Just a message of support for anyone dreading their appointments for an upper GI endoscopy or a colonoscopy. I’ve had both in the last 4 weeks. 

I’m 46 and have chronically low iron. It affects everyday life such as no energy, always sleepy, no real excitement for life etc. After moving to Scotland my GP here said it needed to be looked into as it was so bad and it’s terrible for my heart. Low iron increases your heart rate and mine, resting, is about 128 on average. 

I had the colonoscopy first. The FIT came back “super positive” and because my Dad died from colon cancer at my exact age they didn’t hang around. 6 days after the FIT results I had a colonoscopy appointment. I opted for sedation. It was absolutely fine! If I knew I’d have to have one tomorrow I’d get a full nights sleep as there’s nothing to worry about. After the prep which is honestly the worst part you can’t eat or drink close to the appointment time. You then check in to the endoscopy unit. You get taken back, usual questions asked, and get changed into a gown and have a cannula put in if you’re opting for sedative. THAT was the only painful part - the border tried the back of my hand 3 times but because you’re dehydrated your veins are bad so she gave up and went for my arm. It was my turn then maybe an hour later. Wheeled into the procedure room and I was given the sedative. It had absolutely no effect. I remember everything. My colonoscopy took 25 minutes which is longer than normal because I have a “longer colon” with “sigmoid twisting” which just means it’s very long and bendy. Ordinarily they’d have been done in 10 minutes. They didn’t take any biopsies as I was clean as a whistle. “Textbook perfect” is what she said which put a spring in my step. Had a rest for 45 minutes, got to drink as I was parched (you can’t drink for several hours beforehand) and off I went. I came home and had a nap as maybe the sedative did kick in :)

So if I’m not losing blood from my colon it must be my stomach. On to the upper GI gastroscopy 2 weeks later which was last week. I opted for no sedation. I liked the idea of just being allowed home. The best part is there’s no real prep like the colonoscopy. Just stop eating the night before and nothing to drink for 6 hours before. 

It was the same as the colonoscopy up to the check in but then you don’t get anything to change into as they don’t need “access” to anything but your mouth. As I wasn’t being sedated I walked into the procedure too and hopped up on the table. Met the staff (all absolute delights) and chatted with the surgeon. She asked a few questions about my symptoms and off we went. 

I was given the banana spray sitting up and asked to lay on my side - same as for the colonoscopy. Then one of the nurses put a pulse monitor on and another put the mouth guard in. It’s not a huge thing like you’d imagine - quite small. Then it was showtime. 

I wasn’t sedated so I know it’s not my imagination, but the camera went down in one swift move. I didn’t gag at all. I was asked to swallow and that was it. It was in. You can feel it but YOU CAN BREATHE perfectly fine. You can also swallow. Just breathe slow and steady and watch the monitor if you want. It was fascinating. I have to admit one annoying aspect was one nurse kept saying in very gentle tones not to breathe so fast. I wasn’t!! :) It was my heartrate. It’ll she hadn’t spotted it was at 138 when I walked in so she assumed I was breathing fast. If I breathed any slower I’d have been unconscious! 

You can feel the camera but it’s not big or painful at all. She took 10(!!) biopsies and I didn’t feel anything whatsoever. I have a chronic bleeding ulcer and I had been sick that morning (due to ongoing stomach issues) so with all that going on I have a sensitive stomach - I FELT NOTHING. The air being pumped in isn’t noticeable until you burp and that a lovely feeling. They kept telling me how good I was doing. Over and over. It started to worry me if I was “doing good” despite likely going to die in a few weeks because of what they saw but it wasn’t it at all  

15 minutes later she’s taking it out and I’m done. She did say mine was longer than normal al because of all the biopsies. I sat up and they needed to check my vitals etc because of the biopsies and I got the speech about bleeding, aftercare etc while the surgeon wrote a report for me to take home. We chatted for 5 minutes, I was walked out and that was that - drove myself home. 

I have to have a CT and MRI and wait for the biopsy results to check what out what she found but the experience itself was grand. Please don’t put it off. If my Dad had it available to him he may have lived to see all 5 kids leave the teenage years.