Swallowing pains 6 weeks after endoscopy

Hi Polly, Don't know a lot about this - my 10 years' nursing experience was many years ago, before a lot of the modern inventions - but my money's on the Bravo capsule rather than the biopsy as the culprit. But one thing I do know, having just read up on the technology, is that I'd never consent to having one of these things in my oesophagus!

Sorry if I'm asking a silly question... but it did eventually come out, didn't it? I mean, did you find it? From a quick glance at a few internet sites, I see that it can fail to spontaneously detach in a few cases. I'm guessing it has detached from the fact that your doctor has prescribed gabapentin, which is often used for pains a doctor deems to be psychologically generated. (And which you're quite right to be wary of.)

On the assumption you're absolutely sure the entire capsule really did detach and pass through your digestive system, I'd suggest taking the smallest possible dose of gabapentin for a maximum of two weeks. If this is just a very understandable nervous reaction to the original implantation, a short course of gabapentin should be enough to break the cycle.

This could, however, just be down to scarring - as a result of either the biopsies or the capsule implantation. I don't have your experience, but I did have something comparable. Two years ago I managed to swallow my large, spiky, one-tooth denture, which sat at the entrance to my oeophagus for three weeks while I was thrown out of one hospital after another as a neurotic nuisance. (Most doctors and nurses automatically assume that anyone over 60 who claims to have swallowed a denture has in fact simply mislaid it and imagined the whole thing.) Anyhoo, by the time they finally believed me and got it out, it had caused a fair amount of damage. I too had pain and difficulty swallowing at first, but it cleared up over the next few months, as the damage to my oesophagus slowly healed.

I'd say give the gabapentin a short trial, provided you can tolerate it. You're unlikely to have serious withdrawal effects after such a short time, particularly if you keep the dose to the minimum. But if you have any nausea, dark-coloured vomiting, or dark stools - often described as looking like tar - you should get yourself to a hospital immediately and tell them the whole story, as these are signs of bleeding into the gastro-intestinal tract.

I repeat - all the above is on the assumption you know the capsule detached. If you never found it you should get straight back to your doctor... and preferably sue him!

Do you feel  there was an udue injury to your throat? If so, the statistic of 2/1000 is irrelevant because it would appear to occur without an injury.