A Capsule Endoscopy

After my IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease) diagnosis, I’ve still been having problems with a Crohn’s flare. You may have seen my previous blog where I explained that I was having an ileoscopy, but unfortunately it couldn’t go far enough into my stoma to see where the problems originating from. In June, it was decided that we would try a Capsule Endoscopy, to try and get a better idea of what was happening in my digestive tract that could be causing issues.

“A capsule endoscopy looks at the inside of your bowel. It’s also called a video capsule endoscopy (VCE).

You swallow a capsule that contains a small disposable camera. The capsule is the size of a large pill. The camera takes thousands of pictures as it travels along your gut. The camera transmits the pictures wirelessly to a data recorder that you wear on your waist.”- cancerresearch.org

There was no major prep for the procedure, apart from being nil by mouth a good 12 hours earlier than I’ve ever had before.

I arrived at the hospital at 8:30am, ready to take the magic pill. By this point, I was verging on 12 hours with no water and 24 hours with no food.

The capsule itself, wasn’t much bigger than my Pentasa pill (Crohn's medication). To activate it, you press two gold rings at either end of the capsule, then it makes a magical noise, like you’ve cast some kind of spell. The noise means that it’s been synced to the sensors on your abdomen and the data storage unit, something that I can only describe as a very fancy Walkman... you’ll probably only know what that is if you were born before the 2000’s!

Time came to swallow the magical capsule, which is now flashing like it’s at some kind of rave! I was given a beaker of water mixed with Infacol (colic relief medicine), which is supposed to make sure there are no air bubbles apparently.

Pill swallowed; the consultant then checked the data storage unit and we all stared lovingly as the screen showed us what the little pill was seeing... my oesophagus! The screen was tucked into a little pouch, flung onto my shoulder and I was told not to touch anything until I returned to the hospital at 5pm.

I had to wait 2 hours before I could drink water, but in the meantime, I had to walk around as much as I could to try and “wake up” my bowels and I wasn’t allowed to eat anything as the food could rush ahead of the capsule and start blocking the photos.

As time passed, I could feel the capsule moving through me, I would feel it get to different areas within my body, stop for a second and then move again. I was worried with all the water and no food it would get washed out too quickly!

1pm finally arrived and I was allowed half an egg sandwich, which after so long with no food, was the most delicious thing I’d ever eaten!

I finished my sandwich and suddenly felt a ‘whoosh’ from my stoma and the data storage unit started beeping like mad. Initially I thought I had pulled a wire out but on checking the monitor, the light was flashing, indicating the pill was out of my body.

I checked my pouch, and it looked like aliens were having a rave in there!

So, by 2pm, I was back at the hospital handing everything back and flushing the capsule down the toilet!

I’m now waiting to hear on the results, but keeping fingers crossed that we can get to the bottom of the issues soon!