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berium meal?
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
hi!
i went to the doctors the other day and he is sending me to hospital to have a berium meal. i was just wondering if anybody has had it and wot it tastes like?
luv BRU x
i went to the doctors the other day and he is sending me to hospital to have a berium meal. i was just wondering if anybody has had it and wot it tastes like?
luv BRU x
0
Comments
It's a solution that you drink that shows up the shape of the upper part of your digestive tract (throat, stomach, small intestine). It's used for all kinds of things, like problems with swallowing, stomach shape, and stomach emptying.
What it tastes like depends on what they mix it with. They usually try to make it taste OK, just makes life easier for all concerned
Essentially you have to drink 2-3 large glasses of barium solution (in my case it was vanilla flavoured). Two of the glasses had been made with chilled water and were easy enough to drink- the other was luke warm and not quite as pleasant.
The idea of the Barium meal is to chart the course of the barium through stomach and intestinal tracts by X-Ray. This means you will be taken in for X-Ray every 45 minutes to an hour over a morning/afternoon (number of X-Rays depends on how long it takes the barium to work its way through your system).
They are looking at the walls of intestine for possible damage- could be scarring, ulcers, ibs, crohns or whatever.
Don't bother asking the poor x-ray technician the outcome, even if they recognise an abnormality they are not allowed to say anything- depending on your condition your doctor will be back in touch with you quickly.
One way of speeding up the procedure- if you are taking Imodium or its equivalent, or any medication to slow down your digestive tract- skip the morning dose.
Make sure you bring lots of reading material with you to the hospital.......
thank you
Good luck.
S.