Enteroclysis and Entocort

I have been on prednisone off and on over the years during major flares in the hospital and such and for 2 1/2 years when I was first diagnosed but nver Entocort. I have had the Enteroclysis test done once prior to having surgery. I have had strictures in my small intestines too. The surgeon thought they would be able to possibly see them better than from the Small Bowel Follow through x-ray test. It wasnt that pleasant of a test because they have to insert a narrow tube throught your nose and put the contrast for the test through the tube which runs down into your intestines. I have narrow nasal passages in my nose so it was difficult to insert them. I had this test done a few years later and took Valium 1 hr before the test. Before they started the test they try to spray something up your nostrils to numb your nose and then just insert away. They tell you to relax which was hard for me to do. I dont know if you have had Nasogastric tubes inserted in the hospital before for partial obstructions or after surgery but when I have been awake it doesnt feel good. I ask for valium before they insert any tubes in my nose now. Good luck with your tests and all.

I am glad to hear they don't use the tube anymore. I last had the test done in 2000 at the Mayo in Scottsdale so it has been awhile.

I am not too sure if the institution does CT enteroclysis or if it is the test where they insert the tube through the nose.  The test is scheduled for Tuesday morning so I have time on Monday to call the hospital to verify what type of exam it is. I am now hoping that it is the CT type that you mention. That seems like it would be much easier to take.

My doctor tells me that this will give a better indication of what type of stricture that I have. Either it is just an inflamation where the meds might take care of it or if it is actually scared which and that would need to be surgically removed.

I have had several instances in the past few months where I know that it was something that I ate that cause the blockage. I ended up not being able to pass anything and ended up throwing up afterwards. The doctor treated that with the prednisone, flagyl, pentasa and levaquin. It just happened again several weeks ago so he put me on the same medication. In addition to the Entocort.  I actually have a gut feeling that I will have to have the surgery because the first round of medication should have taken care of it if it were just an inflamation and not a scared type of stricture.

Thanks,

Hi Ski Bum: Not every institution is doing this new form of eteroclysis yet -- I was the first to have it done in the province where I live -- and the old way (which was described above) is so objectionable that the test has fallen out of favor and is usually only recommended as a last resort. The test was a last resort for me because I after having surgery to remove an occluded section of bowel that had never shown up on numerous SBFTs, I refused to have another performed. This is why they offered to test this procedure on me. It worked really well!

I had the enteroclysis done yesterday. I was driving myself crazy beforehand thinking about this test. Worrying about having the NG tube inserted and having to be somewhat alert during the procedure because I would have to move different way when they were doing the xrays.

I wanted to let you know that even though it's not a pleasant thing to have done, it was not as bad as I had been anticipating. They gave me some mild sedation and numbed my throat and I have to say I didn't really feel anything. I was actually watching the monitor and while they were taking xrays of my small intestine.