#camera pill

[myibsjourney]

So Friday, December 6th I had the endoscopy pill procedure, and I just got called Wednesday, December 18th, about the results. The doctor had to go through all 60,000 photos, sooo. xD

He said everything looked fine. :)

So now my entire digestive tract has been looked at through an upper endoscopy, an endoscopy pill, and a colonoscopy. And everything looks completely normal and healthy! 

[myibsjourney]

Having the Endoscopy Pill procedure done tomorrow (Fri; 12/6)!

Today's my prep day, so I'm really hungry, gah. And I've been having horrible flare ups the past two days due to stress, so that doesn't help. /:

Apparently the camera pill is pretty big - and I can't eat/drink, so I'm not even sure if I can take it with water. Ahh. S: How cool is it that this technology exists though?!

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More Info in This Post

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Summary:

[My gastroenterologist] explained that the upper endoscopy only lets you see into the esophagus, stomach, and very, very beginning of the small intestine. Then the colonoscopy lets you view the entire colon (large intestine) and only the very, very end of the small intestine. This leaves a huge amount of small intestine unchecked and basically “invisible”.

Though it’s much more unlikely, Crohn’s could be found in this unchecked part of the small intestine as well. There could be a lot going on in this large unseen portion of the gastrointestinal tract, and it’s too much to just leave unchecked.

So we’re going to have an Endoscopy Capsule. This is a small pill that you swallow and it travels throughout your entire gastrointestinal system, all the while taking hundreds of pictures throughout a few hours.

You basically swallow the pill in the morning, have a electronic system attached to your side, go about your daily life, come back in 8 hours, have the electronic system removed, and the gastroenterologist looks over the photos from the system. The pill can simply be flushed away.

I LOVE that he’s doing this. I was always worried that there was so much small intestine left unchecked, and now I feel so much better about it. And even better, it’s covered by insurance! haha.

The “prep” day (Tues, 11/26) (Thurs, 11/5) I can’t eat after 12 noon, and at 3pm I have to take 2 laxatives again. (NOOOO. THEY’RE BACK. WHY?!) I have to drink lots of clear liquids again until 11pm. After 11pm, I can’t eat or drink anything at all.

On Wednesday (11/27)  Friday (12/6), I have to wake up early and arrive at the office at 7:45am 8:45am to take the pill. I’ll get my instructions then, so I’m not sure if I’m allowed to eat/drink.

Then I have to come back 8 hours later (around 4pm? 5pm?) to have the pictures looked at. I’m not sure how long it takes to get the results back, but it’s A LOT of pictures to analyze, haha.

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