Endoscopy and Biopsy

[merand]

HI,  I just underwent an upper endoscopy and biopsy three days ago... my docter told me It wasn't a big deal and I wouldn't feel anything... I felt everything!  not to scare those who are waiting to get It.. but I was under a moderate sedation, so In the beginning I felt the tube thing going down my throat It made me gage and throw up right away It was bad after that I'm guessing the nurse put more sedation because that's all I remember,  until I woke up, my throat was In a lot of pain... It was hard to sallow even water and my own saliva, today Is my third day my throat feels better and I don't have much stomach pain now but my stomach Is bloated and I have a lot of gas... more then the first day, I bought some gas-x they seem to help a little bit,, I'm just guessing It would have been better to be totally asleep that way I wouldn't remember anything... but anyway's thank God It's over... just want to get back to normal.  God bless you all.

[Vellin]

I had endoscopy today.  They took a biopsy.  I have been sick to my stomach ever since.  I am also sore and ache in my mid section.  I can't even drink water without getting sick.  I know I will get dehydrated.  I say never again.

[merand]

I have a bloated stomach with gassy sensation... and the bloated is more on my left side... i was told i had an enlarge liver before i'm just wondering if thats why my left side is more bloated......

[mhop111]

i had a sore throat for about 5 days after my upper endo. my doc actually warned me that its a pretty common side effect.

[patient915]

If I am correct, you don't have a question?  What happened in your situation is pretty normal.  They start off with a small amount of sedation becuase they don't want to over sedate you and cause you to stop breathing and then if you are in distress, they will add more sedation.  If you need to have this procedure again, I would highly recommend against general anesthesia (totally asleep).  This has a ton more risks then sedation and the entire procedure becomes more complicated.  And when you wake up, your sore throat will be much worse because you will have the endoscope as well as a breathing tube down your throat.

If you need this procedure again, I would recommend 2 things.  The first is that you let them know that you need more sedation then they gave you the last time.  The second is that you get them to give you some numbing throat spray/throat losenges to take home to help with the sore throat.  They should have sprayed your throat with a numbing medication before they started the procedure, but if they didn't, you should ask them next time to do this.

I know a lot of what you are talking about from experience.  I have had 4 upper endoscopies.  The first endoscopy was a combined colonoscopy/upper endoscopy and because of my young age I was required to get general anesthesia as opposed to just sedation.  I had to be intubated (breathing tube) because of this so I woke up with a mild sore throat but it was gone pretty quickly.  The second endoscopy I got sedation and I remember absolutely nothing from the procedure but I woke up with a tube in my mouth, down my throat, and into my small intestine (small bowel manometry) so the tube in my mouth was worse than any sore throat I had.  The third endoscopy was to place a NJ tube (a tube that goes in the nose all the way down into the small intestine) and I got sedation.  I remember 100% of the procedure and the procedure lasted almost 2 hours because they couldn't get the tube to stay in my small intestine.  That was horrible and I woke up with a horrible sore throat that lasted for almost a week (I was gagging and thrashing throughout the entire procedure).  The forth endoscopy was a day after the third endoscopy and it was the same thing except this time with general anesthesia to hopefully be able to place the NJ tube without me being conscious.  I woke up from that procedure with a horrible sore throat (sore throat from the day before plus sore throat from this endoscopy plus sore throat from the breathing tube plus having a tube down my throat causing irritation).  I truely do have a lot of sympathy for you as I know what you have been through, but I would still strongly recommend against general anesthesia if you ever need this procedure again.