Anyone had a colonoscopy recently in Thailand?

[jack71]

2 to 3 yrs ago I had a colonoscopy at a govt hospital using my Thai SS insurance. I arrived at the hospital at 5pm and they put me in my room and stuck an IV drip in my arm and started giving me the solution to drink. I didnt understand why an IV was necessary.....

 

I slept the night there and in the morning they put me under general anaesthesia and did the procedure. I woke up and was throwing up - side effect from the GA. The dr said he did cut out a medium sized polyp and suggested I get another one done in a few yrs which is now. 

 

This time I want to pay for it to be done at a private hospital as a day patient. Do I need to collect the stuff to drink 1 day prior and then just turn up? Do they give local anaesthesia or an anti anxiety pill prior? How long does it take and do you feel any discomfort? Am I a wimp to ask for GA?

 

thanks

[Sheryl]

The hospitals all put you to sleep via IV sedation.

 

They vary in terms of whether you  do the prep there for a few hours on the day of the procedure or are given something to drink ahead of time.

 

It will cost you around 25k. And you usually have to see a doctor first to schedule it, can't usually schedule the procedure straight off.

 

Tell the doctor about the nausea/vomiting last time as they can administer an IV drug this time to prevent it.

 

 

[scubascuba3]

6 hours ago, Sheryl said:

The hospitals all put you to sleep via IV sedation.

 

They vary in terms of whether you  do the prep there for a few hours on the day of the procedure or are given something to drink ahead of time.

 

It will cost you around 25k. And you usually have to see a doctor first to schedule it, can't usually schedule the procedure straight off.

 

Tell the doctor about the nausea/vomiting last time as they can administer an IV drug this time to prevent it.

 

 

Do any hospitals offer a "bowel screening kit"?  NHS has just sent me one in the UK which isn't much use as I'm here, but don't fancy paying 25k as an alternative nuclear option

[Sheryl]

41 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Do any hospitals offer a "bowel screening kit"?  NHS has just sent me one in the UK which isn't much use as I'm here, but don't fancy paying 25k as an alternative nuclear option

Not that I know of. In any event these have limitations - cannot remove polyps if found, for example, and any abnormal result seen you still have to undergo colonoscopy.

 

Colonoscopy is hardly a "nuclear option", it remains the gold standard for screening for colorectal cancer.

 

25k is private hospital rate. You can get it for well under 10k  (usually around 6-8K) at a government hospital. But OP asked specifically about private hospitals.

 

Periodically the private hospitals offer promotional prices. Samitivej currently offering 21k through end of April. but 25k is about the n orm.

[Oxx]

13 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

Do any hospitals offer a "bowel screening kit"?  NHS has just sent me one in the UK

The kit detects the presence of blood in your stool.  However, if you have polyps which are not bleeding, the kit won't detect them.  A colonoscopy will detect all visible polyps, and so is a much more effective test.

[Oxx]

On 3/24/2021 at 7:26 PM, jack71 said:

I didnt understand why an IV was necessary.....

I've certainly never had one.  From what I've read I understand it relates to older laxatives which could cause an electrolyte imbalance in the body by flushing out lots of salts.  This could lead to severe side effects.

[Sheryl]

3 hours ago, Oxx said:

The kit detects the presence of blood in your stool.  However, if you have polyps which are not bleeding, the kit won't detect them.  A colonoscopy will detect all visible polyps, and so is a much more effective test.

i assumed he was  talking about something else e.g. a kit for stool DNA test.  Test for occult blood in stool can easily be done in Thailand but has the limitations you note - may miss cancers/pre-cancerous lesions  and also if positive, still have ti get colonoscopy. (though better a stool test for occult blood than no screening at all).

 

These newer stool DNA tests (e.g. cologuard) are as I noted not available in Thai;land AFAIK. They are also not much cheaper than colonoscopy and are less accurate than colonoscopy - and as with stool test for blood, any positive result still has to be followed up with a colonoscopy.

[Sheryl]

Reverting back to the OP:  I am not clear what your reason is to want to pay to do this at a private hospital rather than get it for free at your SS hospital. If it is the overnight hospitalization, I suggest you discuss with the doctor whether you can come in as a day patient (as is done in most hospitals). 

 

As it is otherwise a fair amount of money to spend unnecessarily. 

[scubascuba3]

7 hours ago, Oxx said:

The kit detects the presence of blood in your stool.  However, if you have polyps which are not bleeding, the kit won't detect them.  A colonoscopy will detect all visible polyps, and so is a much more effective test.

I don't doubt that but NHS seem to think it's a good idea for starters and the colonoscopy is obtrusive and has risks. Joan Rivers died from complications from a gastroscopy, also meant to be straight forward

[sapson]

Had on going bowel problems for 3 years plus which i hoped might be cured or eased by a recent inguinal hernia operation.

 

However as the problems have continued a Gi specialist suggested the possibility of diverticulitis or worse case cancer and recommended a CT colonoscopy at  circa 18k.

 

I questioned why not a regular colonoscopy but apparently he thought that was risky and CT colonoscopy method was the best and would see most tumours polyps even though they couldnt be removed at the time.

 

This at a private hospital with a promotion price on regular colonoscopy 17k and CT colonoscopy 18k.

 

At times for anything serious that requires investigation and a lot of experience with so much lost in translation, its about finding the specialist with a highest level of English comprehension and experience in his field to get the correct diagnosis, other than in Bangkok this can be difficult.

[Oxx]

1 hour ago, scubascuba3 said:

I don't doubt that but NHS seem to think it's a good idea for starters

The NHS thinks it's a good idea because it's very cheap - not because it's the best way of detecting colon cancer, which is a colonoscopy (and is rather expensive).