Pain after endoscopy? Chest pain, discomfort swallowing

I quite agree angie. I'm a former nurse and I always used to get frustrated with doctors because they wouldn't allow us to warn patients about how they were going to feel after various procedures. The "logic" behind this is that if you tell someone they may get a pain etc., then they'll immediately imagine they have it, so it's better not to tell them anything... with the inevitable result they'll think something is seriously wrong if they do get the symptom!

This attitude is at its worst in gynaecology. Some women, though by no means all, experience a period of extreme depression following hysterectomy. This can happen even if the op was done after the menopause. Using the same "logic", most gynaecologists would forbid the nurses, on pain of dismissal, ever to warn patients about this. This sometimes resulted in women going into deep, long-term depression, rather than recognising it for what it was and taking it in their stride.

I'd hoped things had moved on since my day, 40-50 years ago, but I see from a lot of the posts on here that they haven't always.

I hope you'll soon be feeling better. Incidentally, for you and anyone else reading this, it's quite normal for pain in the oesophagus and stomach to be felt in the middle of the back.

hi angie im having similar symptoms 4 days after my endoscopy - a chest pain and a throbbing sore back. did the pain eventually go away for you???

How long did it last?

I had a endoscopy done yesterday after noon.  Since the procedure I have been experiencing pain in the center of my chest as well in the center of my back. The instructions they give you when your released from the test say nothing about possible chest pain discomfort.  I feel alitte better knowing after readying these posts that I am not the only one with these symptoms after the test. I also had my colon examined the same time so I got a double dose of air.  Just hope this all pass.  This just brings on extra anxiety.   Thanks for sharing!

Hi! Your pain sounds exactly like what mine was like. Don't worry, it will resolve in a couple of days. If not then call your doctor, but it seems like it just is a bit irritated. The reason your back hurts is just the referred pain, haha I am in nursing school and we literally learned about this today!! Don't be anxious! Try to just sleep and when you wake up tomorrow it will hurt less, then the next day even less, and then you'll forget it ever hurt  

Everyone's experience is different. There's no hierarchy of courage or pain tolerance.

Some people suffer severe pain afterwards. Speaking as a former nurse, I can confirm that the main problem is that most doctors refuse to warn people of the possibility of a bit mild or even quite severe pain for a few days (and not infrequently threaten their nurses with dismissal if they try to warn patients). Their rationale for this is that if you tell patients they might have some pain, then they'll "think themselves into it". As a result of this absurd communication failure, when people do get pain they quite naturally panic and assume something has gone wrong.

And don't forget that on any forum dealing with health matters, it's quite normal that those who suffer most are the most likely to post.

Also don't forget that there've been a number of people on these endoscopy boards who've reported having a few good experiences, followed by a nightmare the third or fourth time. I don't wish you a bad experience in the future, but I wouldn't be so cocky if I were you!

Terry, don't worry about it, you'll be fine. See my post to Curiousmind further down this thread.

Hi Ali and Heleng - I'm going to give you some reassurance...

I had my endoscopy a couple of days ago. Swallowing my own spit and even soft foods became painful - it hurt in the chest area of my oesophagus. I think they must have taken some biopsies there or something. 

My pain has improved considerably (70%). It still hurts but no way near as much even when the paracetamol's pain killing effect has worn off. I started to think maybe they did all kinds of damage, but you have to be patient. 

Advice:

- Refrain from speaking - write notes to your family. Don't shout from another room. 

- Have paracetamol every 4 hours (I had soluble paracetamol to avoid the strain of swallowing)

- Have soup with soft bread (dip soft bread into the soup). I had raspberry cheesecake which was very easy on the throat. Have yoghurt for protein. Don't bother with meats. This is all I had. Time to be strict, sorry. 

- Chew your food slowly and as much as possible (we're all meant to be doing this anyway).

Go to your doctor if you have the more severe issues that they talk about, or if your pain hasn't subsided over the course of a few more days. 

Hi curiousmind and Heleng. 

I woke up feeling still super sore but as the day went on I was able to eat a little more normally. My Dr has been amazing. I tried to call the nurse hotline but apparently she prefers to take calls herself so I accidentally woke her up 😣! But she was listened carefully to my concerns and told me as long as I don’t have a fever and don’t get worse I should heal soon. She put in some meds to my pharmacy to numb my throat and esophagus. Gi cocktail and another med I can’t think of name as of now. But it has improved! I’m on day two and I’m hopeful! Thanks curiousmind for your response also very reassuring! Good luck everyone. I will post tomorrow evening with update. 🤞

Brilliant news for making a bit of progress and being able to eat more normally. 

Please in your update it would be great if you can name the other med, and perhaps make an additional comment on what helped you. 

I am now 80% better. This pain for me I'm sure will be gone in 2 days, tops. 

Hi, So last night around 3am. I started to feel some weird sensation in my chest....No Pain, just Strange, Maybe an Itchy feeling, it kept me up.. its Annoying as Hell....One thing for sure is, I will never get an ENDOSCOPY ever, ever!. They said, " Its Gonna be fine, & Everyone has one" but they didnt Say that so many People have Some type of Complication!. Grrrrr. My anxiety has been Off the charts, as well as my Blood pressure.....I have been eating cough drops, & Tylenol like crazy!. Both seem to help ....

Has anyone experienced such a feeling? Its not Sore, but Itchy....And im super Frustrated! Its been 4 days, & im still going through some S**t.....Grrrrr

That sounds more like allergy to me. I have Oral Allergy Syndrome, and I get severe itching in my bronchial passages if I eat raw pears, yellow apples or hazel nuts. It's maddening - feels like an itch I can't reach all round my rib cage. Are you quite sure you're not allergic to something you've been taking to make yourself feel better?

Don't get anxious about your other symptoms. This will all settle down in the next few weeks.

The hardest part about endoscopies are actually getting yourself to have it done. You braved it and had it done. The after-effects will be resolved. You didn't suffer perforation for example otherwise you would've had extremely severe issues but it either sounds like you're having an allergy response like what Lily said - which is heightened because the area of your chest has been left sore and weaker temporarily by the endoscopy - or it could be that the itching effect is just some kind of scab from soreness that is clearing so it's best to have softer foods until it's clearing properly. 

You have to trust that it will go, I did. If it hasn't cleared in the next 4 days whilst you've been taking all of the right measures (I suggested some above), then I would personally see the doctor only then. Although for reassurance, you can just call the department and speak to someone.

Calm your anxiety, the worst is done. Life is for living.