barium pill or manometry

anybody had either of these hospital tests done that could give me some detail about it, symptoms, results etc either on here or via P.M. in respect of swallowing problems, feeling of food/tablets "sticking" on the way down.

any info appreciated. ive had manometry but the hospital went and lost my results! that was years ago and I'm considering whether to have a retest.
i should have sued the NHS!

thanks

Hi Stuart,

I am aware of barium meal, and endoscopy/gastroscopy that are tests related to difficulty with swallowing or other gastric probs, but have never heard of a barium pill or manometry.

Barium meal is actually a drink that you swallow which then shows up on scan or X-ray so they can see any potential probs in your gullet. Gastroscopy is a camera (enlosed in a long tube - gastroscope) which is passed down your oesophagus which gives the docs a good look around your gullet again, and you stomach. Sedatives, or local anaesthetic sprays are used to numb the back of the throat a bit during gastroscopy.

I hope this helps. What is manometry?

Freaky

hi there, manometry is where you lie on your side and have a small tube inserted up through a nostril (under local anaes) and down into the stomach.
you are then asked to swallow on command and on each swallow the tube is removed a little at a time. the tube measures muscle pressure and is recorded and analysed afterwards. i'm becoming a bit of whizz on all things swallowing related in my bid to sort out this problem!

i do believe that whilst anxiety is playing a part (the thought of choking) i do not think its the causation of the problem- I am fairly convinced its an anatomical issue. as a kid and long before i had these problems i swallowed some tablets that belonged to my mother thinking they were sweets. i was rushed to hospital and they pumped my stomach-not to be recommended! it was awful and the tube was enormous. surely they didnt cause any damage during that procedure???

anyway the fact that when i had my first barium meal (they described it as a thick milkshake but its the worst shake ive ever had!) i couldnt swallow it and had to ask for them to water it down. it never occurred to me at the time to question them about this because that would appear to a clear symptom of the problem. Slow passage of food-sometimes when i swallow some food and it goes down and sticks for a nano-second longer than it should i grab my face on both sides in panic because i think i am going to choke. its a nightmare to be honest. if i had loads of money i would go private and have a whole raft of tests done in one fellswoop.

Hi again Stuart,

Thanks for explaining manometry, I can understand that you must be furious that your results disappeared, it must have been an anxiety-provoking procedure as it was.

I also sympathise with your choking thoughts, it is something I can relate to and it is 'real' and 'frightening'. I think the barium meal is purposefully thick so that it does stick on the way day, then shows up as opaque on the Xray etc..

Was it a specialist that ordered the above tests that you had? I can also understand how you might think you suffered trauma as a child when you had your stomach pumped, hmmm, they are more like hose-pipes - that must have been horrific for you.

I am sorry I cannot be of any more help, but I hope that someone else knows of a barium pill.

Take care

Freaky

thanks freaky. this site is certainly good for exchanging info!

Hello Stuart !
I have swallowing problems also. I've had PH (for acid reflux) and manometry(to measure pressure in the oesophagus) testing, gastroscopy (to look for disease / ulcers etc), barium meal and barium swallow (where they video you swallowing drink and food), and more recently CT scans. Mt swallowing mechanism all works - but slowly and with occasional spasms - hence the choking. These tests all done by NHS gastroenterologist. This helpful ?
be kind to yourself

hi neptuno

all those tests! what have they concluded and can they help? you say everything is working but slowly-that sounds v. similar to me. drinks arent a problem and to be honest neither are the first few mouthfuls of food but
after that i get very slow and its things like meats, bread anything that doesnt really go down as easy as other stuff. its like a lazy swallow reflex if that makes sense.

all the tests i had came back normal but i didnt have the barium swallow like you. what did that involve?

cheers:winks:

forgot to add that sometimes when i blow my nose it feels like the flap of tissue at the back of my throat (the end of the roof of the mouth) has been blown forward too. maybe its too flabby or long and interrupts the reflex action causing me to gag sooner than necessary?

The barium swallow was really just a movie of me swallowing the barium stuff as a drink and on some food - it wasn't painful or scary. The tests have shown that I don't have anything nasty going on though I I have sen a gstroenterologist and do have reflux and spasm of the oesophagus and a fantastic gag reflex ! I'm learning to be more relaxed about my swallowing and just accept that I'm slower to finish a meal than everyone else
Have you had an endoscopy ? I'm sure if there was a physical problem it would defo shown up there. I know just how you feel about this.
be kind to yourself