Extended well-child and well teen physicals

Girl, 17yo, colonoscopy width added exams to assess Ulcerative Colitis and other problems

I am female. It happened in North America in 2015, 17 year old. I had exam if my colon needed to diagnose worsening ulcerative colitis and other intestinal issues. The doctor informed my parents and they drove me to the exam. At a regular hospital.

Preparations before the exam: I was not allowed to eat some time before the exam. I got laxatives to clean out my stomach at the place where the exam took place. I was given a gown but was naked under the gown. They placed me upon an advanced surgical table. I was placed to lay on my back with my legs flexed up, spread and mounted upon two devices.

I got a device on a finger or a toe to measure pulse and oxygen in my blood. I got electrodes on my stomach and hip region. I got a tube or sond in through my anus. No anesthesia was used because I am allergic and have bad reactions. I was laid down on my back with my legs in stirrups. Gown pushed up exposing my backside and Bellybuttom. DOctor did not want me on my side because of the inflammation of my intestines. He also wanted access to my abdomen just in case.

Examination with external equipment: They performed an ECG, functional test of the heart function, with electrodes on my chest and other body areas. They examined my stomach area an ultrasound device or something similar. They took stomach x-ray pictures. They used electrodes at my chest to record body functions. They used electrodes at my belly to record body functions.

Internal inspections: They inspected me through my anus high up with a flexible scope. They performed a full colonoscopy with a flexible scope and took samples from my colon walls. It was extremely painful to have a colonoscopy with no anesthesia. Each inch that the tube slithered up my colon was felt and because of inflammation they had to open up the colon using gas which bloated my belly even more. At times I also remember nurses pushing on my belly readjusting my colon so the scope would pass, and that was also extremely painful.

Arrangements after the exam: I had electrodes on my body. I just lay some time in a bed to recover. I lay naked under a blanket after the exam. My abdomen was monitored closely after the procedure. Nursies listening and feeling my Belly every hour for the next day, They needed my belly to go down to normal sized and have regular bowel ounces beforehand going home.

The school I attended: Parents took me home. I went to some other type of main school. Just regular school

COMMENTS: In much pictures and decriptions of colonoscopies presented to the public, the patient lies on the side, but using stirrups like described here is probably also quite common, only that the patient does not know about it due to anesthesia.

The decicion not to use sedation inside the blood stream or gas antesthesia was probably a right decicioin. These kind of anesthesia have riks that are generally undercommunicated to the public, and not only when it can give extra complication due to allergy. Also the discomfort caused during the induction of the anesthesia and afterwards due to the anestesia is also often greater than the discomfort of the procedure itself without anesthesia.

The heaviest reason for using deep anesthesia is to hinder the patient from remembering and telling others about details of the procedure, not to hinder pain.

But there exist medicaments that will only take away pain without bringing the patient to sleep, and these could possible have been used here. Much of the pain could probably also have been avoided with a more careful handling.

The tube inserted through her anus during preparation was probably to instill contrast fluid for the stomach x-ray and for a more thorrough flushing of the colon before the colonoscopy.

Even though this exam was for a specific purpose, it seemed to follow the same procedure as the extended well-child physicals described in other reports. It seems like this hospital had drilled in this algorithm, and probably such physicals is performed in this area too.

Knut Holt