Anyone here ever had an upper endoscopy? I have to have one

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

on July 11, and I'm pretty scared.

[DemBones DemBones]

1. I've had 3 or 4 -- nothing to it! They give you Versed and you

wake up afterwards and ask when they're going to do the endoscopy! Seriously, it is no big deal at all. If you keep feeling nervous/ scared, maybe your doctor will prescribe tranquilizers to get you through the waiting time. It's always difficult when a test is scheduled for weeks in the future -- too much time to worry!

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

2. Thanks for the reassurance. I've been having what my

my gastroenterologist (and prior to him, my PCP)thought was acid reflux (minus the reflux), and I've been taking this stuff called Protonix to reduce the acid, but lately, I've been feeling this gnawing pain in my abdomen and sometimes burning in my gut, so I'm naturally thinking the worse. I already have ulcerative colitis, so I'm thinking, geez...

I'm kind of pissed at my PCP; I went to him first and he said to just take OTC antiacids. He literally said, "I don't recommend we do any tests." The OTC stuff didn't help much, so I called my gastroenterologist. One and half months of taking Protonix, and here we are...

[DemBones DemBones]

3. Man, I feel your pain. I had erosive gastritis, which eventually

got better after I quit teaching, LOL. I went through all sorts of different drugs before it finally resolved itself, though. It caused a gnawing pain in my stomach, though I'm not saying that gastritis will turn out to be your problem. One thing I learned is that if you go to the ER in terrible pain, they will fool around for hours, trying this and that (Maalox, etc.) until they finally decide to give you "a GI cocktail," which makes you go to sleep for a few hours and wake up feeling better. Just a free tip in case you ever have to go to the ER. ;-)

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

4. Thanks. I'm thinking it could be stress related (have Generalized

Anxiety Disorder to boot). I'm a mess! :(

[DemBones DemBones]

5. I think stress causes everything, or nearly so.

I now have lupus and the current thinking on that is that there's a genetic component but the disease is triggered by something, perhaps by stress. I still have to take meds for my stomach but now it's to protect my stomach from the side effects of prednisone and pain meds. People who are healthy don't know how lucky they are, do they?

I hope your endoscopy will lead to some real help for you.

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

7. Thanks. I just want it over with and not to have bad results, of course!

I agree w/ your statement that "People who are healthy don't know how lucky they are."

[Warpy]

6. It won't make your day

but they numb your throat and sedate you so that you won't be aware of most of it. It's really not that big a deal these days. It's one of those tests that's harder to watch than it is to get. It's also the gold standard for diagnosing and sometimes repairing all sorts of upper GI problems.

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

8. Numb your throat? Do they use a needle or something?

I'm worried about gagging and not being able to breathe.

[Warpy]

9. No, they usually squirt some stuff called Tessalon

into your throat. It numbs your throat completely, but it doesn't make you gag. On the contrary, your gag disappears. You won't be able to eat or drink after the procedure until that gag reflex comes back.

It feels a little weird, but you won't have any trouble breathing. You will be sedated by this time, so you'll likely snooze right through most of it, wake up to a numb throat but no distress.

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

10. Thanks, Warpy. I actually was dreaming about the procedure

last night and that I couldn't breathe and I was gagging. Ugh!

[DemBones DemBones]

11. They numb your throat? I never knew that! Never had any

sense of my throat being numbed or of my gag reflex not working. No problems eating or drinking, either. And I've had it done at least twice, maybe three times.

I do remember my throat bothering me after surgery under general anesthesia one time but that was one out of a dozen times I've had general anesthesia.

Probably the trick is that 1) some medical personnel do a better job than others (or at least do things differently, whether "better" or not) and that 2) patients react differently.

[Zookeeper]

12. I've had it done twice.

The first time I stayed awake despite the drugs they gave me to knock me out. I was pretty darned relaxed though, and kept trying to participate in the conversation the doctor was having with the nurse about his cheerleader daughter. I normally have a very strong gag reflex, but whatever they gave me completely prevented that. The bad news was that one of the drugs they gave me caused me to be extremely nauseous and miserable afterwards.

The second time, they left out one of the drugs and I had no nausea. Also, I remember getting the I.V., then asking someone when they were going to do the procedure and finding out they had already done it! I hope it goes that smoothly for you!

[REP]

13. Versed Does Not Work On Me

I have the paradoxical reaction to Versed, which is pretty rare, so don't worry about you having that. I can tell you that even without the Versed, it's not that big a deal - a little uncomfortable and weird, but not painful (they give lots of other drugs in addition to the Versed). It's even kind of interesting to see your own insides.

If you're having a lot of reflux and/or heartburn, have you asked about the breath test for helicobacter pylori infection? H. pylori infections are to blame for many, many stomach problems, including ulcers. At one time, I had two duodenal ulcers and reflux that could strip paint of a car! Turned out to be h. pylori. At the time, treatment was Flagyl and amoxicillin with bismuth for 14 days, and at end of it, it was like magic - no more reflux, and I could eat tomatoes! and feta cheese! anything I wanted, with no acid boiling up into the back of my throat!

Good luck - it's really not that bad at all (and I am a major 'scopy wimp).

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

14. Thanks for all the support, guys.