I’ve had gastritis for a little over a year and it’s not getting any better. I’ve been on medication but it’s had minimal effect. My doctor said I’ll probably have to get a upper gastrointestinal endoscopy and I have been freaking out. I’ve been doing a little online research about it but haven’t run across any personal accounts. Most of the sites say things like “minimal discomfort” and things of that sort. I don’t really trust that kind of language, I’m looking for some actual experiences.
Anybody here ever had one or know someone who has?
I’ve had a couple. Fear not - an endoscopy is a walk in the park, compared to a colonoscopy, as there’s really no prep involved other than not eating for “x” hours beforehand.
Expect to be well and truly gorked and sedated - you won’t even be aware of the procedure, and will have no memory of it. For the one I had most recently, I can vaguely recall walking into the procedure room, but that’s it.
You may have a bit of a sore throat for a while afterwards, and you will be seriously loopy for a couple hours. By this, I mean you will be entertaining to whoever pours you into the car and drives you home. You’ll just be sleepy.
Same here. Endoscopy is nothing since you don’t have to do the horrid cleaning out procedure for a colonoscopy. Mine was done under the usual sedation, which means they said start and then I woke up in the recovery room. Minimal discomfort: not even a sore throat. And I wasn’t loopy afterward. It all depends on which cocktail of drugs the doctor prefers.
Yeah, I’m trying to remember what’s what, but I’ve been scoped from both ends, though not at the same time. No big whoop. For the upper you’ll be laying there on your side, they’ll give you something to numb your throat (the nurse had to tell me I could still swallow, because I couldn’t feel it). They give you a sedative that has a memory-wiping property, next thing you know, you’re in recovery. I don’t even remember having a sore throat afterwards.
If I had to have another one, I wouldn’t think anything of it. Piece of cake.
Good luck w/ whatever the problem is! But the scope is nothing to fret over.
While back I had to have the endoscopy on both ends of the pipe. The only bad part was the pre-test routine for the lower quarters. I got put into a “twilight sleep” and knew nothing until I was fully awakened afterward.
Really not a big deal at all except for the sedation which apparently made me VERY loopy. Lets just say I admited things to the doctor that weren’t necessary for full medical disclosure.
Yeah, pretty much nothing to it. I had one for pretty much the same reason. Granted, it’s a procedure and thus somewhat intimidating, but I found the most annoying thing about it was finding someone to give me a ride afterwards.
If it’s anything like the local setup, you show up and they take you into a ward with a bunch of screened off gurneys. You get into the appropriate state of undress for the procedure and they give you a hospital gown. They take your vital stats and do an IV. Bring a book in case there’s a wait at this point.
After a while, they wheel you into a procedure room where nice people discuss the procedure and have you sign a waiver. They’ll monitor your heart, blood pressure and oxygen saturation. Then they inject you with some kind of pain reliever and an amnesiac (Versed). At this point, you will likely either just fall asleep or will be only vaguely aware of what’s going on. Most likely you’ll just wake up in a few minutes in the recovery room where they’ll give you a brief update on their findings and write it down so you’ll be able to read about it when you’re a bit less under the influence of the drugs.
I didn’t find that the drugs had any long-lasting effect – once I was out of the recovery room, it all seemed pretty normal, although I was maybe a bit drowsy.
Don’t even recall having a sore throat from the whole thing.
Nothing to it at all. They shoot you up, you blink out, they wake you up in the recovery room, you struggle to get your clothes on, you get a surreal ride in a wheelchair, poured into a car, dumped at home, where someone’s supposed to watch to make sure you don’t go back to sleep for a while (nothing happens to you if you do, in my experience), and that’s it. The only discomfort I had was that the left me in the proceedure room alone for a long time before they shot me up, and there was a very slight warm sensation as the stuff they injected into me knock me out flowed in.
The endoscopy I had was fine; no discomfort other than the feeling of needing to clear my throat for a day or two. The only problem was apparently I woke up during the procedure and ripped the IV out of my arm and had to be restrained by 4 people. I have utterly no memory of this at all, though. I’m a redhead (resistant to painkillers), and they should’ve given me more Demerol, I reckon. You can never get enough Demerol these days…
I had mine without sedation - I had to drive home.
I was pretty uptight, the BP machine was off scale before I went in. The Doc reoffered me the sedative, but I declined. He sprayed my throat with a banana daquiri (at least, thats what it tasted like), I lay on my side and swallowed.
The rest was gentle nose breathing and burping as the gas escaped. The doc would ask if I was ok now and then, but all I could do was burp in reply. I walked out, my BP was normal, and I drove off.
As noted, my throat was a bit sore for the next day, but otherwise I was fine.
As others have said, I’ve had it and don’t remember a thing once I was in the procedure room. Piece of cake. No after-effects at all, except the memory loss. (Had a colonoscopy twofer at the same time.)
I don’t know how many more opinions you want since we’re all saying the same thing, but I’ll throw mine in as well.
I remember being put on the table and having the IV put in, right after my doctor walked in and said, “OK, Asimovian, you’re here for your colonoscopy…” and having the two nurses in the room get wide-eyed and rather insistently correcting him. To his credit, 90% of the work he does is with older patients who do get colonoscopies, and I found it all rather amusing.
At any rate, following the IV and injection, I have only the spottiest memories of being wheeled out to the car afterward. My wife was apparently highly entertained by just how loopy I was, and she loves to retell the story of how I DEMANDED pancakes following the procedure.
Full GI series, several upper GI & Bronchial as well as more that a few Colonoscopies.
No sweat other than the earliest colonoscopies when first introduced. The literally use a piece of ‘PIPE’ actuall a large metal tube for the job. The lastest used a fiber optic cable with tv camera head to record the views.
No problems with the scopes and scoping.
A chest x-ray taken prior to a colonoscopy resulted in a BIT of distress due to use of iodine contrast dye allergy reaction.
I have had several. Usually they knock me out totally for them, but I’ve been awake but sedated for two. None of them were too bad. I started gagging a little during one of the ones that I was awake for, and they put me out the rest of the way.
FYI—if they ever do need to send a scope in through the out door, so to speak, there is a type of cleaning-out medicine that comes in pill form. It doesn’t make the process any more pleasant, but it does eliminate the need to drink that nasy, nasy fluid. That stuff makes me puke.
Wow, thanks everybody. Turns out the doc didn’t make me have one, she just upped my meds. I appreciate your stories though, in case I do ever have to have one, which I’m sure I will, eventually.
I got scoped from both ends at the same time. They gave me the ‘amnesia’ drug, but it didn’t work for me. I remember every detail. Even so, it wasn’t terribly unpleasant.
