Gastroscopy with no sedation

I had one this week, without sedation. Just the throat spray. They said before it's not very 'agréable' and I felt like telling them afterwards it was 'très désagréable'!
At one point I grabbed hold of the doctor's overall - he was surprised.
Anyway it was over quickly.

I've not had it done but took my dad some years ago for one. He wasn't sedated but had the 'banana' spray - he spent the next half hour as we sat in the waiting room spitting as the taste was so bad - he was just beginning with dementia by then but it was still pretty embarrassing. There's no way I could do it without sedation - I've had a lot of dental surgery and sedation is amazing!

We are lucky here as a lot of diagnosis and minor ops are done at a private hospital paid for by the NHS. It is 2 minutes away from the General Hospital if needed. There is a dedicated suite and the process is well managed, each nurse had one role and kept the conveyor rolling. There were lots of patients and I had a wait because the lady in front had a problem. I had 5 nurses, one on admission, 3 in the theatre (one held mouthpiece, one dealt with the equipment and one was analysing the results) and one for discharge. They work weekends thus keeping the waiting list down. I think it was very efficient and good use of NHS money taking pressure off the main hospital and nipping illnesses in the bud.

At least you got a consultant - mine was done by a nurse! My OH (ex-doc) was horrified when I told him!

Incidentally it contained a huge element of wastage of NHS resources. There were 5 (yes 5!!!) nurses dealing with this. One took all my details; another dealt with the consent form. She and 3 others were in the room where it was done - one dealt with the sedative injection ( and had trouble finding a vein as I was dehydrated), one did the deed. What the other two were in there for I have no idea.

So 5 nurses for one patient! - and there were only 3 of us booked in that afternoon!!! - each had the benefit of the five attendants!

You are a very brave bear!

Well done! Now have a lovely relaxing weekend.

Well done (brave) you! Sounds unenviable, but hope you have a nice weekend lined up to make up for it.

I am home. The consultant convinced me to just have the throat spray. It was horrible but over very quickly and nothing serious seen. 2 week wait for biopsy results.
I am numb from tongue to chest and hungry.
Not as bad as I thought!

I had simultaneous gastroscopy and colonoscopy about 3 years ago. Here in France they gave full anaesthetic which, quite frankly, I was glad of. Only after effects (for about 15 minutes) were releasing of air from rear end, as I believe you get a bit pumped up!

Good luck with that Pittcity - I am sure it will all be fine. I remember nothing! They gave me an instant print-out of the findings, which I thought was super-efficient!

I'm having mine this morning and am opting for sedation. Over an hour to go and I'm ravenous.....

That's An absolute disgrace Lucky

From experience I am guessing you have the kind of rumbling hollow feeling in your tummy this evening ? You'll be fine tomorrow though.

She's not here! - naughty girl, not discharging her responsibilities! But she has rung.

Well done Luckygirl all done and dusted. Hope DD is peeling you some grapes .

Luckygirl Deep sigh of relief. Enjoy some well deserved pampering.

Well - all done with. Polyps and some gastritis, but nothing major. The problem is therefore likely to be bile duct - no gall bladder and pain is very similar to when I had stones.

Had the sedation - DD was very amused that she had to sign to say she would take full responsibility for me for the next 12 hours before they would let me go!

adaunas - great minds think alike - last time I was wondering how they sterilised the tubes and where they had been before going down my throat!!

I found the swallowing of the "probe" the most uncomfortable aspect of the procedure. Apart from that, it was pleasing to be able to have a cup of tea and sandwich and go straight home. On the other hand, colonoscopies under sedation are preferable.

I would say (personally) that the colonoscopy I had earlier this year was far worse (comfort wise) than any of the gastroscopies I have had and should the need arise to have another one in the near future I might seriously consider sedation. Having said that I would probably have to drive myself there and back (as usual) so might not have the luxury of choice.

I've twice had gastroscopies without sedation and felt very little discomfort and it was useful to be able to drive away on my own afterwards. However, when I had a colonoscopy at the same time as a gastroscopy, I had sedation and was completely unaware of what was going on.

I don't hav e sedation just a numbing spray at back of throat was surprised how easy it was or maybe I was lucky tube went straight down .
I find colonoscopy more uncomfy without sedation

No sedation worked fine for me. My only concern was the man who went before me was having a rear end job so when they asked if I had any questions I stupidly asked, “ You do use a clean tube each time don’t you?

I'm having sedation as mine is being done in our local private hospital on the NHS and DH says that the tea and biscuits are very nice.

Sedation with NHS is a very low dose so no after effects, they are much more generous if you go private.

On balance I think I will go for the sedation. My DD is doing the driving, so that is not a problem; and life here is so stressful at the moment that I quite fancy a bit of a chill-out courtesy of the NHS!