Monday, September 16, 2013

Normal Tests and Gastric Emptying Study

The small bowel follow through and the video capsule endoscopy come back normal. Absolutely nothing abnormal is seen. At this point, Dr. Frech is thinking that I may have what they call Bile Salt Diarrhea. This condition happens sometimes in people after having their gallbladder removed. You can take medicine that binds to the extra bile in your intestinal tract and helps remove it from your system. However, he also wants to do more testing to make sure nothing else too major is going on because the bile salt diarrhea condition doesn’t match all the symptoms. It’s a good thing I have great insurance.

The next test he orders is a Gastric Emptying Study and then 2 days later a CT scan with and without contrast. Once again, you have to fast for 12 hours. I check into IMC Radiology Department at 8:00 in the morning. When you are taken back, they take you into a small room and then proceed to cook you “breakfast”. This lovely breakfast includes scrambled eggs, toast with jam, and a glass of water. However, in the scrambled eggs they put a form of radioactive dye/tracer so they can watch it move through your digestive system. You are also required to eat everything on your plate. Once the food is gone, they begin taking x-rays of your abdomen. They do this every 30 minutes for 2 hours.


All results for the gastric emptying study come back normal.

No comments:

Post a Comment