Posted 9/26/2008 7:42 PM (GMT 0)
For the Barium Xray, sometimes its called a small bowel follow through (SBFT) it depends on who is doing it as far as how it is done, but the standard is:
You pop some fizzy stuff, like pop rocks and they take some Xrays as it goes down. Then they have you drink barium and take Xrays as that goes down. You will then wait around while the barium moves through you and they will take you back in every 20 minutes or so to see how things are "moving". Once the barium gets through the small bowel, you can usually go home, depending on what exactly your doctor has ordered. Sometimes the Radiologist will use a paddle type thing on your belly to move the loops of bowel around so that they can get better pictures.
Standard is nothing by mouth after midnight the night before. The barium is thick and usually berry flavored. If you had a liquid prep for the colonoscopy, you have already had the worst thing, and barium will be a piece of cake. It isn't great, but its tolerable.
Have you had any other tests, blood work? For me, SBFT was the only thing that showed my strictures, but different test work for different patients.
As far as Bentyl goes, it works by slowing the bowels down, so your nausea may be just from having things sit too long. Try having smaller, bland meals, and try taking the Bentyl a little bit after you have eaten so that your food has passed through your stomach.