Hi, I've been suffering from sudden heart burn, intense globus sensation and havn't been able to eat well without the feeling of food being stuck since early May. I was finally refered to have an Upper GI. Yesterday I had the upper EGD. Was brought into the preproom, had to put on a gown and nurse placed my IV. Then was moved to the room which looked almost like an OR room (without the big OR lights (Ive had C-sections). I had a mouth piece placed in my mouth so my tounge is tucked and allow for the scope entry. The Doc read outloud my name, medical vitals, time whereafter the sedatives were given via IV. (I was given percocet and versed and benadryl - this info was in my aftervisit). I started to feel the sedatives take affect where i was dosing in/out of it - I could still hear the music, I dont remember the insertion, but can hear faint noises in the background. I then remember gagging /dry-heaving and burping throughout the procedure where my eyes would open and see the screen - but was so out of it, it was almost like i was having an out of body expenrience.. It was so awful. I think since they didnt sedate me that much and was in a twilight that i remember this... Was given the images of my endoscopy. The report showed no a normal EGD, so no biopsy was taken from the esophagus, however I was told that biopsies were taken from my stomach to rule out Hpiloi?? ( I find it so wierd that i already had this blood test and came out negative ) When i was experiencing that intense gagging during the procedure and while opening my eyes here and there while doing so, i do also remember seeing a dark cluster of something - which i cant say what that was but left me wondering... and the GI doc didnt mention anything (again, so wierd). Anyhow, was told the procedure went well which i find bothersome, since they did not mention anything about me gagging. The rest of the day, I was really out of it - groggy, mild amnesia (on the ride home, i was dosing in/out and woud have vivid dreams with each dose). When i got home (45 min drive), my back (3" below my shoulder blades) was hurting so bad as if i strained my back really bad. It hurts so bad that would actually feel like it knocks the breath out of me - and when combined with some abdomial pain, it buckles me over. Today I feel the same, horible sore back (same spot) and it comes in intense waves of pain.. I called and was able to speak to the GI doc and all he said was that my procedure went well, look out for crackly sensation to the touch near chest/neck area, high fever or swelling. I havnt any of these thank GOD, but this back ache is really scaring me .. He also suggested i have a CT scan if it doesnt go away by Monday (which is scary and i dont want any unnecessary radiation) Lastly, he mentioned it may be skeletal/ muscular when they turned me to my side - but that doesnt make sense since I was placed on my side before the procedure and before i was even sedated. I had also asked him how i did during the procedure and told him that i remember some gaging and he was vauge in his reply and said its commom that gagging occurs during EGD's which again is bothersome to me- since i remember this so clearly. If anyone out there has had this before or have felt muscular soreness please share your story - i need some reassurance this is simply related to fighting this procedure. So sorry for the long message. Thank you!
I'm going to answer this by private message. PMs via this site don't carry viruses or expose the ID of either party. The message will come in just like any other notification from the Patient site - either into your inbox or your junk mail, depending on your set-up.
Just an update on my last post where I had horrible back pain after my endoscopy... Thankfully my back pain is almost all back to normal - This confims that it was all skeletal/muscular that was caused from the gagging during the procedure. Also, I heard back from my GI that I have mild inflamation of my stomach liner and still waiting for the rest of the biopsy results. Note: I reserched this back pain and found little info out there and even consulted with some GI's on this where all said it was "uncommon" and brushed it off .. i was in terrible pain and very worried about this, so just wanted to let ya'll know what I had experienced. Also, just a side note... in addition to my back pain, I started to feel a gnawing pain in my right side where I'm assuming my biopsy/s may have been taked from(?) where it kept me up throughout the night and lasted a few days (I had never had this feeling before)... this also has gone away and hope it doesnt come back...
So glad to hear that all is well now. I was thinking about you only yesterday and planned to post a little message today asking how you were.
I have been suffering from back pain since I have my Gastroscopy 6weeks ago. This is not good. Glad you are better.
Hi Lily, I have been suffering from back pain for 6 weeks now, since having my Gastroscopy, so painful.
I'm sorry to hear about your pain. I am experiencing back pain right now. I had an EGD done on Monday and hand lower abdominal cramping a pain on the left side. The next day I started with the back pain and it was so bad I could hardly walk and still are having difficulty moving, lifting my left leg , laying down or sitting without pain. It is not as bad as it was the first day but still very painful. I am not finding much information on the web aboult it.
Ramona, did you have it done under sedation?
Yes I was sedated and no I have not heard of any others experiencing this kind of pain,,,And I just had this done on March 6 of this year and she found bleeding ulcers and took a biopsy... this time on May 1 was a recheck to see if the ulcers had healed....and they had ...I have had this proedure done many times but this is the first time I have felt pain in my back like this ever.
Hi Ramona. This is nothing to worry about. I'll explain by private message. PMs via this site don't carry viruses or reveal the email address of either party.
I had mine yesterday morning and I'm having back pain atm myself. I just assumed it was from all the air they pumped into me that I haven't gotten rid of because of sleeping most of the day afterwards. I'm hoping mine goes away as well. Feels very uncomfortable. 
You're right, it's almost certainly just the residual air causing problems. Just relax and it will get better.
Hello. I just had an upper endoscopy with biopsy yesterday morning. I came home and for about the first few hours I was fine (probably from anesthesia and Valium given to me) but after that "boom" pain in my back about 3 inches from my shoulders down as well, right in the middle of my spine, the worst of it is when I swallow, I swallow and I literally can count to 5 and pian shoots thru that spot on my back, also when I take a deep breath and lift my left arm mostly but my right as well, , the go doc says everything went fine. This lets me know that's not true. I'm so scared. My husband and kids are as well. I haven't had food in my body for 23 days. Only ensure and boost is keeping me going but ever since yesterday's scope and biopsy I haven't been able to even take a sip of water without that pain wrenching me over in pain and screaming for whoever is around to take the pain. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Jamie,
Try to stay calm. These are typical symptoms of residual air in your stomach. They pump in a lot of air during the procedure to distend your stomach so they can see where to take biopsies. Since you had sedation (it wouldn't have been anaesthesia) it's also possible that you struggled and had to be restrained, which could have caused minor muscular problems, but no serious damage. As a former nur se (and someone who's had a gastroscopy under sedation) I know that this sadly happens. But there's absolutely no point in asking your doctor about it as they'll deny everything.
The only signs that your stomach has been seriously damaged would be vomiting black fluid that looks like coffee grounds, or passing copious, sticky, foul-smelling stools that look like tar. Both these are manifestations of bleeding from the stomach. In this event, you should go to the ER/A&E immediately. However, it's almost unheard of for endoscopy to cause serious damage of this kind.
You'll almost certainly make a complete recovery over the next few days. Anxiety and stress result in unconscious tightening of the muscles of your abdominal wall, which in turn increases the pressure on your stomach, causing even more pain. As long as you don't have the symptoms described in the previous paragraph, just try to relax and wait it out. I promise you'll soon be feeling better.
Hi. I just had an endoscopy last wednesday the 10th due to having GERD and reflux symptoms for the last couple years, getting worse and more frequent. (Probably due to weight gain in the last couple years). I have also been diagnosed with sleep apnea and panic attacks. (heart attack symptoms that turn out to be nothing once they give you stress tests, xrays, numerous ekg's, troponin tests. They ruled out gallbladder with a sonogram, and wanted to rule out esoph. cancer or ulcers, etc. The whole thing lasted two hours....but when I woke up, they said I did not have GERD, did not have reflux, didn't have anything and my stomach and esophagus did not have ANY signs of having any of the above. BUT...
while in there, when they went to turn the tube around to look at the top of the stomach, they said my heart went into six seconds of ventricular tachycardia, and that ...and I quote...."next time you get this type of procedure or a colonoscopy, you need to have an anethesiologist present". The doctor wrote that in her letter to me. She said NOTHING about 'you better see a cardiologist"........
After the lidocaine and sedation wore off, I started experiencing dull aches or cramping in my stomach and eso..no sore throat, but a lot of burping and light nausea. It is now four days later and I'm still having those symptoms. The burping has gotten more frequent, Im really tired...and now Im starting to cough up phlegm. It hurts to breathe a little. Tums, dgl, and/or ibuprofen don't relieve it. I've called the doctor twice and she is not returning my calls!
I called my PCP and she said I should see an electrocardio doctor, so I asked for a referral? Their soonest appointment was A MONTH AND A HALF AWAY...so I'm assuming Im not in any immediate danger of dying.
Im not vomiting and I dont have the stool you are describing. Could she have poked the side of my stomach and scared the heck out of my heart? I've read that stress can cause a heart to do that if you don't have heart disease....I'm under a heck of a lot of stress. A husband who had two heart attacks this year and he's only 60...and a 93 year old father with dementia who just moved in with us. I had a torn ACL in January, and am still using a cane for a stressed achilles tendon on the other foot...as well as having to find a house for all three of us to live in after selling ours in Dec. There's more but you get the idea.
Could I be imagining all this? I did see the EKG and yes, it looked like a VT episode. Very short though if they are telling the truth.
I just had a EGD yesterday my back is hurting so bad. It’s a different kind of pain I have ever experienced. I don’t know what to do. It still hurts to eat food. What can I do about this back pain it’s awful. I tried TENS unit, massager nothing is working I can barely walk.
Hi, I’ve had exactly the same since I had a gastroscopy 3 weeks ago as I have acid reflux which causes me ongoing heartburn and pain in the chest. However ever since I have had this test, which caused me to wretch terribly , I’ve had pain in between my shoulder blades which hurts when I cough or sneeze. I’m wondering if because I was wreching during the procedure have I strained my cartilage in the chest wall, which can lead to costochondritis. I had an x Ray after this and it was clear, but my back is really painful. I spoke to my g.p asking if they could have left me with further muscular and skeletal pain after the procedure, and if they could have caused some sort of perferation whilst doing the biopsy procedure, he said yes it could be caused from it, but they don’t receive much feedback from people after they’ve had this surgery. I would love to know if anyone else has experienced this. Thank you
I had an upper gi yesterday and the back pain across my shoulder blades is so bad it's hard to breath. The doctor said I had to be restrained and that my gag reflex was the worst he's ever seen, and he's done thousands. My abs, legs, back, neck and calves hurt so bad I can barely move. My eye lids have broken blood vessels. Is this normal? My doctor said it's from having to be restrained and gagging so badly.
Hi Marlana,
I'm so sorry to hear about your experience. I'm speaking both as an endoscopy patient who was restrained and as a former nurse who on a couple of occasions participated unwillingly in this kind of practice. I regret now not having had the courage of my convictions.
As to whether or not this is normal - well, it depends on the doctor doing the procedure. Some will stop if the patient is struggling too much, while others will order extreme restraint in order to be able to continue. Yours obviously fell into the latter camp.
My own personal view is that this is an assault, pure and simple, which is why I felt very nervous when participating in restraint of this kind (though I knew I was covered by the doctor's insurance of course).
What can you do about it? Probably nothing. However, since your doctor has admitted the restraint (and quite cheerfully it would seem from your account) I think it would be a good idea to consult another doctor immediately, or even go to A&E (ER if you're in the US) and report the injuries while they're still visible, in order to have them recorded. Your endoscopy doctor is unlikely to have kept a record of your complaint. Then you should write a letter of complaint, including a clear accusation of assault, to be sent to the endoscopy doctor via recorded delivery - so he can't say he never received it.
How far you go after that is up to you, of course. I'd say your chances of successfully suing your doctor are approximately zero, especially if you're in the UK. However, I think that if more patients like you fired these "warning shots", hospitals would start to re-think their policy of restraining sedated patients during routine procedures when stopping the procedure would not endanger life. (Obviously the same considerations wouldn't apply to patients who are confused due to a head injury, psychosis or the effects of drugs and who are resisting life-saving treatment.)
To put the other side of the argument, I know that a number of posters on these boards have said they appreciate having been restrained as it got the procedure over with quickly; and others who had the procedure discontinued because of their struggles and regret not having been restrained. Each to his/her own.
For the future, I'd strongly suggest you have any future endoscopies with throat spray only, and no sedation. After my own experience - of which I have full recall due to inadequate sedation as well - I would be very reluctant indeed ever to undergo upper endoscopy again. However, if it was unavoidable, I'd opt for staying conscious. Most medical staff would rightly be very wary of restraining a fully-conscious, lucid patient. There's also the aspect that a fully-conscious patient would fully understand what was going on, and be less likely to put up a fight.
Once again, all my sympathies from someone who still has flashbacks from her own experience. At least you have the advantage of not actually remembering the events.
I had and endoscopy on May 23 and have been miserable ever since. I have lost 12 pounds in less than 3 months. I suffer pain under my breast bone from the left side all the way around to the middle of my back when I lie down. I am convinced that my esophagus was punctured during the procedure. The doctor has answered no questions and does not look at me while talking to me. I have changed doctors and do not expect him to say anything against the doctor who did the procedure. He has tried to help me and has not been able to, so far.