Gastroscopy without sedation?

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Has anyone had a gastroscopy without sedation and can tell me honestly what it’s like? I am having the procedure and think I’d prefer not to have sedation, but I want the honest truth from someone who’s experienced it!

I had it without sedation. I found it hideous but it was probably more that I hadn’t prepared mentally. Machines with lots of knobs and wires; the feeling of lots of people coming at me; the feeling of a tube up my nose and down my throat; wanting to gag. But it didn’t hurt and was over quite quickly

i had without. There’s no real feeling or sensation at the back of your mouth (I was really anxious about feeling like it was being forced down) but I did heave a fair bit. The nurses were very lovely and helped with deep breathing which really helped.
As others have said it’s very quick.
If I need another I would do without to avoid the grogginess after sedation.

I’ve had two without sedation. I found the second one a lot easier.,I realised that I kept trying to swallow when I gagged and this made it worse.,so I let the gag happen and didn’t swallow and it was fine. I had a nicer nurse too which made a difference.,

I had one without sedation and it wasn’t ‘enjoyable’ but as soon as it was over I was up, chatting to the staff and had some toast and tea and was fine! I work in the hospital it was done in and I couldn’t face being sedated with nurses and consultants I work with-I’d be so embarrassed. It’s really mind over matter and just breathe through it. It’s over in minutes. I really don’t like the thought of being out of control of my body with sedatives.

Yes, I didn’t want sedation so found a doc who could do it via trans-nasal route. It was fine. (Not pleasant, but fine, and over quickly)

I had sedation. The 'thin tube' that they put into your mouth and down your throat is in no way the level of thin that I was expecting. Sedation all the way! This made it briefly unpleasant but fine. I can't imagine how I would have coped fully awake.

Gastroscopy and colonoscopy in the same day without sedation.
It was fine, not fun, but no worse than say a trip to the dentist

I have had two without sedation and they are awful but that's possibly because I have oesophageal spasms. After the first one I said I'd always take sedation but the second time my oxygen saturation was low and they wouldn't let me have any sedation. Each time I was constantly gagging and was in a cold sweat, taking biopsies during it was very painful too.

Had it twice without sedation as needed to drive afterwards. It’s not pleasant but it’s fast and they coached me through breathing etc. I found if I flattened my tongue and breathed deeply like I was trying not to be sick it helps. I’d be fine with it, DH has had several without sedation.

Seeing the state of people after sedation i am glad I didn’t.

I had it without and it was the most horrendous experience. I would never do it again. But I’ve heard it’s bad with sedation too for many people.

I felt the same as this, I felt quite traumatised afterwards for quite a while if I'm honest. I hope I never have to have another.

I had it without sedation as I needed to be able to drive and I had no one at home to look after me. It was unpleasant but I got through it ok. The worst bit was getting the tube down my throat as I kept retching. My stomach was completely empty so nothing came up. Once the tube was down I just concentrated on my breathing and I didn’t retch again. It’s a weird sensation as you can feel the tube in your throat and then you can feel something prodding around in the depths of your stomach but nothing inbetween. I was surprised how low down it went. At one point it was a bit uncomfortable, possibly when the camera went into my duodenum. It was all over fairly quickly thankfully and they didn’t find anything untoward.
I had a colonoscopy straight afterwards, also without sedation but with gas and air instead. Previously I had had one with sedation and this one was noticeably more painful going around the bends. Whereas when I had the sedation I didn’t feel any pain at all. The gas and air made me feel a bit spaced out and gave me something to concentrate on but I’m not convinced it actually did anything to relieve the pain.

I had it without sedation. It was seriously ghastly, and I’m no stranger to either pain or discomfort. And then I was involuntarily gagging so badly that he pulled the tube out as quickly as possible and I was puking for a day solid after. You do NOT want them to do this; you do not want to do something that stresses the fuck out of your doctors while they have a tube in you, and not having sedation will stress the fuck out of your doctors because you’ll be gagging heavily and they will try to go as quickly as possible to make it stop. Apparently, people don’t usually “react as violently” as I did, but I’m guessing because most of them are sedated! (The stupid arseholes in question couldn’t find a vein and didn’t want to waste more time looking so they just did it without sedation… utter bastards).

My DH had one without sedation and it wasn’t pleasant. Really recommend you have the sedation.