Heard of having a seizure after colonscospy? Need to have colonoscopy.

Posted by royanthony @royanthony, Jul 17 9:44am

I've done some research that resulted in some people having a seizure after the procedure. One person had two. They said it was rare, but did confirm that it can happen. They recommended speaking with an epileptologist before having the colonoscopy. Has anyone or someone you know had such an experience? I need to have it done, but I'm waiting to speak with my Epo doctor in early August. Thanks

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Epilepsy & Seizures Support Group.

Chris Gautier, Volunteer Mentor | @santosha | Jul 19 9:46am

@royanthony
How interesting to know that — it doesn't surprise me, as the gut is known to be our second brain!
I had to do this procedure together with an endoscopy back in 2024. Checking my seizure diary, I had it done on the 4th of October and had no seizures that entire month.
But I remember that my neurologist at the time took some extra care around these two procedures, asking me to prepare for them at the hospital instead of at home. Please do talk to your epileptologist before going through this procedure.
Researching the correlation between seizure incidence and colonoscopy, it seems there isn't yet a large body of research studying epilepsy patients specifically undergoing colonoscopy — but there does appear to be a documented pathway connecting the two, mostly through the bowel preparation process rather than the colonoscopy itself. So, it would be especially interesting to discuss with your doctor which bowel preparation solution is safest for you.
Sharing here one scientific paper I could find on it:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15812590/
Have you had access to another scientific paper showing a strong correlation between colonoscopy and seizures?
Chris

View Translation

Julie | @juliehart4 | Jul 21 12:27pm

I have had two Colonoscopies without incident, just made sure they had my medical history.

royanthony | @royanthony | Jul 21 1:42pm

Chris does a great job of explaining pre-procedure tasks. My topic above was intended to learn if others' had seizure issues related to what we have to drink before the procedure. So thanks Chris.