I have seen a fair few specialists. Doctors at the very top of their field. Alas, they were stumped when it came to figuring out what was wrong with me. They took blood and other samples over and over. I got used to just handing over my arm to be jabbed.
Finally, it was decided that something a bit more extreme had to be tried. I'd had ultrasounds, an x-ray, and an MRI of my abdomen, and now they had to try something else.
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.
They offered me some sedation, but it wasn't proper put you to sleep stuff, it would just make me feel out of it, so I declined. A banana tasting spray was applied to my throat to numb it, and then I had to lie down on my side.
A nurse held my hand as the tube was fed down inside me.
You have to fast beforehand because you gag the entire time, and if there was anything in your stomach it would come up and risk entering your wind-pipe. So you feel as if you're being sick over and over but nothing is coming up.
Mercifully it was only about a 3 minute procedure, but the memory can still make me gag even now.
The worst thing? There were no useful results. My insides were perfect. Still no answer as to my pain, which was getting worse all the time.
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