I live in the UK. I had an upper endoscopy about 20 years ago and it was horrendous. My doctor wants me to have another one, but I'm really scared and I mean really. Can anyone tell me if they've improved the technique. Do you still have to swallow a big tube? Does it make you cough and retch?
I had an endoscopy last year. The I V started and the next thing I knew was that it was all over. Slight sore throat but all in all it was not a bad experience. I'm in the USA also.
Hi Janaj,
I have had four Endoscopys.
For each one I asked for maximum sedation. After being told to lay on my left side before they put the tube in I dont remember a single thing, infact I never even saw the tube.
For one of my Endoscopys I was given the throat spray, I would Never have that again, a bad experience for me!!...
If sedation if administered properly at maximum dose , then you wont know anything about it. If it was so bad I would Never have had one let alone four.
Good Luck, You will be fine,
I'm Uk based too and I had an endoscopy yesterday. Our health authority has subcontracted the Endoscopy service out to Prime Diagnostics and it was carried out at a community health centre. They inserted the tube through the nose after an anaesthetic spray up each nostril, and said that accessing this way rather than through the mouth enabled a much finer tube to be used. The spray numbs your nose/back of throat which makes it a bit difficult to swallow, but it's bearable. They offered sedation and I had it, though several other patients didn't. That was via a canula - one injection and it just relaxed me. I was fully conscious though my recall afterwards wasn't spot on, and I was able to watch what was happening on a screen. It doesn't take long, less than five minutes I'd say, and although it's a bit uncomfortable, it didn't really hurt, even when they took a couple of biopsies. I just felt very detached about it all. If you have sedation they like you to hang about a bit afterwards, but my appointment was for 9.15 and I was home by 11.00am. I wouldn't get stressed out about it again, though I wouldn't look forward to it. You'll be fine. If you feel so inclined, have a look on You Tube under Prime Diagnostics and you can see the procedure being carried out. Or perhaps you might not want to do that.
