…the god damn carbonation concoction before the exam even started! It wasn’t the intense fizziness, but the moment those white micro pellets mixed with the minuscule amount of water the radiology tech provided – it was like a volcanic eruption of vomit-tasting soda formed spontaneously inside my throat. I can’t explain it any other way. The barium itself was like a fruity milkshake and the rotations were actually a little fun, like a very toned down version of G-force training. But the carbonated prep was unlike anything else I had experienced before in a medical setting…holy smokes.
Thank you to the radiology tech for being kind and giving a detailed walkthrough for this barium newbie.
Would anyone else like to share any interesting first time medical experiences living in Japan?
28 comments
Well, you get the joy of it all coming out the other end next…
> the god damn carbonation
You’ve not been to the “very end of the process” it seems. The final expulsion.
Still think its better than a camera down the throat
Nah, the worst part is when you see the barium accumulate in the bottom of your toilet bowl.
You’re right, drinking the stuff is the 2nd worst part.
If you burp then you have to drink it again.
Take the little pills given after the barium test ONCE BACK at home…
I thought the camera was much much easier .. it was like 15 minutes and I went back to work… without anesthesia
I shat myself while farting at work the next day.
I had the stomach camera thing for the first time a while ago. Not nearly as bad as some people talk about, but I also told them I would take sleepy drugs so I was out of it for the whole thing lol
Yeah it was bad. I literally threw up in my mouth and had to swallow it back. Shit was disgusting. Not to mention, they gave me pills and told me to take it in case of constipation. Unfortunately, it’s part of the annual checkup…
Proud to have dodged this for over 20 years
Next time hold your nose to swallow it. You won’t taste anything.
Drinking that on an empty stomach and rolling around on that goddamn machine has brought me extremely close to throwing up twice during my health checks. Last time halfway through, the tech surprised me by saying I hadn’t drunk enough barium and gave me an entire new cup to choke down. It was dreadful.
Check my recent post.
Had one for the first time as part of my health check. Was made to have laxatives before leaving so just vomited and ruined the toilet at work.
Went home early.
I’m not doing that ever again.
The second worst part is yes when the stomach just inflates due the soda or whatever, but THE WORST part has always for me being at some point at the test, some kind of impeller device pushes down on the stomach a bit for some reason. I think it’s just additional torture device…
The want to burp is IMMENSE.
I’ve never had any problem with the day after, they even give me the pills but I never take them. Shit flows out just as normal, maybe with some extra gusto 🙂
I kinda like the taste of the pop rocks milkshake combo
Did the doc make sure you took the TurboLax afterwards?
I’m not certain but the chap who went in before me recently for the barium check didn’t seem to say much when I spoke to him like he had a little tea or water in his mouth to wash those crystals down easier. He was like mmm, uh hmmm. Is this a thing or trick?
My first time was last year. I projectile vomited all over the wall and the technician. I apologized profusely. She was trooper though and wanted results so she mixed up more and made me drink it again. I will never do that test again.
Something like 10 years of the barium test now … never gets any easier.
I guess the most errr … interesting … medical experience was having a heart catheter to see if my irregular heartbeat (‘Brugada Syndrome’ apparently) would require a pacemaker.
Test involved threading a probe up into my heart through the artery in the thigh.
Then, they tried *shocking* my heart, and then inserting a chemical to see if either would cause heart failure …
Thankfully neither ‘worked’ so it was determined I wouldn’t need the pacemaker.
I was pretty sure I was going to die before the procedure and straight up refused to do it. Eventually they had to get the director of the hospital to come down and convince me it was perfectly safe …
On the bright side, I got my pubes shaved by a cute, smiley nurse 🙂
Make sure you put a good safety net layer of toilet paper on top of the water to catch the hell beast when it comes out during the rest of the day.
Oh…. did you burp? Here’s more poprocks.
Next couple days, toilet time will be “fun”.
If you are <50 and with no history of stomach cancer you might as well skip barium tests
I recently how the endo and colonoscopy tests in the same day. Tests were clear, however I would have much rather taken a barium test
When I drank the barium for the first time, as soon as my stomach started making sounds, the doctor was like, “YOU BETTER NOT BURP, OR WE GOTTA START OVER”.
You just gave me a supercarbonated drink, HOW AM I NOT SUPPOSED TO BURP, YOU FIEND!?
I had to return to work after my barium test, and wait for the inevitable dash to the toilet (of which we only have one) 😅 bloody terrible.
I will be 35 next year and have been dreading it as it will become part of my company annual checkup then. I kept wondering about this or the camera in the throat alternative and I was pretty sure I would be choosing the drink… until I saw your post and everyone’s answers, which make me wonder again…
I know the camera is faster, but honestly I feel like having something shoved that deep down my throat would traumatize me. I thought the barium’s biggest hurdle would simply be to resist the urge to burp (which I thought would be ok for me since I almost never burp in general), but reading the comment, it seems like another possible issue would be to vomit too, and feeling like you’re about to throw up is one of the worst feelings for me…
It feels more and more that no matter what you choose, it will be a very unpleasant experience either way. Or maybe the best solution is to choose the camera and ask for anesthesia ?