Preparing for Your Upper Endoscopy

Questions after reading this?

Call the GI Triage Line at 720-723-6166, Monday – Friday and leave a message. An RN will call you back within 48 hours, or on Monday if you call on the weekend. For questions at night or on weekends, call 303-399-8020, select “0” and ask for the GI doctor on call.

As soon as you schedule your upper endoscopy

• Please arrive 60 minutes before your appointment time, Building D-3rd floor Mt. Harvard room. Expect to be here, from check to discharge, for up to four (4) hours.
• For all procedures involving Sedation/Anesthesia:
  For your safety, an adult should accompany you home after procedures with sedation. The adult can drive you home or accompany you on public transportation. No Uber/Lyft, taxi, bus or any other form of public transportation can be used if you are alone after sedation. There are a few options that can be arranged prior to your procedure if you do not have an adult to assist you. If there are safety concerns, your procedure will be canceled.

14 days before your upper endoscopy

• The Anticoagulant Clinic should call you if you take a blood thinner such as Warfarin/Coumadin, Eliquis/Apixaban, Xarelto/Rivaroxaban or Pradaxa/Dabigatran. If they haven’t by fourteen days prior to the procedure, call 720-723-6756.
• If you are on Plavix/Clopidogrel, Brilinta/Ticagrelor, Pletal/Cilostazol, Aggrenox/Aspirin with Dipyridamole or Prasugrel/Effient, you should receive a call from the GI Department at least fourteen days prior to the procedure. If you don’t, please call 720-723-6166.

3 days before your upper endoscopy

• STOP taking any Vitamin E, fish oil, mineral oil, or flaxseed oil. These can cause bleeding.

The day before your upper endoscopy

• Eat as you normally would.
• Take all your regular medications, unless advised otherwise by a health care provider or in the instructions below.

The night before your upper endoscopy

• Stop eating and drinking at midnight!

The day of your upper endoscopy

• Take any morning medications you need at least FOUR HOURS BEFORE your endoscopy, with a few sips of water to swallow any pills, tablets or capsules.
• You may have sips of water until FOUR HOURS BEFORE your appointment.
• During the FOUR HOURS BEFORE your endoscopy, for your own safety, there should be NOTHING IN YOUR MOUTH, not even chewing gum.
• If you have ANYTHING WITHIN those four hours, even WATER, your endoscopy will be delayed or canceled.

Do you have diabetes? Or take any weight loss/diet medication?

Take special care while only drinking clear liquids!

• Monitor your blood sugar every 4 hours during your prep time before your colonoscopy.
• If you have an insulin pump: Maintain pump as usual and bring all pump equipment and supplies as well as continuous glucose monitor on the day of the procedure.

Oral diabetic medications: Please hold all oral diabetic agents the morning of the procedure.

Metformin: Hold the night before and the day of the procedure.

GSLT2i: (Canagliflozin,Dapagliflozin,Empagliflozin): hold 3 days prior to the procedure.

GLP1R: agonists (Ozempic, Wegovy): Hold oral dose the morning of surgery. Hold weekly injections 1 week(7 days) prior to the procedure.

Insulin: Hold all short acting insulin when on the liquid diet (1- or 2-day colon prep). Decrease the long-acting Insulin 50% the days you are doing the prep/liquid diet. Take 50% of the normal long-acting dose of insulin on the day of the procedure IF YOU TAKE A MORNING DOSE.

Do Not Take short acting insulin on the days of prepping/liquid diet or day of the procedure.

Taking any of the following GLP-1 medications for Diabetes, weight loss, or any other reason? If taking once daily, stop taking 2 days before procedure. If taking once weekly, stop at least 7 days before procedure: Dulaglutide, Exenatide, Liraglutide, Lixisenatide, Semaglutide, Tirzepatide. Stop taking Phentermine 7 days before procedure.

Please consult your PCP or Endocrinologist if you think your diabetic or weight loss adjustment may be an issue for you.