Barium swallow

[ronroush7]

I am having a barium swallow on Monday morning. What does this entail?

 

[jonique]

You have to drink a chalky thick liquid, wait about 15 minutes then they take a xray to see where the barium is. Deoending om whehter it is upper gi or small bowel or both, the timing is different, they make keep taking xray every 15 minutes until it is in the spot they want to look at. Then they put you on a table and they use a wand with a camera in it to take the pics. It is on a TV screen so you can see sometimes. They make you move around a lot for different angles. Afterward you need to drink a lot of water and your stool will be white. The worst part is drinking the barium mixture.

Good luck!

 

[ronroush7]

Thanks

 

[lisadc1]

Cat-a-tonic said it perfectly. It can bulkup slightly on your stomach, or at east it did on me. Not a horrible experience.

 

[ronroush7]

How long did it take to get results back?

 

[cmack]

Ron,

I had a barium swallow several years back and it was like a thick milkshake but kind of chalky. I believe I had results within a day or two. Hard to remember, I was all doped up on morphine. I was an emergency case so it may have been faster than usual. It was fairly quick though. You have a weird poo the next day but nothing too serious.

 

[ronroush7]

Thanks

 

[lisadc1]

I can'tremember...pretty quickly it seems.

 

[Jabee]

The barium can be very constipating; since constipation is one of my symptoms it took several weeks for it all to come out. When they start the procedure you are standing up; then they tilt the table back so you are lying down. If they can't visualize an area or if they find something they want to look at more closely they might poke and press fairly hard with the wand in an attempt to move your intestines around. Are you having the small bowel follow through as well? If so, they will check to see how fast the barium runs through your intestines and will take images when it has travelled from your stomach all the way through your small bowel.

 

[ronroush7]

They didn't mention the small bowel follow through.

 

[Bufford]

There is that chalky milkshake, it has little taste and its not that hard to swallow. Nothing to worry about as its not unpleasant just bland. Then they take pictures and make you change positions. As others said, drink lots of water to keep the contrast moving through your system after the exam. When you go there will be gray colored poop.