I felt obliged to post here as this forum was very useful for me reading people's endoscopy experiences. I had mine this morning and was quite worried about it beforehand after reading horror stories elsewhere but reading many good things here made me feel very relaxed and calm when I arrived at hospital. Thank you to all who shared their experiences!
I chose to opt for no sedation as I have young kids at home and didn't want to feel any after effects from the medication, plus I breastfeed and didn't really want that in my system.
It was very busy in the ward and I was told I would have to wait over an hour to be seen. However 5 mins after I sat down the nurse came up to me and said she would squeeze me in early between sedated patients as I would only be quick with no sedation. So there is another plus point - I got to skip the queue. :) Put my gown on, lay on bed, went through consent forms and off I went.
As soon as I got in the doctor sprayed my throat with the throat spray. Tastes horrible! They say spicy Banana, I say more spicy vomit haha. I didn't actually feel that it had any effect on my throat though - lots of people here said their throat went numb and they felt they couldn't swallow or had a lump in the throat etc...I felt completely normal. Perhaps it didn't work for me?
Anyway I didn't even have any time to ask if I should be feeling any numbness as they swiftly put my head in the pillow, popped the mouth guard in and in went the tube! At first I was feeling a bit cocky - didn't feel bad and I was doing my deep breaths like people here advised! I felt great! Well as the tube went further down I started gagging. Wasn't pleasant but wasn't painful or completely terrible. The gagging messed up with my breathing but I still caught a few breaths between gags, the nurse was very kind and comforting, sucking the saliva from my mouth and telling me we were very nearly done. I caught a few glimpses on the screen of my insides but was trying to keep my eyes closed and focus on breathing between gags. Rest assured you can still breathe, this tube is going down your food pipe not your windpipe and there is definitely room for you to breathe. Just the gagging can mess it up if you panic so try to stay calm. I was flapping my hands around and everything but it was manageable.
After a very quick check - no longer than 2 mins max - out came the tube, more gagging, but what a relief when it came out! Nurse asked me how it was and I said I feel great, that was very quick! And they laughed haha. It honestly wasn't as bad as I was anticipating. Best part is when they wheeled me into recovery and I saw people who went in before me still knocked out from the sedation on their beds, whereas I was up and bright eyed, bushy tailed. All I had done was a quick BP taken and then I was free to go no more than 5 mins after the endoscopy and back to my kids fine and dandy.
Obviously we all have different tolerances, fears etc...but if you think you would like to do it without - go for it! I'm glad I know what to expect now if I ever need another endoscopy, I will never opt for sedation.
Now I have a slight bit of bloating but I'm gradually passing out the wind from both ends, my throat feels fine, no pain at all.
