Have you had a capsule endoscopy?

I had a capsule endoscopy back in Dec. Easy as pie. Swallow the camera - about as big as a large vitamin pill- strap on the computer pack and go about your day. Mid to late afternoon you take the computer back to the lab. It takes like 2 pics a second and gives a comprehensive look at what is going on in the small intestine. At some point, if you do not see the camera pass, they will probably do an x-ray to make sure the camera has passed. It does get stuck occasionally if you have severe strictures. That happened to me and I landed in the hospital. I ultimately had surgery to remove the camera and about 2 feet of small intestine. Usually though its a piece of cake.

it is the easiest test ever. the only hard part is spending the day looking like the unibomber, but it made for lots of fun at the college where I teach. good luck. yp

I've had this test done twice. It was pretty easy. Assuming you don't have any strictures, it should be no problem for you. If you have a stricture and the capsule gets stuck, you might need surgery to have it removed (an unlikely possibility but it should be discussed with your doctor).

My doctor required a prep the night before with Fleet phospho-soda, but I've heard some doctors don't require a prep before this test.

Thanks for all your answers. I kind of want to do this but am pretty scared about it getting stuck. Can they tell if you have strictures by viewing a CT scan first? I did have a CT scan (with barium) done about 2 months ago.

Is it possible for your doctor (or where you'd have it done) do a patency capsule first? That gives you a better indication if it will get stuck or not. I did two patency capsules, which both got stuck, but I still went ahead with it anyways because nothing else could diagnose this other stuff for me right now. The pain I have is too far in for either scope (in the colonoscopy or endoscopy) to find it. I wouldn't just go off the CT scans though. My doc was telling me about a patient who was having pain too and she had CT scans and MRI's that showed up normal. She did the capsule and it showed strictures. I still don't know the results of mine yet.. but I should be getting them soon.

The test wasn't that bad. I definitely didn't go about with a normal day though. The computer monitor thingy that's on the belt is kind of bulky. Plus, just walking through the hospital I got looks like I was wearing a bomb. I did have to do prep for mine, but I think that's unusual. My doc was just worried it was going to get stuck so he wanted to clear the way as much as possible. So that was the only not fun thing for me really, as the prep was still "leaving" me while I was hooked up for the 8 hours. But it's really not bad at all. And then in a few days, if you haven't seen it pass, they have you get an x-ray to see if it's passed. I'm really hopeful that I get some clarity with the results.. since nothing else has really helped so far. So as of right now, I would recommend doing it.