Due to a gastrointestinal issue, I had an esophageal manometry test last week to see how well my esophagus pushes fluid and gel from my mouth to my stomach. This was one of the most unpleasant tests I’ve ever had in my life, but it was still fascinating to watch. I was sitting up, and the nurse coated a two foot tube with local anesthetic. She then pushed this tube down my nose. My sinuses are chronically swollen, so this was difficult. She tried the left, then the right, then decided the left was better. It hurt like crazy to have that thing forced all the way down into my stomach, and I gagged and coughed, and gagged some more. Once I got through that, I turned my head to see what the nurse was watching on her screen.
She had at least fifteen touchscreen buttons, and lots of numbers and bars that were measuring where in the esophagus the various sensors on that tube were located, and they were measuring how strongly my esophagus was handling the saline (salt water) she was squirting in my mouth and having me swallow. I had to do ten swallows of saline and ten swallows of a yucky gel that was the consistency of watery gelatin. Each swallow resulted in several calculations from the sensors located along the tube. The test went on for 45 minutes, particularly because if I swallowed at the “wrong” time, the timer on the screen had to be restarted. After all that, the nurse gently pulled out the tube, and it hurt almost as bad coming out as going in.
Can you imagine how horrible a job it would be to have the job of this nurse — forcing tubes down patients’ throats? I felt more sorry for the nurse for having had to do that to me than I did having it done to me. As awful as it was, it was over for good. She, on the other hand, had to do the same procedure to the patient after me.
By the way, the result was that my lower esophageal sphincter is weak, and that has led to the recommendation that surgery be done to cure my acid reflux. More about that to come…
Tags: acid reflux, esophagus, manometry, throat
May 11, 2008 at 9:07 pm |
They are doing that Manometry test on me tomorrow… ive been feeling chest pain, but could indentify the source when i swallow in my esophagus, ive had 2 endoscopies and neither showed anything bad.. but i keep feeling this nausea, mostly gag from the pain or feeling like theres something stuck in my lower esophagus, like this itch that doesn’t go away..
Anyway, what kind of surgery cures a weak esophagal sphincter?
May 11, 2008 at 9:12 pm |
I just needed to add that.. this thing, this itch, or pain usually comes after i eat.. but not always.. but sometimes at night its impossible for me to sleep.. its like torture :/
and how long does it take for a manometry result? sometimes i feel i cant hold it any longer..
May 11, 2008 at 10:10 pm |
[...] esophagus test — fascinating, but don’t want to be the nurse who does it!, 2008/05/11 at 9:12 [...]