Expert: Ronald Levy, M.D. - 2/9/2010

Question
another short question: because of a broad history of family cancer of colon, I should keep doing colonoscopy procedures in the future. the last one was ok, but the running nose and cold symptoms after were very intense, for about 4-5 days after the procedure, as the other persons reported before. How do you recommend to do in my next check to prevent this to happen again? thank you (I still fell a discomfort in my nose - 2 weeks after...)

Answer
Assuming you were not intubated for this procedure, I do not know of any correlation between cold symptoms and anesthesia. The only possibility I can think of is they used a nasal cannula that was irritating to the nasal mucosa, so my only recommendation would be to ask for a facemask instead of a nasal cannula.

Ronald Levy, MD
Professor of Anesthesiology
UTMB-Galveston