Time taken: 20 minutes
Bowel preparation: No eating for 6 hours prior to the examination

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The ileoscopy is an endoscopic (fibre optic camera) examination of the ileum, the end part of the small bowel. It was done without sedation.

There was no bowel preparation needed (thank goodness! Kleen-prep is no one’s beverage of choice) save that I was not allowed to eat for six hours prior to the test. No sedation or pain relief was needed as you have no conscious feeling in it.

I was wheeled into the endoscopy room where they removed my ileostomy bag and passed the endoscope into the stoma, feeding it in gently. Although I have active Crohn’s ulceration and inflammation in the bowel immediately preceding the stoma, there was no pain at all. All you can feel is a slight tickling sensation in your tummy.

I was able to watch everything on screen and talk to the doctor during the examination. We looked at the condition of the mucosa (inner bowel membrane) , checking for ulceration and inflammation. Small apthous ulceration was clearly seen and explained by the doctor. The only discomfort suffered was a gripey pain caused by the inflation of the small bowel - the endoscope blows air into the bowel to get a clearer picture.

The endoscope was passed into the small bowel for some 50cm with no pain suffered and no conscious feeling of the endoscope being that far in. Biopsies of the bowel wall were taken using a small pincer device on the endoscope. This caused very small patches of bleeding on the bowel wall, seen on screen, but was completely painless when they took a sample.

Recovery was very swift without sedation and comprised of a cup of tea and a sandwich. There were no ill-effects after the test save a little bit of gassiness in the bag. A print-out of the report was given to me then and there to explain what the doctor had found.

In terms of bowel tests, this one was very bearable and offered good insight into the condition of the terminal ileum (very end part of small bowel) where Crohn’s commonly occurs.

Kez

Kez on May 24 2010 20:17:35 · 1 Comments · 769 Reads ·

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