. Hopefully, I'd be cleaned out by bedtime.
That sounds like a better plan, I guess, but my heart pounding/palpitations ire more frequent and uncomfortable now than in 2011. I feel weak, shaky, and tired a lot. My GP doc says my heart is basically okay, although I have about 360 irregular beats a day and chronic fatigue syndrome. I can't take anxiety meds (I'm already very tired), nor can I take a beta blocker to lessen the heart pounding (it lowers my BP and pulse so much I can't function.). I'm worried that my heart and anxiety issues during the full day of prep will be hard on my heart and cause a lot of anxiety as well. Sodium (salt) is a trigger for palpitations, and there's a lot of sale in prep liquids, so there's also that. My question:
Have any of you with a lot of heart pounding and anxiety issues tried the Suprep preparation for colonoscopy? If so, what was it like? I could really use some reassurance. I know I need the colonoscopy done, but am really getting stressed out about the new prep this time. Your thoughts?