Next week...

[kaypeeoh]

I get up at 6AM and give myself two Fleet Enemas. Then drive to the doc to be given a pill to swallow and a recorder to carry for 5 days. I'm supposed to note any BMs but I didn't catch whether they want to know size, color, shape...odor. Then they'll do the dreaded anal probing.

Tomorrow I go to the doc for an upper GI. I guess that's to look for bezoar. Then later that day I go to another doc for PT. The PT exercises do seem to help the tightness in my left-side-core.

[SilentEchoes]

Is this the camera colonoscopy? It's part of the protocol to do an endoscopy too when you're a certain age. Good luck with your tests.

SE

[kaypeeoh in reply to SilentEchoes]

I don't think a camera is used. The paperwork says, "...It uses a catheter to measure the pressures of the anal sphincter muscles, the sensation in the rectum, and the nerve reflexes needed to have a normal bowel movement." So no camera.

[LindaP50]

You will be under some anesthesia for the anal probing if a colonoscopy. Doesn't hurt. Why are you getting these tests? Have you had issues with bowel movements?

[Boscoejean]

I hope this is helpful

[kaypeeoh]

0 So I had no food, water or coffee before the test. I had to drink a cup of fizzy water. Then I had to drink liquid chalk. Then I had to lie on an xray table while sipping liquid chalk. As I was doing that radiographs were being taken. At the end he said a lot of regurgitation but nothing else. Nothing about bezoars.

Next week I go back for the Anorectal Manometry. This is after the two Fleet Enemas. I have stop all meds several days before the test. Before the test there's a digital rectal exam. After ten years of prostate exams I'm familiar with that. After the DRE a rectal catheter is inserted and I'll have to act like I'm having a BM. I don't know how long it will take but I get to drive myself home the same day.

This is being done to check for gastroparesis. Once it's documented they'll give me a prescription.

....

[SilentEchoes]

I had a big uro-gyn surgery that caused problems when they cut into the anal sphincter, the test you're having is easier than a colonoscopy - but weird. The swallow studies I had were done sitting up due to choking and aspiration. You must be having acid reflux to do the test lying down. Acid reflux isn't too much stomach acid - it's too little. Have they checked your pancreas or considered EPI?

[kaypeeoh in reply to SilentEchoes]

The doc asked whether I had acid reflux. I said no because I assumed 'acid' meant pain. And my reflux isn't painful. I'm generally wrong in my self-diagnoses. I'll ask about pancreatitis at the next checkup.