The FDA has announced warnings against two prescription drugs – Visicol and OsmoPrep – used to cleanse the bowels before colonoscopies. The concern is over the potential of these drugs in causing kidney damage due to their high phosphate content. Similar over-the-counter medications, such as Fleet Phopho-soda, should not be used for bowel cleansing either; however, at lower doses, they are still safe to use as laxatives. Commonly used alternatives – GoLytely and Halflytely – exist and are safe to use for colonoscopy preparation. We know that colonoscopies can save lives, so this should not dissuade anyone from getting one, especially when safe bowel prep regimens exist.
Read more and share your opinion.
Tags: bowel, cleansing, colonscopy, fleet, golytely, halflytely, kidney, osmoprep, phosphate, soda, visicol
Dr. Steven Chang, the author of DailyDose, is a staff physician with Kosmix RightHealth. Dr. Chang practices Family Medicine at the University of California Davis Medical Center, where his medical interests include both pediatric and geriatric care, public health, gay and lesbian health, and sleep medicine. Dr. Chang trained at the Stanford University affiliated O'Connor Hospital, and was a research fellow at the National Institute of Health. He holds an M.D. from McGill University and a BA in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University.
December 15th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
Hi, My sister just had a Colonoscopy and had to take OsmoPrep.
On that night she felt very sick and shaking while taking this drug. We taught this is normal!!
As doctor advised she needed to finish this (liquid drug) so we did not relized anything worng with this drug.
Next day she got some spot in her skin, Poor my sister.
I am shocked when I read this artikles.
I will call her doctor tomorrow and discuss this.
Now we really confused !! what we do!!? How we trust the doctors and their prespcription any more!!?
Thanks for your information
Narmin
December 16th, 2008 at 12:46 am
Narmin – thanks for sharing your story! It is upsetting to hear that your sister may have had a reaction to the medication. I hope she is alright. The best thing to do would be to speak to your doctor. As much as doctors try to keep updated about side effects of all the various medications, new side effects – and potentially harmful ones – tend to surface the more we use a drug and as more cases are reported. This was the case with the bowel cleansing drugs in question. This is an example where the FDA made a decision to warn against these drugs after hearing several cases of bad side effects, as collectively reported by many physicians.
December 18th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
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