Gastroscopy with and without sedation

Some time in the middle of my journey, my surgeon decided that it was the best time for me to have a look inside the stomach and check if everything was ok and if we could proceed. As I had already had an eco and x-ray done, I didn’t expect that I would have to undergo the infamous gastroscopy. What a blow!

Well, bite the bullet, and let’s do this. I like to be prepared, so I did the stupidest thing in the entire universe (seeing from today’s point of view), I Googled. Don’t do that! I beg you on my knees. This is the worst part of the exam 😀and all you will find will only scare you to death. You might get cold feet. Which would be a real pity because you are halfway through.

They called me from the hospital in about a week with the actual date of the exam. I see it as a little torture because it was in a month. So much time to overthink and keep Googling 😀The truth is that – like many times before – you will find only horror stories and descriptions from the deepest hell. I was looking for the medical point of view, but as I am not a doctor, I didn’t get most of the information. So bad luck, the stories I had in my head were very negative ones. And I went with them to the hospital.

The good part here is that I can compare – with and without sedation, as I had both of them. Without sedation as part of the preparatory exams and then with sedation about half a year after the surgery.

Without sedation

I came to the hospital with my partner as it was strictly demanded to be accompanied. I couldn’t eat anything at all for 12 hours and no drink for 6 hours. It was not that difficult as I was nervous. Luckily it was in winter so I was not thirsty.

Once I entered the examination room, they told me to get on the bed (and breathe deeply). I didn’t have to change into any special clothes. Obviously, I was really nervous, what I had read online didn’t go away just like that. There were two people with me, a doctor and a nurse (male). It is quite common here, not at all where I come from, though.

They told me to put myself on my left side, put my left arm under my head and make myself as comfortable as possible. It was hard at this point. The anxiety was quite high, I won’t lie. I was supposed to have my right hand bent in front of me but I was holding the side of the bed. Very strongly. I had a monitor behind me so that the doctor could see easily what was happening on the camera. Good that I couldn’t see that as I would probably panic.

I guess the male nurse was there to hold me down in case I started to move somehow funny. i could do myself a lot of internal harm. Luckily it was not necessary. They put some plastic round thing in my mouth, between the teeth to make me keep the mouth open. Reasonable. It was not annoying, to tell the truth. I didn’t have any calming spray, nothing at all. The doctor told me the patients usually vomit if they use it.

Now the worst part. The tube with the camera. Well, well, well… the nasty part was when the tube was entering through the throat down. It was making me gag but it was only a little while, maybe 3 seconds. Once it passed the vocal cords, it got much easier. The trick here is to do your best and try to keep breathing through the nose. It is almost impossible, but try. It is likely to feel a tiny bit better. The tube is about one centimeter in diameter (0,4 inch). It is not big but you feel it and it is not nice. Still, manageable.

Once the tube passes this part, it is more or less ok. Yes, you are very anxious, who wouldn’t be. I remember I was holding the side of the bed so strong as if I was holding for my dear life. My eyes were shut closely and filled with tears. I was not crying, it didn’t hurt, it is part of the reflex. The only unpleasant thing was the sound that was coming from inside my esophagus, it was something like “farts” or burps. The doctor was calming me down saying it was normal, no problem at all. Fine, let’s continue.

They were checking if there were no problems in the esophagus and what the entrance to the stomach looked like. They found one small hiatal hernia there, ok, good to know it was there, it will be solved during the surgery, no biggies. They checked closely the whole stomach for ulcers, there were none, and for possible inflammation.

The important part here, they took a small sample of the tissue from the stomach wall. There is a small something like mini pliers or tweezers. Don’t worry, it doesn’t hurt, I felt something like a little pinch. Trust me at this point you have very different problems than focusing on this. Keep breathing! The doctor had to remind me several times 😂

And this is the end. From now on things will get only better. They start very slowly pulling out the whole tube. It is really slow so that it is the least possible nasty for you. Again, you almost don’t feel it the whole way, only when it reaches the throat, you feel like gagging. But it is faster going out than it was going in, so it is very reasonable.

They remove the plastic circle you were heaving between your teeth and they offer you a box of tissues to clean your mouth from the saliva, no, you won’t stop salivating during all of this, but it is completely normal, they know and count on that. I had some “puppy training mat” under my head. Kidding! It was definitely for humans. I saw it in residences for older people where they give it into beds for protection. So I cleaned my lips and eyes – remember the tears? They gave me a while to calm down and I was good to go.

A small note here about the preparation part: I would recommend to use a lip balm. Anything that would hydrate your lips. My ones got really dry.

The most important thing from this all? The whole process that I have just described in vivid detail, took maybe 3 minutes!!! Really! I swear. It is not nice, that is for sure. But it is very doable. I had a great doctor who was telling me all the time what she was doing and where she was, so I could have an idea about the procedure. I appreciated this as I was informed and knew how long more I would have to make it. She was as gentle as she could be.

No need to be scared to death. If this would be the only post from this blog you will ever read, I won’t complain. Please, spread the word to anyone who needs to read this. The internet is full of intergalactic disasters regarding this exam. It is not like that. No need to be freaking out. I swear, had I read this description before (and not all the horrors), I would have gone there much calmer and would have cared so much. And no, I was not vomiting at all, I had only some saliva coming out of my mouth. as long as you don’t move during the exam, you would be fine.

Trust the doctors, they have seen everything and anything and whatever in between. They know what it is like for the patient, so don’t be ashamed. Everything is normal. And if you don’t eat and drink for the required time, there is nothing that could go out. Your stomach is perfectly empty.

With sedation

Peace of cake. Ha! It was the same with no food and no drinks for 12 and 6 hours respectively. I came to the examination room, they put me on a bed, it was the same as without sedation, and put me in the very same position, with the pad under my head as well. They put me the same enter into the arm as when they give you anything intravenous. They pinched me with some mild calming thing at first. It worked perfectly.

Then they gave me the same plastic circle in between the teeth and then they added the sedation. Goodbye, talk to you later. It was as if you switched off the light. Complete darkness. I didn’t know anything at all. It was the same fast. When I woke up, they just removed the plastic thing from between my teeth and that was it. Again, they gave me a while to recover and recommended me to wait for a while in the waiting room in case the sedation was causing me any trouble. I had to be accompanied as well.

If I could choose, I would go for the option of sedation. This is straightforward. But if you have no say in this, it is doable without it. Not the nicest 5 minutes in my life, but I can say that I would do it again if strictly necessary. This time I would know what I am getting into.

Please spread the information. This is so important. Don’t let people suffer unnecessarily 👍