Anyone had a failed endoscopy?

It’s a ghastly experience but the sedation may have disinhibited you, and you maybe you wouldn’t have done all that if you’d had say an oral sedative like temazepam (like for dental work) where you are 100% awake but a little less panicked. So you could try again with oral sedative or even with none. If it helps the procedure is maybe 5-8 minutes.

Not necessarily as when you’re sedated you have no idea what’s going on, so are fighting them. Without a sedation, you’ll be more in control. As someone who has had more than 20, I personally would not opt for it without sedation / GA. My dad did though, but I would not.

They can give you a GA, or something close to. As I take strong pain meds for a pancreas disease, I refused to have any without a GA as I was half away and not pleasant. I think it was called propofol. It is like a GA but doesn’t put you as fully under, but it’s not a conscious sedation like they normally give. I’ve had over 20 endoscopies and trust me, lots of people fight them without being aware.

I had one in my local NHS hospital. Had sedation and it immediately knocked me out. Then remember just suddenly waking up and fighting the nurses and trying to take the tube out. Went from out of it to totally awake and fighting in a split second. Wheeled through to recovery and was wide awake while everyone else was dozing.
The second time I had been referred under a private pathway and had explained to the consultant about my earlier experience. They suggested less sedation, so I was aware of what was happening and could cooperate, but just took the edge off. It wasn't pleasant, but was over fairly quickly and they managed to get successful biopsies of my small intestine. So it is not always the case that you cannot do it by sedation again, just needs a different approach.

🤣

Plus if you do ever need a colonoscopy, don’t assume that’ll be the same experience. I find them a doddle. Sedation plus gas and air - I don’t feel a thing!

I was drowsy and high as a kite. Afterwards I started taking my clothes off in front of everyone in recovery.

😂

So sorry this happened. I have a very similar experience with endoscopies - even with max sedation I am trying to pull the tube out, moving around etc. Last time my consultant did it as he is more experienced and I ended up hitting him. I have no knowledge of this. They had to stop mine but they did see what they needed.

Don’t try just the throat spray if you couldn’t manage the sedation. It’s not over quickly. I had my first one without and I gagged the whole time plus was hysterical.

They can give you more sedation and a different combo. Otherwise it will have to be done under GA.

I had an endoscopy followed straight away by a colonoscopy. I was ok in the first one but not in the second. Had to go back and have the colonoscopy under general.

So sorry you had such an awful experience 😔 I had one with sedation and made the mistake of asking them not to use too much sedation as I didn’t want to be too out of it afterwards. Wished I’d asked for more as I was very aware of everything. They were able to complete the procedure but I found it hugely traumatic.

I hope you’re able to find a way to have the procedure OP.

The combination of midazolam and fentanyl is good for high anxiety.

8 months and I was on the cancellation list :( waiting times are nuts now

I didnt intend to refuse consent either, I just needed a break, but the way endoscopy departments work I don't think they have the time to make lots of adjustments as they go

I've had a nurse continue to force a NG tube down before when I was absolutely refusing consent and it was a horrible experience so I'm very very glad they dont hold people down for endoscopies.

Hardly any time, but it was a few years ago.

Did they turn the lights down, and let you play music or whatever to relax you?

They can't do that - and I'm glad - because you refuse consent when you react like that.
It can be a pretty traumatic experience for some people

@Tink3rbell30 I've had a couple of failed endoscopies for the same reason. I now tell them to knock me out properly, and the last one they repeated under a GA.

I had sedation for an endoscopy and it had absolutely no effect on me, they couldn't do the endoscopy.

In the past I've had to have GA for this procedure (×3!) because of flailing arms and panic attacks, but last time a few weeks ago was determined not to.

It helped I was at a different hospital where I had a much more sympathetic team than previously who spent a lot of time talking to me about the procedure (they had a special nurse whose job this was), and let me have a mouth guard to try at my leisure in the days beforehand so I could get used to it.

In the room they dimmed the lights and let me take my time through each stage of prep from putting in the oxygen nasal tube, to spraying the throat spray. I put in my own mouth guard and they let me fiddle with it a bit.

I had a guided meditation I listened to on my phone, and was tanked up with both midazolam and fentanyl.

It was a completely different experience than what I'd gone through at two other hospitals in my NHS Trust, (which traumatised me tbh) and I think if I hadn't happened to have gone to this hospital it wouldn't have happened like it did.

It was a complete fluke ending up there, but I've been told if I need an endoscopy in the future I can choose this hospital, and can also request the same endoscopist.

How you would go about making it a better experience in your area I'm not sure. This team appreciated my panic attacks and were SO amazing in helping me to feel better.

Personally, I would try and avoid GA if possible because apart from anything else it's massive pain in the backside and you can feel awful afterwards. However, there's no shame in it!