Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Re: Had severe D and pain after last barium test, need another one, need advice

Hi Kelly! I hope this isn't too little too late, I haven't been on the boards for a couple days.

I'm interested in your post as I am an xray tech for a living, and only hear from the patients while they are at the hospital, not what they experience after the test is done. Although I am surprised that you experienced D after your upper GI (UGI) series, I should not really be surprised by anything that IBS throws at us!

I don't know if any of this info will help you, but here goes. The small bowel follow thru (SBFT) uses a LOT more barium (sorry!) than the UGI. The vast majority of patients find it constipating rather that the opposite, which is why I sternly admonish patients to drink extra water for the next couple days to help wash it out. I have seen the consequences of a patient getting C from the barium, it's not a place you want to go! However, if at some point during the exam you feel like it's going to explode out of the back end, I would advise you to just let one of the techs know, it's not like you are in the exam room for the entire exam, actually only for a part, the rest is spent out in the waiting room letting the barium pass thru your system. So, if you find yourself in this situation, let someone know that you "really have to go", this will likely mean that the exam will be close to being over (it's over when the barium reaches the junction between the small and large bowel, and D would mean it's THRU the large bowel!), they would likely get you back into an exam room to take a look and confirm that things are "thru". And, honest to goodness, if it happens that you "lose it" on the exam table, DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT. Believe you me, we've probably seen something much worse, as a lot of our patients are quite ill, believe me, WE UNDERSTAND!

I don't know if any of this will be reassuring to you, but I hope it all goes well, and that it won't interfere with the move!

Wishing you the best,
Marlo

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Every cloud has a silver lining!

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