I Swallowed a Camera

No. That’s not the camera, regardless of opinions regarding the size of my mouth. This was the camera:


My symptom set includes persistent fatigue. To rule out GI-tract bleeding as a potential cause, my gastroenterologist had me do a capsule endoscopy in late August. I’ve had both upper and lower endoscopies in the past (EGDs and colonoscopies), but this was new to

A capsule endoscopy involves swallowing a pill-like camera that continuously snaps photos as it makes its way through the gastrointestinal tract over the course of about eight hours. Its advantage is in its size; it can examine the small intestines, which are too small to admit the larger scopes and probes. Its disadvantage is that the capsule is relatively small and uncontrolled, so the doctor cannot employ it to remove polyps or get biopsies.*

Before swallowing the one-inch-by-half-inch beast of a pill, the medical technicians affixed a sensor girdle around my belly and slung a kind of digital recorder over a shoulder. The camera transmits its photos to the sensors. They told me to check periodically that the recorder’s little green light kept blinking. If it stopped, I was to call them. (It didn’t, but occasionally its output was erratic.) I went home. Theoretically I could have gone to work or driven a car. I returned in the late afternoon, and they unburdened me.

After a couple weeks they called and said they found nothing. Out of curiosity I asked how far the camera-pill was able to travel in the eight hours. It succeeded in navigating completely through my small intestine and entered the cecum, the initial part of the colon.

I felt clumsy with all that stuff on me, but I never felt any pain. But, the procedure required about 24 hours of restricted eating and drinking, and that pushed me to the limits of my personal psycho-physical tolerance. Now I know.

And I know GI bleeding plays no role in my fatigue. <sarcasm>Could it be the psych meds?</sarcasm>

As for the single-use pill, I toyed with the idea of retrieving it. It eluded me and is now the local Waste Water Division’s problem.

* A step up from the “wireless capsule endoscopy” I describe is the more recent “magnetically guided capsule endoscopy” (MGCE).

Interesting. I am glad you are trying to get to the bottom of your persistent fatigue. I hope it gets better someday.

Oooh! Its like The Fantastic Voyage almost come true!

(((((((((( Rohag ))))))))))

Thanks for sharing your experience... (bon appétit... ?)