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In the UK it's uncommon to be anaesthetised for for endoscopies or colonoscopy. I've been offered either midazolam or gas & air for colonoscopies and pretty sure my last couple of endoscopies were done without anything.

The movicol prep stuff they give you isn't ideal either; you've got to drink a lot of odd tasting fluids that then give you basically explosive diorama which can be awful in itself. It also causes some people to explosively vomit as well (it's designed to make your body want to eject it asap) which really isn't fun when it's trying to escape both ends at once.

The actual procedure isn't amazing either. A camera down either end is uncomfortable at best ranging to extremely painful (short term) as they try and get round the corners in your bowel. There's also the potential it to go wrong in some nasty ways or for odd side effects, and at absolute best, you're still stuck on a table trying to make polite conversation with 2m of camera tube stuck up your bum.

Can confirm your refusal to confirm; none of it's a thrilling or trivial experience.



I'm in the UK and I had a good level of sedation for mine. I wasn't even asked, just told that was standard.

I wasn't knocked out but I might as well have been as I didn't feel any pain and kept kind of drifting off half to sleep. It was completely fine and I'd not worry at all about getting it done again.




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