# Has anyone had a pill cam?



## Mary

Has anyone every had a pill cam? Does it show your stomach? and how long did you have to wait for your results?


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## Jennjenn

I had the pill cam....It shows everything from even when you are putting it in your mouth....For the results that depends on when your doctor takes the time to look over the results....They are ready to be viewed my doctor said after I handed it back to him. They look at all the pictures on the computer and there are thousands of them to be reviewed. 
I had to go in for Xrays for a couple days after because the camera stopped right around my ileum and that where a majority of my problems are. They thought it was stuck in me so the did a few x rays to make sure over a couple days.
I was told to be on the safe side and that more can be done with a regular colonoscopy with biopsies and that since I had narrowing before that we will stick to the old fashion way.


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## lucitcha

I´m having one next week (dec 9). and looking forward to it. Maybe it will help finally discovering what´s wrong with me.


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## Fog Ducker

Thats crazy I didnt know they had pill cams!


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## Magpie

Hi I'm new to the forum  - this is my first post so I hope I work out how to post it once I've typed it in!

I had a pill cam in September - the pill takes thousands of photos all the way through your digestive tract, until the battery runs out, which for me was when it got into my large intestine.  I was worried about it getting stuck inside me but I passed it out the next day.  My consultant got the results back to me within a week.  My top tip is to wear a top with plenty of room in it - they stick lots of sensors on your abdomen, and connect them with some thick wires that come out under the bottom of your top and go into a little bag you wear across your body.  Where I had it done, they send you away once you're pilled and sensored up, and you come back at the end of the day to give back the equipment.  I went out to do a bit of shopping but I saw a few people eyeing up the wires and giving me suspicious looks, so I decided to go home!  

Mary and Lucitcha - hope your tests go well and you get some answers.  

Karen


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## drew_wymore

It's easier than a colonoscopy ladies. I've had *5* of them. They take on average 5000 images that are strung together to give basically a live view of your entire digestive tract. 

You'll breeze through it and hopefully get the information your docs need.


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## NatalieMT

I'm having a capsule endoscopy within the next few weeks, so thankyou everyone for the information. To be honest it sounds so much easier than a colonoscopy - I would not want another one of those at the moment.

My consultant was slightly worried that the pill might get stuck somewhere along the way and says I may need a small bowel follow through beforehand to check but that's not for definite. They might do it anyway and just fish the pill out if anything does go wrong.


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## Mary

*Does the Pill Cam show your stomach*

I have been haveing stomach issues as well and had a pill cam for my colon but does it take pictures of your stomach too?


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## Colt

No. The Pill Cam does not effectively show your stomach. The camera MIGHT be turned on while it is in your stomach but the stomach is a wrinkly twisted mess and you can't see anything. To see the stomach you need to inflate it fully with pumped in air which requires an upper endoscopy.

I had a negative pill cam and then later they did an endoscopy and found inflammation and erosion throughout my stomach and duodenum. My GI wrote off that area because of the pill cam until one of his underlings handed him his ego on a platter. It didn't really matter though. He's too proud to admit it and keeps dismissing it as 'mild gastritis' which is not at all what his own scope report says. He really wanted it to be H. Pylori when he found it and then got pretty miffed when it turned out to be simply chronic inflammation.


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## lucitcha

I´m having mine TOMORROW. Doing preps today, with a strictly liquid diet and some manitol at night (I´m expecting a night in the bathroom...).


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## drew_wymore

Good luck Luchita and the rest of the folks who are having cams in the next little while. 

Here's a little more info that might help ease any fears you might have.

A short video I made of the camera before I swallowed it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs0rIuXcOfo

I can't find the pics of the sensor harness I took but it's rather bulky but not too bothersome.


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## lucitcha

Thanx Drew!


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## lucitcha

Hey!
I had my pill cam yesterday... I felt really bad because of the preps (no food/water for 12 hours + a high dose of mannitol). I got dehydrated and had to be put on IV fluids. But the procedure was really a piece of cake. I slept most of the afternoon, tyred after a night in the toilet + dehydration, and came back to the lab to take the equipment off.

I really needed a LARGE shirt, and it really looks like you´re a terrorist or something, the belt that capture the images is huge!

Still waiting to pass the pill, it hasn´t come out yet.

Hope it actually shows something!


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## RachLG

I had a capsule endoscopy a few weeks ago and just got the results leading to my tentative diagnosis with Crohn's.  The test itself is very easy, but the prep work is the not so great part...here's an account of my experience, as what I read on the internet didn't give any detail of what to expect.  The day before, I had to stop eating and stuck to a liquid diet (broth, water, apple juice...) and then the perscription "clean-me-out" drink was said to begin at 5PM.  From my experience with colonoscopy prep, I decided to start earlier than 5 because for some reason it doesn't hit me until about 6-7hrs later (does anyone else have this problem?).  You are to have nothing to drink after 10PM that night, except sips to take pills.  The morning of my test I couldn't eat/drink anything.  When I go to the hospital, the nurse took me into an office, not even a patient room, and had me hold up my shirt while she put 7 electrodes on my belly (each with adhesive pathes about 3''x2'').  She then connected all of the electrodes long thick wires to a very large receiver - this was the most surprising moment, the size of the receiver (about 9''x6''x4'') and then put the receiver into this fanny-pack carrier.  I then sat down to swallow the camera, which is slightly larger than a vitamin sup or fish oil pill.  The nurse then instructed me to drink a glass of water followed by this mixture that "is given to newborns to decrease tummy bubbles" - it was actually quite yummy!  I was then sent home and instructed to do the following: don't eat for 4hrs, then you can have a small snack (I had some soup and crackers), and return in 8hrs to have the patches removed (which also removed quite a bit of my skin, but I'm weird like that).  You'll also have to look at the receiver every so often to make sure this light is flashing (indicating the camera and receiver are "talking").  I laid down most of the day because the receiver was heavy and hurthing my back...I'm not going to do well as a pregnant woman   And then the camera eventually passes about 24-48hrs later (well, it's supposed to, but reading this thread it sometimes does not - see your doctor) and it's flushed!  Which I also thought was neat!  The results for mine took about 2weeks since there are so many photos to look at.  I would advise you to bring a large coat/sweatshirt to wear after everything is attahced - I felt like a patient trying to escape with half my life support equipment as I left the hospital.  Hope that helps!!!!


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## lucitcha

Hahahaha it´s really HUGE! And hot! The receiver heats up. And it´s already HOT in Rio, btw...
I´ll have to wait 2 weeks for the results, too (I´m guessing a little more, since it will be christmas and all.
The "clean-me-out" drink (mannitol in my case) works quick for me. I actually have to be near a bathroom while I drink it. The thing is: the effect lasts long, so I couldn´t really rest at night.
I´m still looking for my pillcam everytime I go to the bathroom, and it´s not out yet. Yuck!


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