Ugh, barium x-ray was not pleasant

So I had a barium x-ray today, my first in 6+ years and the first time it for the entire small intestines. First of all, that barium drink will never taste good! I think I had to drink about 20oz in 5 minutes and I barely got it down without throwing it up. Then I ask the nurse about how long it will take for the barium to get to the large intestine. Her reply? Anywhere from 1 to 6 hours. Not very helpful!

Unfortunately, my intestines were a bit on the slower side - it took a full 3 hours for the barium to get to the large intestine. The nurse told me to walk between check-ups, which made me lightheaded. Not fun. And then for the x-rays, the nurse used this strange paddle to move my intestines around, which hurt a fair amount.

Anyway, I guess I'm not even sure what the x-ray is going to show. I had a colonoscopy/upper endoscopy last week and everything can back clean except for some minor inflammation of my stomach. I won't find out about the results from the x-ray until next Thursday. I hate this feeling - I almost want something to be wrong so I can know I'm not crazy. If everything looks good from the x-ray, then what is the next step? I'm certainly not on death's door, but I know I'm not healthy. Thank goodness for the prednisone - that's taken my joint pain from nearly debilitating to barely noticeable, but I can't stay on pred forever. And the pred hasn't touched my nausea, which I have pretty much every morning.

Sometimes I really hate this disease.

In the future, see if you can get a CT Enterography. You still have to drink a lot, but it's thin like water (although it still has a bit of an ugly flavor) and you can drink all but half a cup at home. Once you get to the clinic, you chug the last half cup and immediately get scanned. It's so much easier than the old barium rigmarole! Plus, the scan lights up the rest of your organs too, so they can see if there is something abnormal in things other than the intestines.

I too always had a slow system with the barium. I was always walking walking walking for at least 4 hours before it made it's way through. You have my sympathies!

Bear in mind, though:

* an x-ray gives exposes you to the amount of radiation you'd normally receive, from background radiation, in about three days
* a c/t exposes you to the amount of radiation you'd normally receive in three *years*. There's (I read recently) a 1/1100 chance of developing cancer from the radiation you get from a c/t scan, and that's why there's general pressure on doctors to only do them when absolutely necessary.

Ivy.

I totally understand wanting them to find something wrong. I was the same way with my scope a couple weeks ago. Hubby says I cursed at the nurse when they said the scope was clean (I react funny to anesthesia). I was upset because it meant no answers. I was actually relieved when the biopsies were positive for CD because I felt like everyone thought it was in my head. Even though I was diagnosed several years ago. Hang in there.

Vitak,

With your bad morning nausea, I won't be surprised if they find a stricture in there. Make sure you drink lots of water too to flush that yucky barium out of your system. Good luck and keep us posted about the results.

Hugs
Gail*Nanners*

You should be taking something to move that barium. I took some milk of magnesia the same day and let it work overnight. Constipation after barium is pretty common and they really should tell you about it before they send you home.

As an aside - all these people with slow transit times - isn't that a contributing factor to SIBO (Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth)? Maybe more of the symptoms of CD are from SIBO than was thought...

I remember having a barium x-ray during a hospital say. The drink was pretty nasty and chalky, and I remember those paddle thingies, those weren't much fun. But I did get to look at the monitor, and that was pretty cool.