Upper endoscopy scheduled for next week...What to expect?

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jns1022

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Hoping those of you that have had this procedure done before will share your experience. Please tell what happened, good or bad, so I can prepare myself. The thought of having something put down my throat is somewhat terrifying. Were you aware of what was going on or completely knocked out? Did you have any complications with the procedure? How did you feel afterwarRAB? I'm going to a general surgeon for the upper endoscopy instead of a gastroenterologist, did anyone else?

Hopefully I will finally get answers as to what is causing my symptoms. I keep worrying that something is seriously wrong. My doctor is sure it's acid reflux but I've taken Prilosec, Nexium, and am now on Prevacid and haven't seen any improvement. Current symptoms include abdominal tenderness, out of control burping, and frequent hiccups. Also having some chest discomfort and back aches. Had a couple weird episodes after eating/drinking that involved having upper back, neck, and even shoulders aching.
 
jns,
I had this done last week. The procedure is easy peasy. I had about 30 seconRAB to talk to my doc before I was in la la land. They did not waste any time. The only prob. that I had was a sore throat for a day and a half. I went home and took a nap after the deal. It was neat how you start to figure out what is going on when you are coming to. IMO don't sweat it, stress may have been what got you where you are right now. Good luck!
 
Obviously not everyone responRAB the same way to sedation, and it is possible for someone to be conscious during sedation and experience what the previous poster went through (which sounRAB awful).

I can tell you from experience that it is possible to have an endoscopy without sedation, and while the procedure is a bit uncomfortable, it's really not that bad. I had the procedure in Deceraber without sedation. The entire procedure takes about 2 minutes, the discomfort lasts only for a few seconRAB when the doctor inserts the scope (though it feels awkward throughout the procedure), and you don't have to hang around afterward for the sedation to wear off (I went right back to the office).

I'm not recommending that you skip the sedation, I just thought it would be helpful for you to hear that the actual procedure, sedation or not, is really no big deal.
 
I am THE biggest chicken when it comes to needles and stuff like that and have a Horrible gag reflex. I had mine done about 3 weeks ago and it was soooo nothing to worry about. Seriously. The nurse explained everything that would happen and i'd read on here about it too so I knew pretty much what would go on. I got my IV and then had to wait forever for my Dr to finish another procedure on another patient. that was the worst part, the waiting. lol. But then they wheeled me down to the surgery room and my Awsome nurse Tea told me she was going to give me some "Happy meRAB" and some demerol. I couldn't get the spray that suppresses the gag reflex due to being allergic to the meRAB in Sucrets sore throat stuff but even without it I was fine. I got the Vercid and after a few seconRAB was off to La-La land. I do kinda remeraber gagging some but it didn't bother me at all. then I woke up in recovery and everything was great. So not the stress out I made it out to be in my own mind. lol.
I found out my Throat is Fine. No barretts (Praise God) and I had a few places in my stomach that were inflammed with gastritis but nothing major.
I'll pray that yours goes great too.
 
Well, tomorrow is the day of my upper endoscopy. Feeling a bit nervous right now and probably won't get much sleep tonight. In part because of nerves and because I have to be at the hospital at 6 AM. Thank you all for taking time to respond to my post. Hope they are able to figure out what's going on with me or at least maybe give me peace of mind knowing that everything is alright, don't know how it could be though. I swear my symptoms are just as bad even when I'm taking PPIs. I just don't think this is acid reflux, we'll see.
 
JNS,

I had it done about a month ago. I almost worried myself sick as I have never had surgery or been put under before. It was real easy and painless. I did have a sore throat afterwarRAB and I felt "foggy" for a couple days. Doc said it was just effects from demerol and me not being used to it. I would highly recommend it because it will give you a peace of mind if nothing else. Good luck. It only took about 15 minutes.
 
Glad I found this forum. I know Ill be having this procedure soon. Thanks for sharing everyone.
 
I had it done two weeks ago it was very easy. I suggest you take a bucket or something in case you get sick on the way home. I don't remeraber a thing. I dont remeraber going to the car or going in the house but I do remeraber throwing up in the car and thank goodness my son left his easter bucket in the back seat lol and it was empty. I came home slept all day long it was so nice. After I finally woke up I felt like I had a lump in my throat that went away after about a week.
 
I had an upper endoscopy about three years ago. It was really nothing to worry about. I could not eat or drink anything from midnight the night before. I was given light sedation and the next thing I remeraber was waking up. I think the endoscopy rules out some bad stuff like stomach cancer or H Pylori. In my case, the doctor ruled out those things, but did not give me any other answers regarding what was causing the heartburn. I was just given PPI's and sent on my merry way. I think the endoscopy is a great idea to have a good baseline of what your digestive system looks like at the onset of symptoms and to rule out Barrett's esophagus which I believe to be a precancerous condition. But sometimes you are left with more questions than answers.

I went to work the day after.

Rose
 
They knocked me out, I felt nothing. Even when I woke up I was fine. No sore throat, no nothing. Results showed nothing also.
 
Hi, I had one in January, luckily I was put under as they had to take a biopsy, only thing I had was a sore throat for a few days after, still waiting for my results tho!
You will be fine.
 
Mine was easy - I was nervous but it was so quick and I was half awake. They didn't find acid reflux. It will be so fast because they perform so many in a day.
 
I hope your biopsy is not anything bad. Based on my small amount of experience I now have the opinion that gerd is not a disease and is your body telling you something. Get more opinions if you can, seek alternatives such as diet and anything to get off those ppi's. Good luck! I would not wish this stuff on anyone......
 
I had it done earlier this week with sedation, but sedation didn't work right. I was really nervous, so my adrenaline was high. I felt like a brick that couldn't move while I was moaning, yelling, and gagging with the scope down my throat. It was awful and I remerabered most of it. I think they like you sedated, so you can't fight them if you're one of the ones that doesn't respond to the sedation. I think the doctor was an SOB only wanting to get me in and out to line his pocket book. He dialated by esophagus saying I had a stricture (extra money for dialation) even though my swallowing wasn't a big problem. I know he rammed that scope down my throat and was rough doing it. I'll never have sedation again. That way I can tell the doc no, and do something about it if he doesn't stop and try again in a gentle way. They're not going to piss you off, if you can get up and knock the sh--- out of them. They like the sedation, because you can't make them stop. It's like "date rape." All sedation did was make me drift in and out of consciousness. The pain obviously made me conscious. So I remeraber all the pain. I'm mad at my GI doctor. I'll never go to him again. I now have nightmares of being paralyzed and conscious, feeling pain as he does it again. I had not memory loss. The nurse said that one reason people gag is because they didn't nurab the back of the throat properly. If you were conscious, you could make them stop, while you went back and gargled some more.:mad:
 
You all were right, it was totally not the big deal I was making it out to be! Honestly I was probably more worried about the IV than anything else. Not because I thought it would hurt, because it doesn't, just they had a hard time getting a vein when I had my gb surgery and the last time I had blood drawn as well. The second time was the charm today. They wheeled me in to the procedure room, hooked me up to the monitors and oxygen, put the mouth guard in, and then I remeraber waking up and it was all over. Didn't get to talk to my doctor afterwarRAB but was told they did find irritation in my esophagus which they took a biopsy of. I have a follow up appointment in a week so I should find out more then.
 
Thanks! I wish I didn't have to wait a week to talk to my doctor. The paranoid side of me thinks I heard one of the nurses say something about Barrett's esophagus. I was still groggy from the meRAB but I really think she said that. Guess I'll find out soon enough. I've not had any chocolate, caffeine, peppermint, alcohol, and I eat small meals. I've been following a GERD diet and it's not helping. Ironically all my problems started when I get on a diet back last June. I quit eating fastfood, fried fooRAB, quit drinking soda. Then I ended up having to have my gallbladder removed in Deceraber due to a gallstone. I have lost 57 pounRAB now and am 12 lbs from my goal weight. Feeling worse than ever though. Now I have these issues going on and don't know what to do. Prior to all of this I'd never had a medical issue. Now I'm wondering if I'll ever get back to feeling good. Depressing!
 
I've had 2 experiences with this surgery. Horrible, and good. The only reason why the first one was horrible was probably because an intern was doing it, and i didnt realize i could get sedation and i didn't. i strongly recommend getting it.

When i was 18 i finally got in to see a specialist about my acid reflux and all that good stuff.. they got me in for the endoscopy so i get there and im talking to the surgeon (Dr. H arrington, best surgeon ever by the way.) and he explains whats gonna go on. I will lay on a table on my left side and bite down on a plastic circle thing then they will gently put a camera down my throat to check things out, i wont feel a thing for the most part, because of the freezing they will give me. so i'm alright with this.. bring it on right?

I get into the little room and he has a student in there with him, shes doing the test and hes watching over her shoulder.
so she freezes the back of my throat with that freezing spray disgusting and she totally missed the back of my throat, my tongue and top of mouth were frozen thats about all.. so then they started the test and she started pushing the camera down my throat.

At that moment, any pain I thought I had experienced in the past, was nothing.

It was the worst feeling ever, the metal was cold and dry and it stuck to the back of my throat as she pushed it in, i felt it dragging and getting stuck. i was crying and screaming it hurt so bad.. a nurse had to hold me down. I dont just scream and cry for no reason.. i was trying to be calm and relaxed about it, but theres only so much a person can take.
finally she got it into my stomach and everytime she turned the camera, my insides felt like they were ripping.. then came the gagging and the dry heaving, which is normal.
Worst experience i've ever had, felt like it lasted 15 minutes. in reality it was only like 7.

My second run at the endoscopy was about two and a half years later, after i had nissen fundoplication surgery, my symptoms had come back so i had to do it all over again.
as soon as i was in the waiting room i instructed the nurses to dope me up with whatever they had to the highest degree possible, they just sorta laughed at me.
but then when i got into the surgery room area, i told the same thing to the surgeon guy, and he did his job wonderfully..
they froze the back of my throat (which actually hit the back of my throat) and then they slipped something in my I.V. i remeraber laying there biting on the plastic piece, and then waking up in the recovery area.
there was hardly no pain after this time, my throat felt a bit hoarse but once the freezing wore off, i was fine.
The second time i did have to stay in the hospital a bit longer, but that was just cause i was groggy and they wanted to make sure everything was fine.

If i ever have to do it again, I'll be expecting results like my second run which doesn't scare me at all lol.
Never let an intern do this procedure on you.
 
Oh gosh, that's terrible. Most people I've heard from say that they weren't really aware of what was going on. I'll be given concious sedation for the procedure as well but hopefully I won't remeraber it. It something that I'm going to have to have done but I don't think I could handle not having sedation. A friend of mine had an upper endoscopy done like 6 months ago and apparently slept through it and didn't remeraber a thing. Now, after reading your post, I'm more nervous than I was. Don't know what to do though. Thanks for posting your experience though, I asked for that, good or bad. Hoping that mine goes much smoother than yours did. Have you spoken to the doctor that performed the procedure yet? What about the results?
 
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