# A Tough Week and a horror story.



## Dougjr (Dec 18, 2003)

A new guy here...what a terrific resource you have going here...I was in the hospital for most of last week, as the docs tried to figure out what was going wrong. (Severe abdominal pains...3 er trips in one week!) The GI doc thought IBS, my family doctor isn't so sure...They agreed that a colonoscopy was essential...After two days of not eating, I was slightly nauseous, and couldn't keep any liquids down...The golytely revolted me from the start...both glasses came up right away. The nurse suggested a NG tube for the golytely, and I stupidly agreed, not really understanding what it was...Suffering from Barrett's Esophagus, my esoph. is ulcerated.The nurse lubricated the tube and started inserting it. Somewhere along the line she hit something, and blood came out from everywhere...nose, mouth...The blood stopped, but I started to hyperventilate and black out...but the nurse wouldn't remove the damn tube! I almost had to do it myself!So that was a disaster...the doc prescribed a different type of drink...a 24 oz. bottle of something that tasted like Sprite and 3 enemas...The colonoscopy showed spasms and hemorrhoids...they're doing more tests for Crohn's disease...So last week was one I'd rather forget. I hope nobody else has or will have the same fortune with an NG tube!


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## bkitepilot (Dec 7, 2003)

DougjrWow I'm so sorry to hear about your experience! Did you get your colonoscopy and what were your results?I've had a few misdiagnosis lately by a GI so please do all the tests before they stop at IBS. It's a miserable thing to be unable to keep food in the belly! B~


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## sillyface (Oct 12, 2003)

dougjrit sound like you had a hoprrible experience. i'm in nursing school, and i really am not looking forward to the first time i have to an NG tube. anyway, just to explain a bit, when you are starting an NG the worst part is usually getting it past the gag reflex. so once you start, the rule is to not stopp. if the pt. pukes, you try to keep it in. mainly because they still need the tube and the same thing is going to happen again next time. so that's why the nurse didn't want to take it out. on the other side, i'm so so sorry for your experience. it sounds horrible. did they figure out what the blood was from?karen


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## Dougjr (Dec 18, 2003)

They did do the colonoscopy, and they said they saw multiple spasms happening, as well as some hemorrhoids...The GI doc (my regular GI specialist for GERD wasn't available) said it was IBS, while my physician said he didn't think it was. He said that all the tests, except bloodwork (which isn't back yet) and my description of symptoms leads him to believe it might be Crohn's, but he held off making the diagnosis, and is presently treating it like IBS. He was most concerned that it was waking me up in the night, which he says rarely happens with IBs, and was concerned about the blood...He did put me on Bentyl, which does help, but it really makes me light headed and mentally dull...As for the NG tube, I think it's partly my fault, I didn't really understand what it was about and probably agreed too quickly.My sister, who's an RN, says that a sinus was probably hit, causing the bleeding. I have some pretty bad ulcers on my esophagus too, but I don't know whether that contribued. My sis says that with my severe GERD, they probably shouldn't have done the tube.I felt horribly for the LPN, who had never witnessed such a thing before...


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