Pain after endoscopy? Chest pain, discomfort swallowing
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I had EGD yesterday with sedation. Felt pretty much fine yesterday, minus a little chest discomfort when breathing in deep. Today I've had no appetite and have discomfort swallowing, and a persistent discomfort in my chest. Waiting for call back from doctor. In meantime, reading about perforation and wondering if this sounds serious. I don't want to go to ER for a bunch more tests if this is normal. Does anyone have any experience with pain like this following endoscopy? Thanks very much.
1 like, 238 replies
alli98633 penny44470
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ko43022 alli98633
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matt63761 penny44470
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I had endoscopy and colonoscopy yesterday morning. Throat feels swollen inside and chest pain making it difficult to swallow. I went in due to ongoing lower abdominal discomfort. No upper GI symptoms. When I come out of the procedure the doc tells my wife that I had a constriction in my esophagus (Shatzski's ring) that he dilated so i may have a little sore throat. My wife taped this conversation so I know that's all he said about it! There had been no discussion of this prior to the procedure. And the potential for days of moderate to severe discomfort should have been discussed. I am a dentist and I always try to explain the potential for pain or discomfort to patients so that they don't become overly concerned if it happens. And if it doesn't happen, then great. But give people a heads up! This is ridiculous to say the least. Fortunately I feel confident based on the experience of others on this post that this will pass in a couple more days. Thanks to all for your posts.
lily65668 matt63761
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Sorry to hear about this matt. As a former nurse, I entirely agree with you - as I've posted several times on other threads in these boards. I too wa
lily65668
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Sorry to hear about this matt. As a former nurse, I entirely agree with you - as I've posted several times on other threads in these boards.
Oops - wrong key and no edit function on this site!
As I was saying - I too was always angry when doctors refused to warn patients of possible after-effects of procedures, ditto side-effects of drugs (and forbade the nurses to do so as well, sometimes on pain of dismissal). As you may have worked out, the rationale for this was the idea that if you tell patients they might suffer some effects, they'll immediately imagine they're getting them. Apparently they'd rather have their patients fly into a panic, imagining they've been seriously harmed, as many less knowledgeable have done on these boards.
Given your status as a fellow professional, perhaps you could raise this matter with your doctor?
I wish you a quick recovery.
Lily
Emmliz penny44470
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I had an endoscopy under general anaesthetic about 5 days ago. (I have had colonoscopies before with the same doctor, and they have always been without incident.) I did experience some discomfort in the chest and upper abdomen - also under the ribs at the back. Also, I have felt quite nauseous since the procedure, although this is now subsiding. Prior to the procedure, my symptoms seemed to indicate I might have an ulcer. However, the biopsy results have ruled this out, and I am now being tested for something else. Glad I had the endoscopy as I feel one step closer to finding out why I am feeling ill. ill.
dan32932 penny44470
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Just had EGD yesterday afternoon Only had throat spray was very uncomfortable but managed it, soon as the throat spray wore off I had a little burning feeling in my chest but seemed to ease after a glass of water. I come home had some tea (tuna pasta) and a couple cups of tea then went out and done some work in the garden. When I came in to wash my hands I noticed that my eyelids had a rash over them so I popped into the doctors to see if they could just take a look turns out it’s from the reching that’s caused the blood vessels in my eye lids to rupture basically got two black eyes this also wasn’t mentioned as a possible effect. Went to bed fine but was woken at 3am with terrible pain in my chest tried to sleep it off but couldn’t nod back off started to panic and got my heart racing was just about to leave for A&E before I read this as I thought I was having a heart attack. I must say I suffer from an abnormal heart rhythm which makes me very chest sensitive anyway but so glad I found you guys nice to know I’m not alone with this pain
matt63761 penny44470
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heleng80s matt63761
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Hi Matt..so i was in the same boat as you. The ENDOSCOPY seemed to make me feel worse!
So anyway, they found out i had H pylori. Which is A bad Bacteria, & so on....How ever, thats not whats causing my chest pain!. When i eat, i get pain in my chest, bloating, & its just awful!. So now i eat easy & lite meals. I have to chew my food almost as if i am eating Apple sauce. Yep. Suxx...Anyway. So today i had another Procedure done, called Manometry....Thats probably your Dr.s next move. The tube is inserted in your nose & goes to your Stomache. It has several sensors...Its not fun at all, so FYI. I am Hoping they figure out my Issue Asap!. Im miserable....anyway. good luck!
lily65668 matt63761
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Glad to hear you're feeling better, but sorry you haven't got any answers.
Can you try identifying, and thus avoiding, circumstances (certain foods, sleeping position etc.) that trigger your symptoms? I started getting symptoms of what was pretty clearly GERD in my mid-30s, but resisted going the investigation and medication route advised by my doctor. I worked out which factors triggered the attacks and have succeeded in managing it myself for the last 40 years.
buddy penny44470
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buddy penny44470
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buddy penny44470
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Emmliz penny44470
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Just wanted to add that more recently I have been getting chest pain. Had the procedure on April 4th - so about a month ago. I had minor issues of nausea and stomach ache the following week, but that went away. More recently, I have been waking up in the morning with chest pain. The bones in my chest are quite sore. I do tend to suffer from joint pain sometimes, and have in the past been diagnosed with costcochondritis. I assumed that's what it was, but I haven't had pain like this before in the middle of my chest, and am now wondering if it is from the endoscopy. The pain tends to go away fairly quickly once I am up and moving around.
leslie_90254 penny44470
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Ok, I’ve already posted on here regarding my endoscopy concerns, and I’m really freaking out. I’m on day 10 since having my endoscopy done and I’m STILL having difficulty swallowing certain foods, then it feels like the food has either scratched my esophagus or is still stuck in it. Then I have some mild chest discomfort following. At night when I’m laying on my back my throat feels like it’s closing and I’m choking. This feeling is somewhat relieved when I lay on my left side. My anxiety is due to the fact that prior to my scope, the dysphagia was super mild and happened like once or twice. Now it’s every day since the scope. I had no nighttime choking sensation until a couple days after the scope. What the heck is going on?! I’m going to call the doc tomorrow, but I’m already anticipating being brushed off. I’m really nervous. 😕 Any insight is appreciated!
norris716 leslie_90254
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As I had written previously, I had a lot of pain and discomfort right after the endoscopy, but it went away after about 10 days. The reason I went for the endoscopy was because of mild dysphagia. They did not find anything - negative for all bacteria including H.Pylori, and no evidence of reflux (which is what the ENT diagnosed before the endoscopy by the gastro doc.) It's been 6 months and I can't say that the swallowing has improved. The choking sensation *might* be esophageal spasms from if your esophagus got bruised from the endoscopy. I've just decided to live with the dysphagia. I chew my food a lot, and take lots of sips of water when eating.
Wish I had better advice for you. Call the doctor, but try not to worry.
leslie_90254 norris716
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norris716 leslie_90254
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The doc did tell me beforehand that if there was a narrowing they would stretch it, but since the swallowing problem never seemed to be that far down where the narrowing typically occurs, I didn't think that was the cause. Anyhow, what he told me afterwards was that there was very minor narrowing, he could easily get the tube through, but they STILL stretched it!! Since you and I had similar post-endoscopy symptoms, it's possible it was due to the stretching that didn't need to be stretched.
I never had the barium swallow. I did some research beforehand and came to the same conclusion that the doctor said - which is that if they find anything on the swallow, you'd have to get the endoscopy for further follow-up. If they don't find anything and you're still having problems, you'd have to get the swallow for further follow-up. So either way you end up with endoscopy, so the swallow seemed like a waste of time. I further found out that one of the reasons many doctors still push for the swallow test first is that it's easier to get approved through insurance!
norris716
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Oops....I wish they had an edit function here. I realize I typed incorrectly in my reply above, second paragraph third sentence which said "If they don't find anything and you're still having problems, you'd have to get the swallow for further follow-up" should have been "If they don't find anything and you're still having problems, you'd have to get the endoscopy for further follow-up."