I have been very ill months. Then I had a Gastric Emptying study.....
Yesterday, I went to the hospital for your everyday, routine procedure. A Gastric Emptying Study. If you never had one, thank your lucky stars. If you need one, I want to warn you now.
No one told me that it makes you sicker than you already are, in fact most of the research provided on line states how safe or minimal side effects.
Nothing or no one tells you that you will vomit your guts up for hours after being sent home. Laying on the floor shaking, or how you can barely walk. Your insides feel as though flames are coursing through your body. Your liver hurts, brain feels numb, tingly and on fire, your eye balls burn. As if flames are coming from your eyes and any minute you will spontaneous combust. My joints hurt my entire thoracic cavity hurts and the list goes on.
I was sick before the test, now I feel like dying. I literally told my husband I was dying and I'm laying here suffering.
I then had a recent conversation with my sister, who was diagnosed with Crohn s last year. She had the same test and told me I would be fine in a week.
The problem is if you live alone. Had I known I was going to be this sick, I would not taken this test. My husband works 10 hors a day, he sleeps six, so I haven't even seen him yet. Toilet water looks good enough to drink, to weak to crawl to the kitchen.
If your going to have this test, be prepared to be violently ill. I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS TEST to anyone. FIND A SAFER TEST. I can't believe its legal......
To be honest, I react badly to a lot of tests and get side effects that are considered to be rare. So it is a nightmare if I need anything done. I got a blood test three years ago from a nurse who didn't know what she was doing. I am still in pain now. The stress led to IBS. I went to hospital the next time I needed a blood test to get it done by experts in the field. It was done without injury, which was a relief. However, I did develop a rash and intense burning. I was told it was a reaction to the antiseptic wipe or the type of needle used. I also had nerve spasming.
All this means I have to go through all the complications I have when I see doctors and dentists. I suspect Aspergers gives me hyper sensitivities and heightens my anxieties.
Here are some alterrnatives to the gastric emptying test
a breath test, in which you eat a meal prepared with a specific type of carbon and give breath samples every few hours so that your doctor can analyze its contents
the SmartPill, an electronic capsule that you swallow, which travels through your digestive tract and sends data to a data receiver that you keep with you throughout the test
an ultrasound, which can allow your doctor to view your digestive tract and decide whether something other than gastroparesis is causing your symptoms
an upper gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy, in which your doctor uses an endoscope to view your esophagus, stomach, and the beginning of your small intestine to check for gastroparesis or blockage
an upper GI series, in which you drink barium (which is easy to spot on an X-ray) and have a series of X-rays taken of your small intestine
Hi Poppa:
I requested a safe test from Doctor, whom insisted there was no other test available.
I EVEN suggested swallowing a small camera, an ultrasound but I had the upper GI endoscopy previously performed. That's why this test was ordered.
I am into the 24 hour mark of the completion of the test. I'm still very ill and weak.
We had no problems at all since we were given food, that cause no problem anyway. Could it be the food or liquid, where the tracer was mixed in? It is just very low radioactively labelled food/liquid food (or water, which most centers don't do unfortunately) that you eat as you would eat at home.
There is nothing else to it.
BUT if you get a carrier food, that you usually don't eat or are allergic to or intolerant to, of course you will get all the symptoms with it.
The test itself, following your food how fast it goes out your stomach, is really not invasive, you won't react on the radioactive non-protein tracer,
but maybe to the protein IN the given FOOD!
We got eggs and milk and I really wondered, how that could fit everyone...
Although the amount of radiation is small, you may still have reacted to it. I would explain again to your doctor about how ill you have been with this test because it is important to establish what you have reacted to for future reference whether that be the food or the radioactive substance.
Ask again about the camera pill and ask different doctors about this.
My husband just had this done and got so sick I had to take him to the ER. They insisted it couldn't have been from the study and it was a virus but he felt ok before the test. I don't know what he would have done if I hadn't been there.. he could barely walk he was vomiting, diarrhea, his head hurt so bad he was just so so sick.
I had this test yesterday and I drove myself. I didn’t think I was going to make it home. My husband and Son had to come get me. I almost threw up on my son as he took me out of the car and then about passed out and they had to sit me down in another car parked in the driveway. WORST TEST EVER! I’m so thankful I saw your message! My husband almost called 911 because we had no idea and he has never seen me like that. He was going to go but I didn’t want him being bored for 4 hours!!! I agree worst test ever!
EXACTLY how I felt! I doubt it was a virus, I think it was an excuse! I was happy and full of energy before taking this test! I love eggs and toast but I highly doubt I will NOT be eating it anytime soon or anything for that matter! I just had the test yesterday and still very sick today. I googled it to see if there were complications which led me to this discussion!
Hope your feeling better.....that's just crazy. My husband missed 2 days of work and it took a week before feeling halfway decent. His regular doctor thought it was a reaction. Ugh
I'm so sorry......how awful! My poor husband was so sick and I just didn't know how to help him. His blood pressure was extremely high for atleast a week or 2 after that too.
All tests can have complications but doctors don’t like to admit to side effects and so fob you off with the theory that you had a virus or were incubating one before the test. They often blame a virus if they don’t know the answer or don’t want to admit to a reaction. I have complications after any medical procedure I have.
If more that one patient has the same/similar type of reaction after a test, it cannot simply be put down to a virus.
I forgot to say that there are alternatives to this test.
I completely agree! In my opinion they just need to let people know up front this could be a complication or a side effect so please bring a driver or be prepared with an alternate way of getting home.
That would have been nice to know when my doctor ordered this for me. But not sure I would have asked to have an alternative test completed since I didn't know there was going to be such an adverse effect.
In the absence of doctors volunteering to tell you the risks, the best thing we can do id to google the information in advance and ask the doctor straight out about it.
I was caught out about the risks of severe depression associated with twilight sedation because the GI specialist didn’t tell me before my endoscopy. Afterwards he fobbed me off with the excuse that it was an unusual reaction and that I had handled the procedure well at the time. My reactions often are delayed and show up after I get home and a doctor is not at hand to help.
it might be worthwhile mentioning this to your doctor that you were not warned in advance and make a complaint.
Finally!!! I have had a Gastric emptying test done some 18 years ago and didn't notice any reaction. It showed I had gastroparesis. A different dr did a repeat test last week and said it showed I didn’t have it. But I have been so sick with stomach pain, cramps and diarrhea that I cannot get to stop! ANY SUGGESTIONS would be so appreciated. I have not ate but a few crackers. Drinking Propel drinks and even Immodium hasn't worked. I don't know how much longer I can stand this and really don't know where to turn!? Thank you.
I am so glad I saw this. my doctor ordered this because she suspects gastroparesis. i was so sick last week with a kidney stone and this week was supposed to be this test. I'm going to delay it. I vomited for three days straight last week with the stone, I don't want to go through that again so soon. I reacted badly to the CT contrast last week, I react badly to everything, so I have no doubt i'll end up as sick as all of you did.
jen
I had a gastric emptying test yesterday. Got about half the eggs down and couldn't finish eating. Because extremely nauseous and had to leave because they need you to eat all of it. Didn't manage to actually vomit any of it back up. Felt weak and sick all day afterwards. Sick, hot and nauseous all night, I could barely sleep. This morning I tried to go to the bathroom, stool was black and I filled the toilet with blood. Been laying down all day feeling weak and exhausted and sick. I'm already super sensitive to any tests/meds I've ever had. They assured me repeatedly that there were no side effects and it was totally safe and I'd feel fine. I can't eat, I can't drink water because it upsets my stomach and bowels now. Thankfully the bleeding seems to have stopped. I can't find side effects of the test anywhere online to know if this is normal or not. My head hurts and I can barely keep my eyes open longer then 20 minutes. Thankfully I don't live alone so there's other adults here to watch my kids.