Small Bowel Follow Through on the way!!

[Nurse Nausea 2016]

Not sure what to expect, but this coming Friday I have a small bowel follow through scheduled. I had my colonoscopy and upper GI done on May 27th and all the biopsies came back "clear" My GI started me on Levsin which doesn't seem to be doing much other than cause me to NOT be able to poo at all -.- I've had a rough run of this so far, like many others here, but I'm really hoping this is IT. I knew there was a good chance of no news from the scopes, but this is getting ridiculous. I start nursing school 3 weeks from today...I can't survive through school like this!!

Any one have any tips or tricks for the follow through? All I was told was that it can take up to 6 hours for the test depending on my bowel motility so I'm pretty clueless on this one.

 

[bny806]

It wasn't bad at all.. I chugged the stuff (wasn't that bad tasting - nothing like bowel preps for scopes)! and mine took less than 2 hours... I did have increased stomach pains after for days... and it constipated me a little (first my stomach was mad so I had D.. then it slowed my bowels for a bit).. Any of those tests where I have to ingest anything make my intestines mad.. but overall not a bad test..

 

[Nurse Nausea 2016]

Was it a beneficial test for you? I'm hoping they finally find whatever is making me so sick! I'm dying for some answers and so far none are to be found lol

 

[bny806]

it was - my small bowel had some "lucencies".. they think polyps in the small bowel.. apparently polyps aren't very common in the small bowel (unlike the colon).. and usually related to inflammation or precancerous cells - which people are at greater risk at with untreated/uncontrolled crohns and celiac (I have stuck to a strict gluten free diet for three years now, as I have family members with it and they thought I had it).. awaiting my pill cam results - and afraid the pill cam is still stuck inside me

 

[Grumbletum]

Hey there. It was the SBFT that got me my definitive diagnosis of Crohn's. I had had an ultrasound prior to it as my GP thought it might be a gynie issue, but they found thickening in my bowel instead. When I had the SBFT they told me they saw the typical 'cobblestoning' inflammation pattern of Crohn's.
It's a pretty easy test - the nastiest thing is probably the prep as it's a bit thick and I'm not a shake type person. I managed to get it down though. My test took about an hour and a half and they had me drink some water towards the end, as the contrast movement had slowed right down. They advised me to drink plenty of water after to flush it out my system.
You'll have white poos until it leaves your system and it's kind of cement like, so you might have to flush some hot water down your toilet to get rid of it. Sorry to be so graphic.
Good luck with the test and I really hope it gets you the answers you need.

 

[Nurse Nausea 2016]

Thank you for all the great info Grumbletum! I'm pretty sure I have a stricture in here somewhere so I'm hoping this is what finds it. So far we've determined if it is Crohn's it's definitely limited to my small bowel. I had a horrid time with the colonoscopy prep, but no trouble at all with CT contrast. I think it was the amount of bowel prep that gave me the most trouble. And thank you for being detailed lol white cement poo would have freaked me out without warning lol