I'm due for a barium meal x-ray examination (upper gastrointestinal series ) in a few weeks' time. Has anyone every had one of these and could let me know what I should expect?

Hi Paul. Welcome to the forum. I had a barium meal examination procedure recently and this is a breakdown of what happened as I remember it.

• I had to not eat or drink from midnight the night before
  
• Arrived at the hospital for my 0930 appointment and was asked to drink two (preferably three) cups of a white chalky substance. It is an inert substance called barium sulphate.
  
• The barium meal I drank had an aniseed taste, reminiscent of ouzo or sambooka. It was a lot heavier though. I actually quite liked it for he first cup and found it easy to drink (I was famished as I hadn't eaten since midnight).
• Subsequent cups became harder to drink as it felt heavier and heavier on my stomach
  
• I had to wait about for about half an hour and was called in for my first xray. I had to lie on my stomach and they took an xray.
  
• As I had drank enough barium before the first xray, I didn't have to drink any more.The lady sat next to me found the barium difficult to drink and didn't drink as much as me. Subsequently she was encouraged to drink more and had to stay at the hospital longer and have more xrays than me
  
• After 15 mins or so I had another x-ray lying on my stomach
  
• After 15 mins or so I went into another xray room and had a series of xrays with a doctor poking my abdomen with a wooden spoon and moving the table around to get some good xrays.
  
• After that I was free to go home. The nurse offered me a wet-wipe. I gave her an enquiring look. "to wipe the barium off your lips" she smirked. "Don't worry, it happens to everyone."
  
• I went for a late breakfast in the hospital canteen.
  
• When I returned home I immediately suffered from diarrhea for a couple of hours
  
• I had white movements for a couple of days after
  

Anyway, that was the experience I had. I would be interested in hearing how it went for others.

Yeah i had one a couple of weeks back and there wasnt much to it to be honest. Same as above really apart from for the next 2/3 days i had constipation and stomach pain. They did tell me to drink plenty of water after which i didnt so thats probably why i had the constipation. So my only advice is drink plenty of water afterwards.

Just to add,
Much the same as Frankie but didn't get the fun of being poked with a spoon ( does that read right?).
Just a warning to  to anyone having the procedure, don't rush to set off home afterwards because if you feel the need to go to the loo you won't make it home. Go before you set off home like I did, thank god.
Hope that helps someone

I thought it was fine - far more comforting that the Endoscopy / Colonoscopy!

The drink/ meal was pretty chalky... tasted vaguely of Cream Soda, but I necked it in one... it's extremely thick, so i'd advise this if you can. Periodical visits into the x-ray room... few hours and you're done! No pain, no worries, small draught in the hospital dressing gown though...

... p.s. everything else was as per Frankie...

I had a barium meal small bowel xray 2 yrs ago with no problems at all, and am due to have another one in 2 weeks time. But now it is apparent I have a partial obstruction in the small bowel and I wonder whether the barium sulphate will go through my bowel as easily as before.  Has anyone with a stricture had any problems with this test ?

It makes my gut feel good.  Nice and coated.  It was in and out like water out of a faucet.  Hope your rays produce good results for the dr.

Thanks.....let's hope so. Last time the x-ray showed nothing unusual in spite of my symptoms, so it was frustrating and a waste of time!

I had a lower barium on 10 Nov.  I would imagine the procedure for either type to be similar.

I had a hellish night after taking the two supplied laxative tablets, I took them at around 8pm and although could feel some rumblings nothing seemed to happen.  I had eaten lightly during the day (intentionally) so didn't concern myself.  When I went to bed I just couldn't get to sleep, I was so uncomfortable in my stomach.

Then at 1.25am I had to go the loo.  I was up for 2 hours with what I can best describe as vomiting and diarrhoea like really severe food poisoning.  I got to sleep then woke again at around 5.30am and 6.30am, both short bouts this time.

The paperwork I got never warned me it would be that bad, I expected it to be quite mild.  I would have taken Wednesday off work as well if I'd known.  I did ask the nurse if my reaction was normal, she said it was, although she also said some people don't even respond to the laxatives.

The actual barium itself was fine.  They xray you first, then give you the drink.  If you like aniseed you're ok, if you hate it you're in trouble!  I was hungry anyway and easily downed the two glasses full.  

They make you wait 30 mins for the stuff to go through then xray you again.  I had to go through 3 sets of xrays before they said that it'd gone all the way through.  They had also given me another glass of barium and were about to give me an injection to help it but on the third time they were happy.

Then the radiographer came out with the wooden spoon.  He showed me my internals on the camera as he moved them around, I was surprised how easy they did move.  He took some more xrays and gave me the result.  

You definitely need to make sure you go the loo before you leave the place.  They said it could take 2 days for the barium stuff to clear but it only took the day for me.

I would recommend anyone to take the day off after the test, not because of the barium passing through but if you react to the laxatives like I did you'll be knackered!  

I had the same test a few months after first being diagnosed, I have a stricture in my terminal ilius bowel so I had to wait a long time for the barium to get that far!

My digestive system is the slowest known to man, I was there for a good 3 hours odd waiting for the barium to pass through, was a nightmare.

Eventually got the wooden spoon treatment which was quite interesting actually.

All in all wasn;t that bad for me

Had a Barium meal this morning, the only unpleasant thing about it, is drinking the chalk drink. but i would op for that any day of the week than the stuff you have to drink when you have the camera....  

Hi
Glad it went well.
Got one thursday!
9.15 am.
Nice!!
Day out!

All done.
There was narrowing where the small meets large.
Not good!
Rest looked ok.

Good that the rest of the gut looked ok. Have they said what they're going to do about the narrowed bit?