# small bowel meal...Is there any other way?



## 16482 (Dec 14, 2006)

On Tuesday I went in for the small bowel meal. My state of mind was good. Despite regular nervousness I was feeling very determined to get the job done! It was already a huge deal for me to drink the citromeg the night before and so all that was left was to get it over with. I began to drink the barium drink taking fairly small sips. The tech told me I really needed to get it in much faster. So I took a big gulp and my gag reflex just popped it right back up. It was still in my mouth so I swallowed again, but it popped back up and out! Taking a minute to calm down, I tried again and again and had the same results. The tech finally told me to stop and I went home crying. Is there any other way to check out the small intestine than the barium swallow with air?


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

They now have a camera pill, but that you still have to swallow.I'm not sure what they would need to do to see what they need to see with a CT scan. Sometimes they still have to do preps and barium for contrast or various assorted things depending on what they need to look at.Call your doc and see what they think. Depending on what they are looking for it may determine what other test they can do. It may also be a situation where the test may not effect the treatment choice that much. Sometimes they can do the treatment to see if it works and use that rather than the test if the treatment is low enough risk.K.


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## 16482 (Dec 14, 2006)

Thanks KathleenI had wondered whether my gi would be willing to let me go forward with a treatment and see whether or not it worked. I'll have to ask him whether he has a strong feeling about what my problem is based on my symptoms and perhaps I can just see whether there is any improvement after a time. If he is still clueless about my problem wouldn't he be reluctant to randomly prescribe something? Are there certain drugs that can safely be tried just for the sake of trying something? It's so frustrating when you have to wait months between tests and appointments. It is like taking very small baby steps and drags out the process!


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

A lot depends on how certain you can be about it being a given something, and what the risks of the medications for that problem are. Low risk medications are more likely than high risk ones. If it is something that has serious side effects they tend to wait until they can be sure that is what you need.I get what we think is mild to moderate gastritis when I have to take NSAID's. Now my symptoms are pretty clear, and what helped OTC before I went to the doctor was also pretty telling so I got the prescription stuff for that without having to have a scope. The symptoms were clear it wasn't likely to be anything more dangerous so he felt OK just prescribing the drug and seeing what happened.It is a very situational sort of decision. I would call them and tell them what happened at the test and ask what the next step will be. I looked at your other post, something about it sounded a little bit like someone I met and they were at that time looking into abdominal migraines (basically like the headaches but in the abdomen) He had a lot of severe vomiting with his episodes and they really did wipe him out a lot. If they really need the barium and no other test would work they might be able to knock you part way out enough they could tube feed it into the stomach or something. One of the other tests might be what you need, but you should call the doctor to start working on the next step.K.


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## 16482 (Dec 14, 2006)

Thanks KathleenMy follow up is end of February. The waiting is so frustrating so I really appreciate being able to read about everyone else's experiences in the meantime.


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