So endoscopy is inevitable, please help

[snowgoose]

sorry Jessie
from my previous post it appeared that I hadnt taken notice of you having this done privately . sorry x
I was clumsy in my writing so guess what I was trying to say was private work can be done in an NHS hospital or a private one like the Nuffield /Bupa ones .
In a large hospital there is support always somewhere if something goes wrong .
an anaesthetic team /crash team .......lots of equipment etc.
in a private hospital the support of Intensive care /anaesthetists is non existant unless surgery is being carried out .........in my experience anyway .
so I wonder if your care has been compromised by this state of affairs .
Eight days a week mentioned PALS .........good advice .
and to be truthful anything else cropping up after initial consultation I would have done in NHS hospital .
I do apologise if I have upset you in anyway .

[jessieblue]

Oh gosh no! Snowgoose,you were my greatest support, you havent upset me at all. Please dont think that. You have been there for me before and after and please dont feel you have to appologise for the care I got in any way. As I said I went privately, thinking this would be better/quicker/more individual, whatever. Obviously not. I did tell both my GPs, 2 of them at different times, maybe they should have advised me better as to who to see and whether i should have gone NHS for better care. Also the gastro consultant knew my fears and even suggested writing to my GP to advise him I need counselling for depression/anxiety!

I felt absolutely NO effect from the sedative eightdaysaweek. Not sleepy, not drowsy, not woozy. I got up myself and went to the toilet, got changed and was reading the paper by the time the nurse came in to check on me about 20 mins after getting back to my room. I didnt even have a doze! But the doctor knew I wasnt asleep as she told me when to make the appointment for and never came to see me when I was back in my room, which surprised the nurses! I made the apointment for 3 weeks time as I was told, so nothing wrong with my memory! I really dont think I had a proper dose of sedative and I dont think she wanted to bother with the complications that may arise. I just got the feeling she was going through the motions. The first needle she put in punctured my vein so she put a second in in my elbow. All I know is she didnt even wait to see if it affected me and if I was at all relaxed before starting the procedure. Almost as if she didnt expect the sedative to do much herself.

Thanks everyone for all your help and support, it really has given me somewhere to vent. Thanks for all being there for me and snowgoose, a nurse like you is truly worth their weight in gold! Dont ever forget that. xxx

[snowgoose]

Hi Jessie
glad I didnt offend [paranoia my middle name ]............and agree totally with eight days a week .
I dont think you had any sedation at all .............may be hard to prove of course ...........but the nurses records should show their post sedation observations and the drug register the dose prescribed and reputedly given .
Complain if you can bear to with all the rest of your anxiety on your back . it needs to be reported ............unethical,dangerous and illegal to boot to sign for drugs not actually given but signed for as if they were .
take care and hope to goodness that things pick up for you very soon

[jessieblue]

Thanks guys. I am going in for a chat with my practice nurse tomorrow. I will mention to her about the endoscopy experience and see what she thinks of it all. I have a lot of issues I need to raise with my doctor, but dont know where to start, so thought I would get better understanding from the nurse!

Thanks again for continued support. xxx

[honeyp1e]

Hi hope your feeling better now? when do you get your results ?

I have all these symptoms - I see a gastroenterologist on wednesday having tried to avoid doing so for 2 years! I know my symptoms mean I have to have endoscopy and with a fear of vomiting, I am petrified, but resigned that I now have to have it as I cannot go on like this. My anxiety is horrendous just waiting for the appt. I have acid reflux even though I am on omeprazole. I get burning, bloating, feeling like something is stuck just above my stomach. Pain under ribs on left side, sort of burning/stinging pain and look like i am 9 mnths pregnant a lot of the time. Nausea and burping etc etc.

I HATE is so so much as i am just feeling anxious/sickly everyday as well and to top it off am also emetophobic (this just seems to make everything worse) i have canceled the endoscopy twice because of my phobia but i really need it done i don't think i have stomach cancer or anything i no its just gonna be to much acid or something but why do we have to suffer everyday...
do you find you feel sick everyday ?? i do & i hate it of i get a tight anxious sickly knot feeling in my belly as well everyday !!!!
I hate the pregnant look as people stop me in the street who i no and will ask me am i pregnant
I have had loads of tests ultrasounds/ x-rays/ bloods etc all came back clear well i did find i am intolerant to wheat but i havent eaten that in over a year i have been gluten free but i still get all the symptoms so i dunno what it can be ????
i just hope that sppn i will find out my doc has booked me another endoscopy but i am having it under general anaesthesia as i was just awful when i went there for my 2nd appointment i just cried so much and explained about my phobia of vomiting even the doc said i was to distressed to have it done xx

[jessieblue]

Awww honeypie, your symptoms are exactly the same as mine. I get them at different times sometimes only one symptom, then that is replaced by another sometimes 2 or 3 together. The feeling of something stuck just above my stomach is my most common. Stinging/burning pain just under my left ribs and in the middle there. Also the pregnant thing, seriously i do look like i am 9 months gone most of the time. Nausea at some time every day, without fail! You are right to get the endo, but so good you are getting the GA. I will insist on this if i have to get another and I felt exactly the same desperate to get some help so resigned myself to having it done. Tell them about your emet and ask for stemtil with your GA, it works wonders and I have always been fine after a GA, in fact its a great feeling, just blacking out and coming round when its all done, the relief is immense. You will be fun, I promise, its such a short procedure you wont need much anaesthetic, so you will feel fine anyway.

Thank you Dahlia and yes, I am so glad its over, but nervous about the results and if my gastritis will get worse and make me sick all the time. Typical emet eh?? Now I know there is a reason, I feel more fragile. Wish I didnt know really because I am on the same treatment just more of it, but then I will probably never be able to come off it. I dont know maybe gastritis is often found on endoscopy or maybe they tell you something like that so as to give a reason for soing the sndoscopy in the beginning, I dont know, but I dont like any of it. I told the doctor of my fears and I think she was really mean not to give me more sedation if the max dose is 5mg. I am tall 5 10 and weigh about 11 1/2 stones so I would need a big dose I am guessing. What was wrong was that she only gave me the sedative about 30 seconds before shoving the scope down my throat. Didnt wait to see if it worked or if i needed more. Just got on with it. I think that was wrong because although its over with quick, I will never have another now unless under GA, no way and now I dont trust doctors at all, because I was told I would not know about it at all by several of them. Also, if I was awake, surely I could have been given a chance to "swallow" the cam myself, instead it was just forced down, my tongue is all scraped and red raw and I imagine my throat is the same seeing as that is really sore and swollen too! For an anxiety/depression patient I dont think it was very kind. xxx

[stuart39]

ive had endoscopy with just a little sedation and throat spray and would prefer to have a general if i had to go through it again.
the camera is quite large and i was gagging a fair bit. its true that if you try and relax its bearable but flinch a bit or get that gag reflex and you want to cough the thing up. can you imagine having it permanently down your throat???? that would be dire anyway you have to be careful about discharging yourself after sedation or a general and driving yourself home is risky.

[stuart39]

actually youd think the size we have mobile phones now compared to the "bricks" people carried in the late 80s that the endoscopes would have shrunk down to an ultra thin piece of kit by now. i suppose its still as thick as it always has been so the doctors can maneouver it around your system easier???? surely they could make thinner scopes without losing the guidance control.... most people could probably go through with the procedure under local.

[Davinci817]

Glad it is all over and done with for you. Hopefully there will be nothing more to worry with besides the obvious gastritis.

Having my endoscopy on Thursday coming up. It was my understanding that I will be totally knocked out to the point they will not release me unless I have a driver and someone that will spend the next 24 hours with me! After reading this and getting my procedure paperwork out it states "An anesthetic spray will anesthetize the throat and an intravenous sedative will either make you sleep or become very drowsy".....Very drowsy isn't good enough lol. Sure hope they don't leave me awake like they did you....not sure my mind can handle that after all of the sh** I have already been through with Doctors! Urgh!

I do have that little fear ticking away in my brain "what if they find cancer" trying not to dwell on it and remember this is being done to make sure everything is okay after 5 years of stomach issues that were not treated in a timely manner.

Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences! Good to know they aren't all bad!

[stuart39]

hi jessie
youd be surprised about the size of the flexible cystoscopes. they aint as thin as you would expect them to be considering where they have to put them!!! but generally you dont feel them like the camera down the throat! you just feel a slight sting at the entrance. ive had 3 of these and will be having a rigid cystoscope this friday (another problem altogether but ive never had any bad experiences with any of my waterworks examinations/tests) anyway they tend to be about the thickness of a mcdonalds drinking straw. GI endoscopes are just slighter thicker than a pen as instruments and materials can be passed through them. with flexible cystoscopes its basically just a camera and if any biopsies or instruments are need to be passed through then they would a rigid larger version under general anaes.