The Flexible Sigmoidoscopy can be a rather unpleasant event depending on your comfort level with a device entering  a part of your body where things usually exit.  Additionally, unlike a colonoscopy, you are awake for this procedure – no anesthesia.  Here is a nifty, little explanation from the Mayo Clinic.

The doctor who performed my first sig did not do a thorough enough job of preventing air into my colon; therefore, upon my release (it’s an outpatient procedure) I was in quite a bit of pain during the drive back home across Austin. If you go in for one of these make sure you stress to your physician the importance of not leaving air in the body.

During the procedure some biopsies were taken from the polyps present in the colon to determine whether they were malignant/cancerous.  Fortunately, the results came back negative for cancer; however, it was after this procedure that I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis.

I was prescribed Asacol, and sent along my way.