Scoping

[Ramses II CP]

I had an endoscopy done about 5 years ago, it's no big deal. They'll try to give you valium to make you relax (Which I refused), sit you in a very quiet room for awhile, and then they spray a 'caine based anesthetic down your throat and make you swallow. It tastes like acid, really horrible, and it's uncomfortable, but it works. They'll have you do that 4-5 times probably, until you're pretty sure you're numb, and then the doc takes a semi-flexible metal tube and gradually inserts it all the way down to your stomach from your mouth.

This is also uncomfortable, and if you're unprepared you might panic at the brief sensation of being unable to breathe, but that's an illusion. You can breathe without difficulty unless you freak yourself out and start coughing. Remain calm and the Doc's exam inside your stomach won't take too long. Then he'll remove the tube and yer done.

If you don't look flighty the Doc will let you see the monitor relaying the information from the camera at the tip of the tube. That was absolutely fascinating to me, especially when he found a little dark spot and used the sort of grabber thing on the end of the tube to take a sample. The single oddest sensation of my entire life to date was feeling something sort of pull on the inside of the half numb edge of my upper stomach. There is no way to effectively describe it, even getting deep stitches doesn't really compare in my experience.

I coughed/gagged twice when the tube moved through the valve between my throat and stomach, and the coughing makes it worse, not better, but otherwise it was a cakewalk. Took about 10-12 minutes from the time I swallowed the 'caine stuff. My biopsy came back negative for anything serious, and I only very rarely have to take anything for acid problems anymore. In my case the #1 cause of my trouble was drinking high acid and sugar soda too often.

Good luck.