Sedation for gastroscopy

Hi Michelle, thanks for letting me know how you got on with the sedation. It is indeed quite likely that omeprazole gave you a false negative result for H. pylori - are you taking antibiotics to treat the infection now? Sorry you are having worse symptoms after the scope It might just be because your H.pylori infection is getting worse.

Hi, they wouldn't give me any because it came back negative, and i'm still waiting for the result on the other biopsy, but my daughter tested positive for H pylori a few weeks ago, so i'm certain thats what it is. I've been too ill to even get out of bed to go to the doctors and ask for the treatment, i don't think they wll even give me it now after the negative endoscopy. How did you get on have you been for your scope yet ? xx

Oh how frustrating! You poor thing, to be honest if you had a positive stool test and your daughter also has it you almost certainly do have H. pylori (a lot of people have it never get symptoms) but it's a really horrible thing to have to suffer once it inflamed the stomach. To get a reliable breath test, stool sample or biopsy resultyou have to stop omeprazole for twoo weeks in advance - something that is probably horrifying if you are in the kind of state I was when I was diagnosed (i.e ill, in pain and unable to eat properly). Immediately after a positive stool test I was given antibiotics and a high does of omeprazole, the same treatment htat my mother was given a year before. Hopefully if you explain to your doctor that you were still taking omeprazole at the time of the scope (and it is basially the only known drug that obscures the biopsy result), then hopefully they should be on-board with treating you based on the stool test result. I'm having the gastroscopy on Monday so fingers cressed for either a) a normal result or b) an easily treatable explanation for my symptoms.

well that was typo-central. sorry about that. I wish there was an edit function sometimes!

also sorry now I re-read your original reply I see you had a blood test for H. pylori - that can mean you either have it, or you had it tin the past, it is not as definitive as stool, breath or biopsy tests as they show if there is an active infection.

Thanks for the good advice, i will ask my doctor for the stool test, as i'm sure thats what it is, bit too coincidental my daughter having it too, i'm so annoyed at myself because she offered me the treatment but then said i think you should go to A+E  as she felt the amount of weight loss would not correspond to an H pylori infection,which led them to sending me for the endoscopy. Good luck for monday, please don't be nervous, i promise you i was in tears all week and got myself into a huge state over nothing, i think its fear of the unknown, I only remember sitting in the chair, getting the sedation and the throat spray, and the mouth piece put in then absloutely nothing, i just woke up and said oh is it done already. You'll be absolutely fine. xx

 

Aw thanks Michelle, thats very reassuring. I lost quite a few pounds with h. pylori just becasue I felt so sick all of the time. My advice in the short-term for you would be to cut out caffeine and alcohol if you drink it, and citrus fruits if you haven't already. They will irritate your stomach further regardless of the source of your malady.

Thanks, i know what you mean about the caffeine, it does make it worse, thankfully i don't like alcohol. How long after your treatment for the pylori did you start to feel better? I have heard from other people that it does have a tendency to come back, it's a real nasty infection. xx

I'd say I started to feel better within a few days of the antibiotics, then it got worse again and gradually improved over the weeks. I have not fully recovered to my pre-infection state and still cannot drink coffee or alcohol despite having two negative stool tests (but my GP only told me to stop omeprazole for two days..) I half expect to get a positive biopsy result to be honest because I never had such stomach problems before but we shall see.

Thanks Sparkly, I was reading over some of your previous posts, and i totally agree about the not having enough acid can sometimes give the same symptoms, it's a tough one to figure out, I hope they get to the bottom of it fast, that's all i seem to be hearing lately, such a high amount of people contracting pylori, and yet its meant to be a disease mostly found in undeveloped countries, contracted through unclean drinking water,it just makes me wonder how we've all caught it in the first place as my home is practically sterile.I hope all goes well for you on monday, honestly please dont worry you'll sail through it. xx

Sorry to heaar that. If I had been the slightest bit awake, I would have done the same and I told them so. Plus I'm big and if I go beserk, you don't want to be near me. I think that had the desired effect that they gave me so much sedation that it might as well have been done under GA for all the difference.

I honestly thought mine was going to be like yours, I was shocked when I woke up when they were wheeling me out of the room and it had been done. Did they give you the one/two page report afterwards, even if it said unsuccessful, because that will list the sedation levels they gave you.

No report. I guess I'll find out later what they gave me.

Oh Sparkly, I'm so sorry to hear about this. That's what I did too, under the influence of a half-dose of sedation. It took six people to hold me down and forcibly complete the procedure, and the bad bit is I remember the whole thing.

Admittedly my case was a bit different from yours. I'd managed to swallow my large, spiky denture (with one front tooth on it) which had been stuck in my throat for three weeks while one hospital after another threw me out saying I'd imagined it. It had no metal parts so they couldn't see it on X-ray, and they weren't X-raying my throat anyway, just my stomach.

I lost 7kg (15lb) during that time and by the last day was coughing up blood and could no longer talk or even swallow saliva. A very kind friend drove me back to one of the hospitals that had thrown me out, where a woman doctor screamed at me that the denture was in my head, not my throat, while I retched uncontrollably and brought up blood. Fortunately, my friend spoke up for me, I was told that I was a neurotic time-waster but nevertheless squeezed into that afternoon's endoscopy list.

They immediately spotted the denture at the entrance to the oesophagus, then began the tussle to get it out, with me fighting mad and off my head on the low dose of sedation. I'm 5ft 2, weigh a tad over 9st and was 69 at the time, but I can assure you I still put up a fight! Worst 20 mins of my life... They kept me in for 24 hours after that on IV antibiotics, of course, but I never got an apology. And this didn't happen in the UK, so it's not always the NHS that's negligent.

Sparkly, with your history I think you might be able to persuade them to do another one under GA. I know that this is available on the NHS, but I think it depends a bit on which area you live in. You'll need to ask your GP about this, or the consultant at the hospital if you're still in touch.

The other alternative - dare I say it - is to figure out how to manage your acid reflux, which sounds fairly mild from your description. I know we've already talked about this. Raising the head of your bed or mattress, food diaries, avoiding eating too late at night, not wearing too-tight trousers etc. I've kept it under control this way for 40 years now, and it certainly doesn't involve eating a bland, boring diet. As I've already mentioned, I even manage to drink a bit too much wine! (Though I have to be careful what kind and what I combine it with.) It doesn't seem to have led to any kind of malignancy either, as I'm still hale and hearty at 72.

Take some time to calm down and get over this. And don't forget your acid reflux might feel worse over the next couple of weeks, partly due to all the stress, and also because your throat is a bit sore and sensitive right now. Whatever your doctors are telling you, you're not at any immediate risk from your condition - I'm living proof of that! - so you've got time to think about your next move. Why not try management measures for six months, and if that doesn't work then start the process again? And next time, insist on a GA.

You really had it rough lily

I would certainly try it again with sedation ( maybe a bit more). I really think I played up because I couldn't control my anxiety.

In the waiting room after the nurse asked of they could put the canula in I was balling my eyes out with fear and a ninety yet old lady with a stick hobbled over and gave me a hug people can be so lovely.

I should get an appointment with a stomach Dr at the hospital to discuss symptoms and options. I agree mine seem mild, I hope they can be managed with lifestyle adjustment rather than pills bit we shall see.

Nonethewiser on the helico front now though.

Helicobacter can be detected by a breath test they do these days, as well as in stool samples. I believe there's also a blood test now. Maybe ask about these?

In any case, even if you have got it, it won't necessarily put you at risk. Whole swathes of the population carry helicobacter all their lives without it ever causing any symptoms.

The other possibility is to try and address your anxiety. I'm wondering whether it just attaches to medical treatment (which is quite understandable) or if you're generally an anxious type. This alone can cause acid reflux. The mechanism is that your abdominal muscles clench without you realising it, and force gas and stomach contents upwards. A bit like built-in tight pants!

But it's preferable not to let your GP just write a scrip for yet more medication. The best approach to anxiety is CBT, or the latest variant, DBT (dialectic behavioural therapy). These therapies help you look at your own underlying fears and cope with them, rather than hitting them with a chemical cosh.

Thanks lily. I'm currently having cbt for health anxiety actually and my course is nearly over!!

I'm less anxious than I was. A year ago I wouldn't have got in the hospital door.

Yeah I could have another stool test if my stomach starts playing up again. Ironically I've been pretty free from reflux symptoms the last few days, haha! If that trend continues I'll start reintroducing potential triggers like spices and tea.

It's often not the actual foods themselves that cause reflux, but combinations of foods or the time of day or circumstances in which you eat them. If you're careful, you should be able to get back to nearly-normal eating in time. I found that after the first few months of always being on the alert for what was going to upset me, the whole thing became second nature and I didn't even have to think about it any more. I eat practically everything, but after all these years I'm kind of programmed to know what I can or can't eat in combination or in the evening, so I don't even notice I'm avoiding these things any more.

Glad to hear you've been doing CBT. It's hard work (if you do it properly) but generally worth it.