"Endoscopy experience"

Whilst I was seen relatively quickly once referred, and staff were reasonably polite, I had a negative experience which in my opinion was wholly avoidable.

There is conflicting information regarding what one will experience during the colonoscopy, which led to poor decision making on my part.

The website says, misleadingly, that "an endoscopy is not usually painful", the questionnaire bundled suggests it might be painful but is usually 'mild discomfort', and the nurse in the interview room informed me my 'colon wouldn't feel anything' as it 'didn't have pain receptors' and that there would be 'pressure on my organs'.

Due to issues with inserting the cannula, I offered to forego the drugs (that I had been told by the nurse in the interview room were merely a 'relaxant', and not 'sedatives' or 'painkillers'). The surgeon did mention I'd experience pain and told me that the drugs would 'make me forget' (verbatim quote), however all prior information led me to the conclusion it would be a 'mild discomfort' and that the drugs didn't actually deal with pain, so I declined. I had assume the pain, at most, would be minor.

Instead, I experienced an excoriating stabbing pain, to which the surgeon said 'I told you so'. I asked for the procedure to stop several times, where I was told unhelpfully by the nurse that a 'stabbing pain is quite common' (this is not said on any of the information packs anywhere). Eventually the operation was paused long enough for drugs to be administered. Contrary to all information, the drugs were painkillers and I was rendered unconscious. Had I known about both the pain and the purpose of the drugs, I wouldn't have offered to decline the drugs.

The Endoscopy Unit needs to harmonise what information they tell patients regarding pain (more accurate descriptors of actual pain levels; the surgeon should have said 'very painful' rather than just 'pain', and 'mild discomfort' with analogies to actual discomfort levels [IE with or without drugs?]) and what the drugs actually do. I was not adequately informed to make sensible decisions.