I was having some severe cramping in my lower abdominal area for quite some time. After an ultrasound finding that there was nothing wrong, the next step was a Barium Enema. This is a procedure where chalk is inserted into your bowels and x-rays are taken to look for kinks or bubbles in the lower intestines. I talked to quite a few people including family members, about the procedure. Every last person i talked to, and every web article all said that the procedure wasn’t that bad. Mine was the worst day of my life.
I don’t know if it doesn’t hurt so bad when you get older. Or if my technician didn’t know what she was doing. Or it it was the fact that it took so long, but no matter what, I would defiantly never recommend this procedure for anyone in the future, if you can avoid it. It hurt like hell. I would have rather had my damn leg cut off without pain medication!. I am serious! Let me take you through my process:
The day before my procedure I had to clean out my bowels. I had to take Phospo Soda. It said on the box to mix with a cool clear liquid, so I mixed it with my white grape juice thinking it would help mask the taste. Wrong. Oh so wrong. I did not realize until after drinking it that Phospo Soda is a saline laxative. Not e the word saline.So it tasted like salty swamp water, and in my case, with a grape twist! And let me tell you, if you want to be cleared out drink that stuff! No joke, within 10 minutes after drinking the soda I had to have a bowel movement. And I was having bowel movements every 10-15 minutes for over 4 hours. After the first two hours my butt was so sore, even my baby wipes were stinging too bad. I called my husband from the toilet, with my leg falling asleep due to the toilet seat, and told him not to come home unless he came bearing some Preparation H pads or something equivalent.
A few hours later, and several stinky Preparation H pads later, I had to continue my bowel cleansing by taking laxative pills. Fearing the worst I went into the bathroom. After waiting patiently for over an hour, I gave up. I ended up having only 2 bowel movements almost 9 hours later.
Then , lucky me, I got to do the final step in preparing for the Barium Enema, the early morning suppository. Oh joy. As if I couldn’t get any sleep as it is, I had to get up a few hours after going to bed to insert the suppository . To my surprise the only thing that came out was the suppository. Nothing else. So at this point I know that I was cleaned out thanks to that saline!
Before going into detail about the procedure, please keep in mind that I have not had solid food for days, I’m hungry, I haven’t even been able to drink water since midnight, i feel like I am going to pass out, and my butt hurts. With all that in mind I will tell you about the procedure.
My appointment was at AM. I had to get there at 8:30 to register. At AM they registered me, and at 9:45 am they finally called me back. I change. I have to wait in my gown for 25 minutes until the procedure before me was done. So I finally get back there and the technician tells me that she is going to be doing everything except inserting the chalk and air, that the doc tor was going to come into do that part. Then she says that she has to put the enema in now. This thing was almost quarter sized and had to be inserted almost 6 inches into my sore butt. So after the initial shock and pain settled down, thinking the worst was over, I was informed about the air bag.
The first time she inflated it , i was literally biting my pillow almost screaming. She said she would try it again, and deflated it, and then re inflated it. The second time being MUCH better than the first. But it still hurt. Then the Doctor comes into insert the chalk. This bad had t o have been 3 pints or so of this white chalk. This bag was huge and full. The doctor starts filling it and I immediately start cramping due to the fact that this stuff was so cold. After all the chalk was in, I thought I was in the clear. Think again. Remember the air?
This by far is the worst part of it. And once the air was inserted it stayed until the end. The whole thing stayed, the enema, bag and air! You might assume its not that bad, but they don’t just let you lie there. Nope. They make you move side to side, on your back, on your stomach, and even standing up. But the air was my worst enemy. Imagine holding in a fart, you know the feeling, and the feeling of the fart at the end almost coming out, and then when it bubbles back into your intestines. Imagine that 50 times worse. And the cycle of air trying to escape and then bubbling back up would occur every 15 seconds or so, with each ‘cycle’ getting stronger and stronger. And this happened for over an hour and 45 minutes!
So maybe if it was done in a timely manner, it might not have been so bad, but it was. I still think that the tech didn’t know what she was doing. We needed 15 different posed x-rays done.We took 43.The worst was when she made me get on my stomach and she tilted the bed upright so I was standing and while she fiddled around with the x-ray process I could feel something dripping from down there,so I asked her to check. She looked and said that it was some of the chalk coming out, not to worry it happens all the time,its normal. Well at this point in time my cramps and the gas cycle was getting really strong, and it was killing me! Every time I could feel the air move down, like a fart would, I could feel more liquid come out. And it got to the point that there was a steady stream of it dripping.
Finally at 12:PM she released the airbag inside me. All the air and chalk came out, well “most” of it and let me tell you that was the biggest relief I have ever felt. When that first ”pocket” of air came out, it was complete relief. So I don’t know if maybe he put too much air in or what. Then I had to lay on the mat (and you all know how nice and FLUFFY those x-ray table mats are) on my stomach because they had to take a final picture of my bowel to make sure they didn’t puncture it during this process. After 6 pictures of that because they were not turning out, I was finally able to leave and go “clean up”.
She warned me that not all of the air nor the chalk was out.,and I really had to pee so she warned me that the chalk might come out. Since there was still a lot in there that it might just “slide right out” so she told me that if it was going to happen it would happen in the next few minutes, as not to worry about walking out the door and suddenly leaving a chalky streak. So I go to clean up and I should have known it was bad since she handed me 7 washcloths and 2 big towels.It was everywhere!all down my legs, on my shoes from just putting them on.The chalk is liquid, but after it dries it turns to chalk ironically. So I scrubbed and scrubbed.Then peed and chalk came out. The water was so white it looked like white paint was dropped in there! And when I wiped it looked like I wiped white paint off a lid or something, and it was the same texture, thick and sticky like paint.
Man, I tell you it was the worst experience I’ve ever had. I just read somewhere that doctors recommend getting barium enema’s done for regular check ups once you get to be 50 or older.
