My gut flora seemed fine after a recent scope.

I'm 40 and was advised to have one due to my high risk - my mother, father, 35 y/o sister, and grandparents have all had polyps removed a number of times. My doc said that I was at an even higher risk based on my diet. After the drugs wore off, I asked the doc what he saw. "Perfectly normal colon - not a single polyp".

Of course I'm not suggesting that there's a direct link between my diet and my colon health (ok, I am), but I think everyone was waiting to say "I told you that caveman thing would kill you...", and it's smugly satisfying to strut my pristine digestive system around while gnawing on jerky instead of whole grain bagels.

The prep for colonoscopy is basically to use really strong laxatives to give you horrible diarrhea, thus "cleaning out" your tubes.

While it's not fun, and probably doesn't improve your gut flora, there's nothing about it that strikes me as deadly to your gut flora, either. It doesn't involve antibiotics or antifungal drugs.

I'd guess that the medical community would argue that any risk(s) associated with occasional colonoscopies pale(s) in comparison to those presented by undiscovered/untreated colon cancer.

The typical prep used currently is a combo of primarily mag citrate (oldie but goodie) combined with mineral oil and artificial (nonnutritive - not sugar) sweetener that makes it taste ghastly sweet.It's a premix that you just pour and gulp.

God awful stuff that was like sweetened motor oil and water was standard at one time and you had to consume a BIG jug of it over a number of hours. MUCH worse prep. And it had the cute name of : Go Lightly. ;)

I'd say the current prep is a cakewalk, comparatively, and not all that disruptive either...and then there's the mag benefits...although how beneficial i don't know, since it's all running through your intestine like lightening in short order.

I just have my first one several years late and don't have to go back for 5 years.

Miralax isn't enough of a super cleaner...and the mag citrate you'd purchase would be in liquid form and is the same stuff that is combined with a bit of oil in the standard prep.No substantial diff.

been there, done that. Always sends me into a tizzy afterwards so my guess is that it will wipe out some of the good stuff. But its usually a 2 part prep and you should take some measures to get back on the right track without any issue afterwards.

I recall Art Ayers of the Cooling Inflammation blog suggesting that the laxative could be used to disrupt harmful biofilms.

A few years ago they had preps that would take out your kidneys. These preps are not a joke. I would investigate them thoroughly and if you find they are too strong, I would ask the doctor if you can sub magnesium citrate or Miralax, over the counter laxatives that are arguably safer than these prescription-strength preps.

I believe my gut flora was damaged when I had my colonoscopy done 1.5 years ago. The prep I took was called "Moviprep". I could be wrong, since I was also taking NSAIDs (naproxen) occasionally for my gout/RA attacks. Other factors may have contributed also (my supergluten diet). But I would be careful and do a google search.

There is risk in every treatment. And the cure (or treatment) is sometimes worse than the disease you may or may not have.

Always balance the risk of complication (or mortality) from the treatment with the mortality arising from the actual disease. If colon cancer affects only 2% of 50 year old males and the mortality/complications of the procedure is 5% at the hospital you're being treated, well, you might want to rethink the procedure.

These are just made-up numbers and there are good reasons for having colonoscopies, obviously. But let's not forget, 90% of all heart bypasses are useless and performed at the behest of cardiologists who twist the facts; they ultimately do not lower the risk of heart disease.