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.

I'm so sorry Bursars Sunflower & others. Disgusting way to treat people.

I had a similar procedure (biopsy) and got prescribed Diazepam from my gp, could that be an option OP? I wasn't out of it but it relaxed me enough to get it done had the sedation there as well but am an ox
I wasn't pressured not to have sedation at all, that's appalling that people have been. Interesting the pp who had t done under ga in Australia, think it is a British stiff upper lip thing.

I'm not sure it's the same thing but I've had tubes down my nose and throat before. One was quite a wide tube into my stomach to pump it and that was a hell of a surprise to swallow, felt strange, but there was no pain. I definitely remember a shit ton of mucous came up with it when it was taken out.

The second was a tube put down my nose to look at something in there... again a bit of an odd sensation but no pain...

Is it this sort of thing? Isn't an endoscope a tube camera that looks all the way through your digestive system? Ugh I can imagine that is very weird but the part at the throat and up isn't that bad, surely?

I've had an endoscopy and a gastroscopy. The endoscope was a little camera down my nose done by the ENT and it was horrible but quite quick (perhaps a minute or two) so managable. I think it just looked at my nose and throat. The gastroscopy was a larger camera down my throat to look all the way down my esophagus and into my stomach plus they took a few biopsies too. Took about 20 minutes. I had conscious sedation and an anesthetic spray for the gastroscopy (no choice to do it awake and I'd probably have refused the test without sedation).

All mine have been done under sedation, but with my second, feckwit!doctor insisted on starting before I was sedated. Amazingly, we were HAVING AN ARGUMENT about whether or not I was. Apparently me being in my body & having had sedation for various procedures & knowing I was still VERY awake meant nothing because he was a DOCTOR. He also insisted on trying to do a colonoscopy despite the fact we'd made the superfuntimes discovery I'm allergic to movicol on the ward the previous night. And as my body's only reaction to senna is "I'm sorry are you drinking pond water for some reason?!" if made to have dispersible version... He knew this, but he still decided to try 🙄

My only hope is that I might have managed a well-placed kick when finally sedated, as I'm one who gets all fighty with it & has to be held. Apparently I'm freakishly strong for someone so tiny

(That was a pretty grim admission all round really & after feckwit!doctor2 discharged me having made up a load of shite because he knew nothing about my disability but wasn't willing to either admit that or JFGI I was left without any follow-up for 2 years. In which time I became significantly more unwell, funnily enough. The tenacity with which feckwit!doctor2 stuck to these changes are seen with age (let's just not mention it's in people twice your age) & as a result of the Western Diet. With the latter, I did point out I'm almost vegan & prior to that didn't eat a "Western Diet" but he just kept telling me the changes were caused by said diet. I thought the woman who was in the bed next to me might thump him. I actually asked him if he was seriously telling me the changes to my bowel were caused by osmosis because that was the only way "the Western Diet" could be involved. By that point I'd googled my disability + bowel changes but he just wasn't having it & announced he had to leave & strode off, with one last "Western Diet!" for good measure...)

But yes, YANBU, sedation should definitely be offered.

I wonder if there really is a gender bias regarding the approach to sedation. Can actually see how there would be a subconscious bias towards not sedating women/automatically sedating men as women are viewed as caregivers - they'll have people to look after, but no guarantee of having someone to look after them; with men it's [unconsciously] assumed there'll be a partner/mother/sibling/friend ready to swoop in & look after them. Hum. Someone should totally do a study. I have a vague recollection that something has been done on provision of analgesia to hospital in-patients & there is a significant imbalance (not accounted for by types of surgery etc) along gender lines. But it is vague & there has not been much sleeping here, other than by the cats...

I've had a similar procedure (Nasogastric intubation) without being offered sedation. I've had a lot of procedures done in my lifetime but this was hands down the most horrific! Nasty, nasty stuff.

Never again!

My mum has had endo's and both times she was supposed to have sedation but it was near the end of the day and they didn't want to hang around. She said it was horrible without.

It absolutely does happen.

''nooka - I've had an endoscopy and a gastroscopy. The endoscope was a little camera down my nose done by the ENT ... I think it just looked at my nose and throat. The gastroscopy was a larger camera down my throat to look all the way down my esophagus and into my stomach''

DH had a gastroscopy then. The big camera into his stomach to look at a hernia. And this is what he needs again and this is what he was hoping had shrunk due to better tech. in the last 15 years. I'm confused now though - because NHS choices has separate pages about endo and gastroscopys and they say:

An endoscopy is a procedure where the inside of your body is examined using an instrument called an endoscope. An endoscope is a long, thin, flexible tube that has a light source and camera at one end. Images of the inside of your body are relayed to a television screen. Endoscopes can be inserted into the body through a natural opening, such as the mouth and down the throat, or through the bottom.

A gastroscopy is a procedure where a thin, flexible tube called an endoscope is used to look inside the oesophagus (gullet), stomach and first part of the small intestine (duodenum). It's also sometimes referred to as an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. The endoscope has a light and a camera at one end.

so ... technically the endoscopy and the gastroscopy is same thing? With the same equipment? Or not?

Help!

Hi just clera up confusion, Endoscopy is an umbrella term for all endoscopic procedures so includes:
gastroscopy
colonoscopy
sigmoidoscopy
ERCP (going into the bile duct)

and probably a few more!

Aha! Thank you missy.

And sorry OP for derailing a bit.

I get it now. I think after xmas i'll prod DH towards the GP armed with the knowledge you can ask for sedation, but you have to be prepared to maybe fight your corner over it when the time comes.

Just to keep with the trend of getting cameras shoved inside you... I've just had an appointment letter through my door today for a hysteroscopy. Apparently these are always done without sedation, but they tell you to take a paracetamol or ibuprofein beforehand. That'll help me not to have a panic attack then, right...

I think I will do as a PP mentioned doing, and ask my GP if they'll be able to prescribe some diazepam to get me through it. I've had plenty of gynae stuff done recently, but always either under sedation, or with DH there to help me through (which isn't allowed for this).

I was offered sedation or throat spray. I asked for sedation as was absolutely terrified, and I have to say it totally knocked me out and I didn't feel a thing. I know people who have had one without sedation, who have described it as the most traumatic thing they've had done. My guess is that the hospital don't like people to be sedated because it means they have to wait a while before being allowed home, whilst you can be just turfed out straight after if you don't have sedation, freeing up your bed quicker.