Patency Pill and Pill Camera

[trebor-HI]

I swallowed the patency pill yesterday. 24 hours later I passed my bowels and hoped to see the pill. This is gross but I collected the stool and mashed through it. Not sure but I think I found bits and pieces of it. They're going to do an x-ray later today to see if patency pill is still in GI tract somewhere. It's supposed to dissolve in about 30 hours.

Supposed to swallow the pill camera next week. All the stories about the pill cam getting stuck are making me hesitate.

My question: The literature I read said to look for the pill in the toilet. But wouldn't it likely be covered in stool? For those who have gone through this, did you have to mash through the stool to find the pill? Yuck!

 

[araceli]

Yes it can be inside the stool. My kid used a potty hat and I had to do the honors of finding it.

 

[trebor-HI]

Just to follow up...I took the patency pill and 28 hours later I was x-rayed. The pill was still in my terminal ileum. I was x-rayed again 76 hours after I had taken the patency pill and the pill was not evident in my GI tract. So, don't know if the pill passed intact or if it dissolved. I'm told the doctor thinks it passed intact and want's to move forward with the cam pill. As I have had small bowel obstructions in the past, I don't want to risk having a pill obstruction. Especially since the patency pill did not truly establish patency.
When the patency pill was still evident in my small bowel at the 28 hour mark, I think they should have x-rayed me again every couple of hours until they verified the pill had passed my small bowel into the colon. The patency pill literature says the pill begins to dissolve at 30 hours...Can't understand why the doctor would want to move forward with the pill cam.