Anyone ever have a CT w/ contrast?

[pixi30]

Good morning. I have had a terrible pain on the R side of my stomach near my bellybutton and a little higher. I have had an X-ray and an ultrasound. Since they were normal and the pain still exists, my Dr. has ordered a Ct scan with contrast dye. Does anyone know anything about this? Is it scary, does it make you sick? I am super nervous about swallowing this liquid. Anyone who has had this? Any replies would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

[patient915]

Please post your question as a separate post and then I can give you some suggestions.

[ashley77738]

Hi eileen,
I'm new to this forum, just read about your test.  How did it go?  I know this is a little late, wish I saw this before now.  Anyway, I too have had 3 ct scans; at which time i was in the hospital for all of them.  Two of them were with the dye, and one without.  All of them were abdominal.  At that time, I had to drink that "horrible" stuff, and have an IV.  I hate IV's and also my veins were collasped.  I was also fighting being dx with luekemia.  I had pains on my left lower abdominal area.  I am in remission now, but do to the chemo, I have to have a CT scan on my chest.  They think I have lung damage but what i wanted to say is I want to deny the dye in my vein. I am deathly affraid of needles of Any Kind.  I don't know if I can have it without the vein dye, but I am and will refuse it.  I am scared what they will find, and if I don't have the dye,. i wonder if the test will be any good.
take care
ashley

[eileen06]

I too am having an abdominal ct this morning & told I need to drink barium before.  I also have had gosh awful pain in my right lower quadron of my stomach that travels underneath and stops at the back door (so to speak). The pain has been for months on a constant 5 and then I get sharps lightning bolts of pain that go off the scale of 1-10. MY problem is I have no vein access. I have tons of problems just getting blood draws (IF they can get them) and now I need an IV for thick contrast. Good luck! Don't know what to do if they can't get it. Last time I had an out pt. ct scan they couldn't get the line and sent me home. That test I only had to drink 8 glasses of water 1 hr prior. I hope I dont injest this barium for nothing.

[pixi30]

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I really need to get this over with so that I can start to understand what is happening. I was getting scared. As a mother of 3 very small boys, they need all of me, all the time. The not knowing is kind of debilitating. This would be the 3 rd test to find out where this pain is coming from. Your response was comforting and greatly appreciated! I was scared...
Have a lovely day!

[mungufuata]

The stuff my hospital uses tastes like unsweetened red koolaid with crushed up aspirin in it.  It's not supposed to make you sick, but it always does me for some reason.  Just drink it slowly - you'll normally have an hour or two to drink it, so don't rush yourself.  And don't let them tell you you have to drink it all.  Last time, I drank barely a third of half of what they gave me, and it was more than enough to have a clear picture.  So just do your best with it and that's all they can ask of you.  Really, no big deal.

Once you get in the machine, they'll start an IV and give you more dye in your veins.  This is fun, cuz it makes you very warm and tingly and gives you a metallic taste in your mouth.  It makes you feel like you're peeing your pants, but you're probably not.  :)  

Once you're in the scanner, the whole test takes a minute or so, then you're done.

If the CT comes out normal, ask your doctor for a HIDA scan.  The area you describe is the location of my pain, and it turns out for me that the HIDA scan was the definitive diagnoser and showed that my gallbladder isn't working and needs to come out.  The HIDA scan is long, but painless (takes about an hour or two of you lying on your back with an IV).