Pill Endoscopy

I've got answers:

1) To put it mildly, if you ever tried to walk into a courthouse or the Pentagon or any other sensitive building while wearing this device, you'd be locked up for life. It doesn't look pretty. But it is an amazing piece of technology. If I were you, I'd take the day off when you have it done. I did not take the day off, but I might has well have, with all the questions I had to answer from my coworkers.
2) Not hard to swallow. about the size of a vitamin.
3) I had to prep like you would for a regular colonoscopy, but since this thing is visualizing your small bowel and not your colon, it might be that your GI tells you simply to fast for 8-12 hours beforehand. Some GIs will make you do a full prep but that may not be necessary.
4) You can see amazing things with this cam because a regular EGD (upper scope) only goes as far as the duodenum, and a colonoscope only goes as far as the terminal ileum. Between the duodenum and terminal ileum there are TONS of intestines. It is a good idea to have it done if you have a tricky disease.

I posted about the Camera Pill Endoscopy a couple of weeks ago. In my case having a known partial obstruction at my old resection site I insisted that we do the patency capsule first. If you can find that post the information I posted is quite detailed. There may also be a second post, if I remember correctly, started by someone else that I also posted some quite detailed information.

The patency capsule is a dissolvable pill the same size as the PCE w/a tiny rod in it that will show up on xray or on a special hand held scanner. IF you can't pass the patency pill it was dissolve w/in 3-4 days and if it doesn't pass they and you know you are not a candidate for the PCE.

My gastro is insisting on one day of a liquid diet and then 1/2 a scope prep dose of Miralax as a prep for the PCE itself but only a liquid diet the day before the patency capsule. NPO after 10PM and then 10 AM appt for the patency capsule swallow. I'll be doing the patency capsule on the 26th of this month. Then you have to wait at least 6 days according to my gastro to do the CPE if you pass the patency capsule so I'm scheduled for the CPE on 10 Mar. You have to be at the hospital/clinic, wherever you are scheduled for the CPE EARLY in the morning! Ugh! Then return 8 hours later to return the recording unit.

No smoking 3 days before and day of the CPE until the recording unit is returned as smoking can darken the intestinal lining.

I just recently had this done.  8 hours hoooked up to receiver & wires.  Capsule seems big, but goes down very easily with the water they give you.  This is how we found out I likely have Crohn's disease..  Now my doc wants the Prometheus blood test done to be more exact with the diagnosis.  But without the capsule endoscopy to see how bad it is...Oh, by the way, after a few days the capsule passes, & you won't even notice more than likely...this test was actually the more fascinating one to me...

I agree with what everyone has said. My prep ws just fasting. I was allowed to eat a light snack a few hours into the procedure. The worst part is having that thing on you. To me, it felt like I was carrying a baby b/c it is cumbersome. Hopefully, you live in a cold climate and can cover it under a big coat if you have to walk anywhere outdoors. I stayed in my apt. all day until the little light went out, which means you can unhook yourself. Oh, that's another thing.. those stickers really stick!!.
it is very helpful for your diagnosis, so it is worth it. You may want to make sure your health insurance covers it, as mine really didn't (had no idea then) and well now it looks like I may be getting a hefty bill.. bye bye tax return.

Ozone and Bit, you might want to try contacting the company that developed this technology and see if maybe they'd be able to help you out financially. Also talk to your docs and their billing office beforehand to see what kind of discount they might be able to offer you. When I'm having trouble paying the medical bills, I have always been able to get some sort of discount and even have had charges removed completely on occasion (you have to get very good at playing nice-nice with the billing office, and writing pleading letters, and essentially swallowing your pride a lot - which, at this juncture in my life, I've gotten good at), and at the very least have been offered good payment plans.