Q: When preparing for a colonoscopy, the doctor requests a person to drink a solution that contains 5500 mg sodium. He maintains it passes right through and won’t affect blood pressure. My mother had a heart attack after consuming the solution. Your comments please?
A: The concern with using salt solutions for bowel preparation for colonoscopy is not high blood pressure. These solutions contain phosphates (sodium phosphate) which can cause long lasting kidney problems. It is important to maintain your fluid balance while you are preparing your bowel for a colonoscopy. You have to drink liquids to keep up with the loss of fluid from stooling. This will help protect your kidneys. Make sure your doctor is aware of all medicines you take. Some blood pressure medicines increase the risk of kidney problems when using a salt solution to cleanse the bowel. To learn more about this go to this page on the U.S. National Library of Medicine site.
(17 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
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1. 5,500 mg of sodium affects the electrolyte balance; it does not just “go right through.”
2. At least 85% of Americans go through their life partially dehydrated and therefore have “high blood pressure”.
3. By drinking more water, people with normal kidneys
can reduce their high blood pressure in less than a day, without medication. (Use spring water, NOT distilled water, NOT de-ionized water, NOT sugar water, NOT soda pop or other fluid, NOT tap water).
4. Some experts aim for 120/65 mm as a desirable goal. It is preferable to drink the water in a
step-wise fashion: begin by drinking two glassfuls of water, wait about an hour for the water to equilibrate throughout the body, then check the blood pressure. If the pressure is still higher than desirable, drink another glassful of water, wait an hour, and re-check blood pressure. Repeat until you reach your blood pressure goal. Maintain your hydration day-after-day at the level you or your physician desires.
The one that “goes right through” is the Golytely (polyethylene glycol) and it will not effect the lytes. Some MDs get it confused with sodium preps. Why they ever use the sodium is beyond me since the Golytely came onto the market. There is a procedure called whole bowel irrigate where Golytely is run thru an NG tube at the rate of 1-2liters per hour until the rectal effluent is clear (eg for cocaine body-packers) and nothing happens to the electrolytes.