To think that if you're having an endoscopy you should be offered sedation?

[lottieandmia]

My friend had one of these recently and she said the hospital staff were really against her having sedation. She is like me and gets very anxious. I myself have a severe gag reflex and would never want it done without sedation.

My friend had a very traumatic experience and I felt very sorry for her - poor thing.

I thought it was standard to be offered sedation for these kinds of procedures. Surely it's really unfair to expect someone to end up panicking and crying at the thought of it.

That's really poor on part of the hospital. The first one I had (no sedation) traumatised me so much the anxiety I felt at the preprocedure check for my second sent my BP to dangerous levels. I was sedated and was none the wiser for the second. However I had a panic attack as the Dr doing it spent too long trying to reassure me that the nurse said "she just wants to get it over with stop talking" and that's all I remember.

That and my pelvic floor gave up and I came round to soaking wet clothes

In my experience it's always been up to the patient, Nurses might advocate no sedation but the patient has the last say - as long as they have someone to take them home and be with them the rest of the day and over night. Those conditions are non negotiable in our Hospital.

Now some Endoscopy lists are set up to be no sedation lists but normally those patients warned of that in advance so they could request to come another day if that didn't suit them.

Personally i hardly think the sedation is worth it as by the time it takes effect the procedure is virtually over. But it is an amnesiac so the patients don't usually remember much about it. I had an endoscopy with just the throat spray and was perfectly ok. But i do understand some people gag very easily.

They did mine up the nose which was a lot less traumatic with no sedation. I thought they tried that first as standard.

not my experience missy
Without: exceptionally traumatic and felt like I was being suffocated. Nurses had to pin me down.

With: done and dusted with no trauma

I would not be able to have it done without sedation.

I also think that nurses should not be holding people down.

They warn you its possible in the consent paperwork because you can end up with severe internal injuries if youre not careful

I had one a couple if years ago and I felt I wasn't given the option of sedation. I found the procedure traumatic too. Now I feel that I don't care how ill I am I will never have it done again.

One of my DCs had one recently and was certainly offered sedation - I'd assumed it was standard. He actually opted not to (because he's nuts) and was OK, but it wasn't pleasant.

I used to work in an endo unit. It is very rare anyone has to be held down but it is necessary to keep a patient still if they are not tolerating the procedure until the scope can be removed safely so that the patient doesn't hurt themselves. I saw a woman puncture her oesophagus by wrenching a scope out of her throat.
Sedation was always offered though.

I had planned to be sedated but when I got there they talked me out of it. I was the last patient and I think they didn't want to hang around waiting an hour for me to be able to go home. It was horrific, I couldn't stop gagging and they were saying it's not that bad stop making a fuss.

I had one, maybe 10 years ago, no sedation offered, I was pinned down, it was awful.
My partner has recently had two, sedation offered and accepted, he doesn't remember a thing about either of them.
I wouldn't have one again without sedation.

The only time I've seen any one held down during an endoscopy was to get the scope out safely without injuring the patient. The other thing I would add is some patients get more out of control (and sometimes feisty) with sedation, it's not an anaesthetic, it's conscious sedation and I've had patients totally freak out with it. Of course they never remember that!

I will say that a lot depends on the skill of the Endoscopist, i chose mine wisely, but of course I had insider knowledge!

I had it once without sedation - horrible experience! I have had it a couple of times since with sedation - but had to pay

I had sedation. It was fine. The throat spray panicked me though! It felt like a paralysis of my swallowing ability. It really freaked me out. Apparently they most often discourage sedation when the patient is overweight as there are more risk factors and it's safer to have no sedation. Is your friend overweight OP?

I worked in an endoscopy unit until very recently. The only time patients were refused sedation was when they were alone and didn't have anyone to stay with them for 24 hours. Even then an overnight bed would have been offered if booked in advance.

Nope - she's a tiny little thing who only weighs about 7.5 stone.

gamerchick - up your NOSE? This sounds horrific! I definitely could not have someone poking a tube up my nose and down my throat. Not without sedation anyway. I know some people will probably disagree with me here,but in my experience the offering of sedation does seem to be biased in favour of men. My daughter had to have an endoscopy and was told that sedation was 'unnecessary'. It wasn't! Yet when her DH had to undergo one,at the same hospital,he was offered it without question. The same thing happened with my DM when she had a colonoscopy. She was given no sedation,despite asking,yet my DB was automatically offered it (again same hospital,but a different one to my DD and SIL). And again,when my DD had gallstones and a gall bladder infection,she was merely given paracetamol! Yet when her DH had suspected kidney stones,he was given a shot of morphine! Yes I know this all sounds like my family are a sickly lot of specimens

She did have her mum with her too. I'm appalled that HCPs try to talk people out of sedation for THEIR benefit so they can get you out more quickly

Why would it be biased in favour of men? I mean I know we live in a patriarchy and all that but surely they would not openly want to condone such a thing?!

I had this done a couple of weeks ago without sedation. I was offered it but when I was discussing it with the nurse she said if I wasn't to concerned about the procedure not to bother. I didn't feel particularly anxious so I didn't have it. Big mistake. It was truly horrific i felt like I was being attacked I was held down and despite me clearly holding my hand up for him to stop he didn't. I was shaking and crying when he finally took it out. It took me a good few days to get over it.

Honestly it was fine, I was quite surprised as my gag reflex is a pain in the arse. He said to breathe but I found it better doing big breaths and holding it.

I had one without sedation and to be honest, I wouldn't again. The pros of non sedation are just that you get out quicker as you don't have to wait for the sedation to wear off. The cons are that you are fully aware of someone putting a ruddy great hose down your throat and you spend the whole time gagging!

My sister and dad have to have them yearly and are both sedated because they fight the medical staff off if not-it's instinctive. In the same way that I had to have gas and air for cervical examinations (traumatic induction)-you can sensibly think that you'll deal with these things then your body takes over.

Yanbu.

Not the same type of endoscopy but I've had two colonoscopies.
The first time I was adamant I wanted to be sedated but was talked out of it as they didn't generally offer it for the type of colonoscopy I was having (not a full one). It was truly awful and I was traumatised for weeks.
When I had to have a second one the same doctor was there and I told her how I felt that she hasn't let me have one last time and she promised one. Didn't make a jot of difference. I didn't feel slightly sedated and I walked out after while the girl in the room next to me had to be held upright.

Tbf I think it depends on the person as I know loads of people who have had the same procedure and been absolutely fine. I'm never having one while conscious again.