question about diagnostic tests?

[blood_tears]

ok, i need to get some tests done at the hospital next week (i just found out a few days ago and have been freaking out ever since). its for my stomach and its lack of ability to be human, and my lack of ability to keep any weight on even with a pure fat diet....


anyways...minus the fear induced sarcasm i have a few questions. the two tests im having next week are a gastroscopy and a small bowel follow through (barium x-ray).


so my questions are:


has anyone gone though either of these?


what are they like?


should i worry? (one involves anestetic, one involved barium, how bad is this going to be on my stomach?) or how much should i worry? anything i need to know about these tests?


and this one is going to seem weird, but how much of my clothing do i actually have to remove to do these tests?


please help, i kind of would really like to know....

[sillygirl]

My husband had both of these done. He said both times he had to wear a gown. He said the barium didn't upset his stomach at all, but it made him poop white for a few days. The anestetic from the scope didn't upset his stomach either. He was just kind of funny (asking the nurse some pretty strange questions[img]smileys/smilies_02.gif[/img]) and then he basically just slept when he got home. He was completely fine the next day.


Good luck with your tests! You will be fine. I hope they find a way to help you out!

[ontariogirl]

Good luck with your tests, let us know how you made out ok?

[trinity_13]

Hi there, i've had a small bowel follow through done and the worse thing about it is you do have to swallow some white chalky gunk BUT they do put anti emetic in it so you will be fine...........I was totally fine and my tummy actually felt very settled after drinking it. After you've taken it the docs will just take X Rays every so often as it travels through your digestive system. As Sillygirl says you do get white poop for a few days, so just don't be too shocked!


Hope everything goes ok and i will be thinking of you

[jesskali]

I have never had the barium study, but I did have an EGD which is probably about the same thing as your gastroscopy. I had to wear a hospital gown but I was able to keep my pants and socks on during the procedure. The anesthesia that they gave me was wonderful--I was completely out of it for about 4 hours. I remember nothing after the procedure, but my husband was with me and he said I just kept asking him what the doctor had diagnosed me with. In fact after we got home, I was still so out of it that he had to carry me in the house!

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

Jess

[ChippedAway]

I had the same things done, they aren't a big deal. The meds they use to put you to sleep aren't bad at all, its not like general anesthesia that makes you sick. Barium doesn't make you nauseous, but it can make you constipated or have d' later on.Edited by: ChippedAway

[snowangel]

You will be fine, I know a bunch of people who had both. You will not be ill but its hard to drink the barium...just plug your nose and think happy thoughts and your poo will be wonderfully white afterwards hahaaha!!!

[blood_tears]

thank you all. i go in wednesday morning for the first test so i will let you know how it goes. im just really nervous and have now been warned by a friend who has had similar tests done i might want to bring extra undies.....


umm...because that warning made me ever so happy...

[aguerra29]

I had the barium enema and I will be honest - It was horrible. I was all alone so I think that made it worse. It didn't make me nauseas, per se, it was just very uncomfrtable. It's like feeling like you have to go and not being allowed to. Then when you are done, you poop a bunch of white stuff for a few days. The prep before the test wasn't fun either. You have to be completely empty. I'm not a laxative person, so the whole experience was not fun and I would never do it again. I survived to tell about it, but don't believe them when they say "mild discomfort"

[blood_tears]

well i did the first one and other than me being really nervous it wasnt too bad. the anestetic made me really sleepy and because they took a few biopsies, my stomach has been in some pain since...


however im now doing prep for another test tomorrow. and to be ready, other than not eating, i have to take liters of a lavage called klean prep (aka, liquid designed to give you the s****). problem is, its now 8:30, ive been trying for 2 and a half hours and i cannot get this stuff in me. ive taken about 500ml and i literally cannot take any more. i dont have the room in my body, and its making em really sick. ive already been on the phone with an RN who wasn't much help so i dont know what to do because at this point, i dont know if they will give me the test tomorrow and i dont think i can go through this again...

[blood_tears]

ok i actually did the test. far far less than pleasant. ok xrays themselves arent that bad, however barium is the worst tasting milkshake i have ever drunk. minus the fact it isnt a milkshake. but i couldnt drink all of that either but they said it was ok.


but now im kind of nervous because, well after the first hour they made the doctor look at my films (not my doctor, one of the hospital ones) and i had been told this test was going tot ake 3 hours. but they took me, did some other kind ofxray called spotting (aka, poking me with strange things to see my insides on tv, then making the xray machine come down and squish me while still poking. not pleasant and not good for clausterphobia...even if you dont have the fear!) and then they sent me home so i dont know.


now i just get to wait for the doctor to call but between the number of biopsies they took and how this last test went...im nervous. and i REALLY dont want to have to do any more tests!

[peachfeet]

Ack!I hope you're okay! I never experienced anything just, however mygrandmother had to go through something similar. I remember watching her chug down this liquid the following night before which, as you said, made you go. She never got sick and the proceedure went pleasant (not the physical). Keep us updated, girly! <3

[blood_tears]

i know ive not been around lately (again) ive just been freaking about everything about these tests, and how sick they have made me. they made my stomach alot worse...


but i called the doctor and he wont give me a straight answer so...i dont know what to do...all he will say is the results came in, but wont tell me what they were

[samara's on tv]

Just be glad you didn't need a barium enema. My friend got one of those one time and he said it was terrible. I did the barium test and it made me so N* I almost V*ed but I made them stop the test in the middle of it and told them I was going home there was NO way I was going to drink anymore of that SH*T. Anyway I hope your test results are okay!


~Monica

[sparky2004]

I had to drink barium once for X-rays when I was younger. It was uncomfortable, but it turned out to be really funny. The barium made me belch and fart like a trucker afterwards, I had the nurse in tears!

[fliss]

<TABLE id=HB_Mail_C&#111;ntainer height="100%" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0 UNABLE="&#111;n">
<T>
<TR height="100%" width="100%" UNABLE="&#111;n">
<TD id=HB_Focus_Element vAlign=top width="100%" background="" height=250 UNABLE="off">


ekkkk, those tests sound horrible! Your deserve a medal, I wouldnt even be able to step inside a hospital let alone do what you did!


I think that is probably one of the most unpleasant things to have done and you must have handled it so well!


Let us know how you go on....</TD></TR>
<TR hb_tag="1" UNABLE="&#111;n">
<TD style="FONT-SIZE: 1pt" height=1 UNABLE="&#111;n">
<DIV id=hotbar_promo></DIV></TD></TR></T></TABLE>