Camera Pill tomorrow - what's your experience?

[JenS]

Hi! I'm new to this group but not new to Crohn's. I had been in remission from mild Crohn's for 9 years (since my first pregnancy!). Four months ago, blood test showed I was severely anemic. Stool test was positive for blood (it's hidden as I couldn't see it!). Colonoscopy was CLEAR so I have to do the camera pill tomorrow.

I'm prepping now ugh. (Which btw, I just prepped four weeks ago for colonoscopy--ugh!! twice in one month).

I'd love to hear personal stories about the camera. Did you feel it moving? What were your results? Did you find the camera in your poop??

 

[PsychoJane]

Hi Jen!
I've had the pill cam twice so far. I have a bag so it is a bit different on the long run but still.

Essentially, you arrive at the hospital (or elsewhere) and they have you swallowing the pill (if you haven't seen it it is a bit bigger than a multi-vitamin tablet I would say). They hook you me up with wireless transmittors and then they set me free for a few hours. After I would come back as they want to make sure the pill passes from the stomach to the small intestins and then you live your life until it gets out. They will tell you at some point where you can eat again (I can't recall how long after it was, maybe 3-4 hours...). For me, in a few hours the pill can be out if I walk a lot. Since It end up in my bag, it is easy to find. If your transit is "normal" you should be able to release it in an amount of time that allows the leds to still be flashing in the pill. I would assume this can help to be able to tell that it passed in your stool.

They were able to determine my disease activity the first time I did it and to tell that it had healed in the second. It takes numerous picture like, countless pretty much and the resolution is rather great so they can see if you have ulceration through out your small intestine.

So yeah, prepping is the worst part, then it should go smoothly

 

[JenS]

Great, thank you Jayne!! How long do results take??

 

[PsychoJane]

This really depends on your doctor. I think it took about two weeks for mine but this was because he had tons of things going and this exam, considering the amount of pictures they have to look at, it is a bit of a time taxing procedure.

 

[rdehof]

Hi Jen,

I had my first camera swallow this past winter and as Jane said it is quite painless (other than the prep of course!) I did not feel the camera pill moving at all, and being the curious person I am I had to take pics of the camera before I swallowed it:

I had to wear a wireless receiver belt around my abdomen that had a flashing LED that I had to make sure was flashing every 3 seconds or so if I remember correctly. That meant the pill cam was sending pictures to the belt.

I will say, I did find the camera in the toilet! It was creepy as hell, the LED light on the camera pill is SUPER BRIGHT and I just remember a bright light flashing up out of the toilet, sooooo weird!

The times for the camera to "exit" varies greatly I am told but my gastro wanted me back in 8 hours. I passed the camera in 2 hours, but I was and still am dealing with a very nasty flare.

My results took a month, first the Radiologist at the GI office had to evaluate the images then my GI looked at a smaller set of detailed images that the Radiologist determined were worth looking at. It was successful in finding scarring/narrowing near my ileum I was not aware of.

 

[crohn's boy]

:ycool::ycool:

Hi! I'm new to this group but not new to Crohn's. I had been in remission from mild Crohn's for 9 years (since my first pregnancy!). Four months ago, blood test showed I was severely anemic. Stool test was positive for blood (it's hidden as I couldn't see it!). Colonoscopy was CLEAR so I have to do the camera pill tomorrow.

I'm prepping now ugh. (Which btw, I just prepped four weeks ago for colonoscopy--ugh!! twice in one month).

I'd love to hear personal stories about the camera. Did you feel it moving? What were your results? Did you find the camera in your poop??

Well they put me to sleep yes I did feel it moving I am now 16 I was. 12 win they sed I have crohn's it's ben five years sice thin they also made me drink white stuff an x reyed my small intestints :ghug:

 

[JenS]

I swallowed the pill at 7:40am. I usually can't swallow large pills but it went down pretty easy!! (I can't feel the camera moving through me per se but a couple of times I had some random quick pains or twitches!) I go back at 3:40pm to remove the transmitter.