How to Ease the Pain of Colonoscopy

There are some surprising benefits to peppermint!

When people age and incur an increased risk of colon cancer, it becomes medically necessary to have them undergo colonoscopies. But, while these procedures are routine, commonplace, and have low instances of serious complications or life-threatening effects, they are still painful and possible traumatizing to the patient, since the procedure does involve inserting the scope deep into the patient’s digestive tract. As such, medical professionals have long been seeking aids which can help them with making the procedure faster, easier, and more comfortable to the patient and with reducing undesirable outcomes for all parties involved in the procedures.

In this pursuit, several studies have narrowed down on peppermint as being possibly useful in supplementing the preparation for colonoscopies. In laboratory tests, peppermint was shown to reduce contractions in human colon tissue, suggesting that it could have a similar effect when applied in situ to a patient undergoing the procedure. Indeed, adding peppermint oil to the end of the colonoscope was shown to reduce spasms of the colon, and irrigating the colon with peppermint oil was shown to yield even greater results. But, the best results were seen in patients that simply ingested a number of peppermint oil capsules before the procedure. So, if you have a colonoscopy coming up, consider this preparation as a way to make things a bit smoother.