Went for Barium enema today and despite following all the instructions the previous day with regard to having a limited diet and taking sachets of picolax. My colon wasn’t sufficiently cleansed, they only discovered this after administering the enema so still had all the unpleasantness of getting rid of it.
Have new appointment for the 31st August and been given extra packets of picolax so I can have double the quantity hopefully works this time
Had hospital appointment this morning at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary with Mr King, who is one of the consultants. I wasn’t kept waiting too long. Had a very informal chat about how I had been over the last few months. Told him about wheat free diet and taking daily amounts of normacol and that apart from the recent bout I hadn’t been too bad.
He suggested I have a barium enema; last one was five years ago; to give them a base line on the condition of the lining of my stomach. He told me I had IBS and diverticular disease and to carry on with the wheat free diet and to continue managing my condition as I do now.
Suggested drinking chamomile or peppermint tea when I have another attack as they both have anti spasmodic properties that are more gentle than traditional remedies such as mebeverine or spasmonal.
Experienced stomach pain in the lower left part of my abdomen on a frequent basis. Was prescribed a low level antibiotic by the specialist at the hospital, to take each day to see if my stomach was experiencing repeated infections. The pain in the stomach seemed to be related to whenever I had a sore throat I was also regularly experiencing bouts of diarrhoea or constipation which made the pain in my stomach even worse.
The family went down south during the summer and I had a really embarrassing incident I was walking around the centre of Birmingham when I farted and completely sh*t myself. So it was off to Marks to get some clean undies then to find a toilet to get changed in and somewhere to dump the old underpants; no way was I taking them home!!!.
We also visited the in-laws and my eldest daughter and I went to see the moving Shrek II which was recently out. Unfortunately I spent most of the time in the toilet with really bad diarrhoea which rather spoilt the film.
We went to Frankie and Bennies afterwards but it seemed as quick as food went in it had to come out again
I had an appointment to go for a CT scan of my stomach, this involved having to drink a flavoured drink then waiting for some time before going into the main room and asked to lie on a couch. I was then positioned and moved around in a doughnut shaped piece of machinery that actually did the scan. After a while I was injected with iodine and warned that I would get a warm feeling and it would feel as if I had wet myself. We it certainly did.
The whole procedure took about 20 mins and I was free to go home afterwards. The results came back perfectly normal.
The dreaded barium enema, having heard horrendous stories about the indignity’s and tribulations of the barium enema it was my turn, following a few days of a low residue diet and having to take the dreaded Picolax again I turned up at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary with some trepidation.
I was taken to a small cubicle where the procedure was explained and I changed into a hospital gown, then after a short delay it was through into the main room where I had to lie down on a tilt-able bed. The barium was introduced and the table was then moved into lots of positions to fully coat the colon with barium at one point the table was tilted to such an extent that I thought I was going to fall off. Xrays were taken and then it was off the table into a side room with a toilet where I spent the next twenty minutes or so trying to get rid of the remnants of the enema, it’s a bit like sh**tting chalk.
The results of the enema were all negative apart from one small diverticula that was found. This meant the diagnosis of diverticular disease was incorrect.
A letter arrived for me from Aberdeen Royal Infirmary came explaining I was to go for a flexible sigmoidoscopy along with a leaflet explaining the procedure and some packets of a substance called picolax.
According to wikipedia
Flexible sigmoidoscopy enables the physician to look at the inside of the large intestine from the rectum through the last part of the colon, called the sigmoid or descending colon. Physicians may use the procedure to find the cause of diarrhea, abdominal pain, or constipation. They also use it to look for benign and malignant polyps, as well as early signs of cancer in the descending colon and rectum. With flexible sigmoidoscopy, the physician can see intestinal bleeding, inflammation, abnormal growths, and ulcers in the descending colon and rectum. Flexible sigmoidoscopy is not sufficient to detect polyps or cancer in the ascending or transverse colon (two-thirds of the colon). However, although in absolute terms only a relatively small section of the large intestine can be examined using sigmoidoscopy, the sites which can be observed represent areas which are affected by diseases such as colorectal cancer most regularly, eg. the rectum.
For the procedure, the patient must lie on his or her left side on the examining table. The physician inserts a short, flexible, lit tube into the rectum and slowly guides it into the colon. The tube is called a sigmoidoscope. The scope transmits an image of the inside of the rectum and colon, so the physician can carefully examine the lining of these organs. The scope also blows air into these organs, which inflates them and helps the physician see better.
If anything unusual is in the rectum or colon, like a polyp or inflamed tissue, the physician can remove a piece of it using instruments inserted into the scope. The physician will send that piece of tissue (biopsy) to the lab for testing.
Bleeding and puncture of the colon are possible complications of sigmoidoscopy. However, such complications are uncommon.
Flexible sigmoidoscopy takes 10 to 20 minutes. During the procedure, the patient might feel pressure and slight cramping in the lower abdomen, but he or she will feel better afterward when the air leaves the colon
My appointment time was for early evening on a Monday. The leaflet provided with my letter gave instructions on preparing myself for the examination this involved going on a low residue diet for three days and taking ‘Picolax’ over the last 24 hours. Picolax is a digusting powder that you mix with water or squash and drink, it is a powerful laxative and cleans everything out from the lower bowel. The toilet becomes your best friend for quite a while.
I turned up on the Monday evening for my procedure after signing the obligatory consent form I was taken to the examination room, lay on my side, trousers and underpants moved to ankles, knees bought up to chest and watched the whole procedure on a monitor. The tube was inserted and air blown, it was weird seeing my insides on the monitor. The procedure was uncomfortable rather than painful, but luckily nothing untoward was found.
the online food diary that’s not designed for people who want to lose weight but for those that want to find out what food allergies or intolerance’s they have or may have.
My story starts in February 2004 when I went to see my local GP experiencing a fever, diarrhoea and pain in the lower left port of my abdomen. She called through to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and I travelled straight down there. I was expecting to just see a doctor for a second opinion, but I was admitted straight away and put on a drip, blood was taken and sent for analysis. I was later told I had a high white blood cell count and that with the pain this was consistent with a diagnosis of Diverticulitis. The prescription was bed rest, nil by mouth and antibiotics intravenously.
Diverticula are little outpouchings of the wall of the colon. Although they can be found in smaller numbers in the stomach or small intestine, “diverticular disease” refers to when they are found in the large bowel (usually sigmoid colon).
“Diverticulitis” refers to when there is inflammation of the colon at the site of the diverticula - usually as a result of one of the diverticula becoming blocked.
I remained for 4 days in hospital during some of the worst winter weather experienced in the North East of Scotland for many years my wife became quite expert at negotiating snow drifts during her daily visits to see me.
On the first night I was quite feverish but was also extremely thirsty when the nurse offered me some paracetamol I eagerly accepted hoping to be able to grab a small mouthful of water. I never realised you could take a paracetamol by having it shoved up your anus; so no drink for me.
There were a few other guys in my ward all experiencing some sort of stomach problem including one guy who had been there for some time and had to have his colostomy bag changed at frequent intervals. We all shared one toilet and had to do our business into cardboard containers so the nurses could have a look at our bowel habits later, sometimes the toilet wasn’t cleared for a few hours and the smell certainly became quite ripe at times.
After a couple of days I was allowed to start eating light meals and drinking more normally and finally allowed to go home on the fourth day with instructions to rest for a few days. I would be sent for later for further tests.
