(inspired by Becka and Rajah) What's the worse Medical Test you've had?

[Kitty 34]

I know all medical tests are important but some are down right UNcomfortable!!

What's the worse one you've been through?

Mine? A spinal tap years ago when I had spinal meningitis. I still cringe when I think of it!!! (Becka, make sure your DH doesn't read this )

 

[chell]

The worst for me was also a spinal tap. I had an idiot doctor doing the procedure and he had to stick me 8 times before he could get any spinal fluid. AND the needle felt like it was coming out of my belly button!

 

[Blondie]

Had an amnio w/DS#2, that wasn't too bad.

I guess the worst was when I broke my left wrist, I was about 12 years old.

Now they sedate you and take you back to the O.R.

But back then, the did it right there, nothing for the pain, just two doctors, one holding one area of my arm, and the other doing the moving. Nothing like hearing the crack of your own bones as they are put back into place!!

Yeah, aside from natural childbirth with no epidural, the resetting of my broken wrist was the worst!

 

[C.Ann]

Flexible sigmoidoscopy.. Or what I refer to as "the Silver Bullet".. I suffer from IBS and it was only after I went through the horrible pain, vomited, and passed out, that the doctor said, "Oh yes.. This type of pain is quite common in patients with IBS.."

I wanted to KILL him !!!

 

[snoopy]

I had a liver biopsy in 1999 that made childbirth seem like a piece of cake. The doctor took out this 10 inch needle and stabbed me with it, and then had the nerve to tell me he didn't get a good enough sample and had to do it again.

Of course, I am the type of person who tends to laugh when I am in pain. My sister was there for this procedure with me, she was standing outside the curtain while the doctor was stabbing me. The first time he did it, I screamed an obsenity at him, and I could hear my sister sort of laughing outside the curtain. Which of course made me laugh hysterically. I was laying there crying and laughing and my sister was laughing, it was a mess. When he stabbed me again, I stopped laughing........

 

[preshi]

Iam in 100% agreement with the sigmoidoscopy.... yeouch!

 

[SonjaB]

A hysterosalpingogram. If you've never heard of it, it's a test they give you to check for blocked fallopian tubes (infertility test). They clamp your cervix and inject dye into the tubes then take x-rays. It is THE single most PAINFUL thing I've EVER been through, including two car accidents and two childbirths. Oh, and you can't move during the test or it will blur the xray, requiring them to take another, prolonging this medieval torture. I was sweating and shaking when it was over and I think I permanently damaged the right hand of a nurse.....

 

[A kid at heart]

The amnio was pretty bad, I felt these waves of heat come over me and everything kept going black and the pain. Since I had to go off my left side to have it done my BP had risen pretty high, and I got a really bad migraine. Not fun.


The worst surgery was the ulner nerve transposition. without a doubt it was the most painful thing ever! that includes childbirth and getting stitches where the sun don't shine!(and tearing 2 of those stitches!)

 

[Lisa L from MI]

ENDOSCOPY!!! That was the worse thing in my life!!! Everyone kept saying I wouldn't feel anything and not remember.....well....I was trying so hard to tell them I felt everything...and I wasn't "out of it".....but it is quite hard with a "garden hose" stuck down your throat!!!

I got out of there...and everyone else that had it done before me was fast asleep!!! And the nurses were bringing everyone in the room.....to show how "alert" I was.......I got to go home really quick......BUT (ended up throwing up on the ride home from the so called "meds" to make me sleepy"

 

[Sonya]

ditto what C. Ann said. I have IBS too. Only I didn't vomit or pass out thank goodness! However they did do an endoscopy at the same time, so I got it at both ends.

 

[TheLionKing]

Just for everyone who reads this thread and/or contributes.

Just like it is mentioned on car commercials...

Your mileage may vary....

Your experience may vary from others here.

Hopefully the health care professionals that are working with you will do everything they can to keep the procedure safe and make you as comfortable as they can within the safety parameters.

 

[Goofball]

My goodness, you poor things! I'd say the 15 minutes I waited on that EPT test about three years ago was really awful! (I know, my life has been very sheltered!)

 

[Kitty 34]

This might be a dumb question but what is IBS???


You guys are hilarious in describing your experiences!! I never thought READING the 'horrors' of some medical procedures could be done with such humor!!!!

 

[Michelle]

IBS = Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Sonja, I've also had an HSG, definitely not fun. The worst I had was a discogram, dye injected into my spine to determine if I needed one or two spinal fusions. What made it okay was the IV valium they were giving me at the time but even that didn't take the pain away when the needle hit the herniated disc.

 

[lvs_eeyore]

IBS is Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

 

[Boots]

I haven't had too many yucky tests done. I guess the one that was the worse was a glucose tolerence test. DH would say his bone marrow scan!

 

[iLovDisney]

During my 3rd pregnancy, I had terrible vomiting. After losing 30 pounds in 6 weeks, it was decided that I should have a PIC line. Basically, the home nurse (male) was supposed to go in through the crook of my elbow, thread a plastic line up through my veins into a large vessel in my chest. Then I would get "milkshakes" through this line.

That nurse dug in the crook of my arm for an hour while I laid on my couch. He tried both sides and had to use numerous towels from all the bleeding. He eventually declared he was done and left. It turns out he only threaded it 1/2 way up my arm. This was why my arm began hurting like more **** when the milkshakes started the next day.

On the 2nd day of milkshakes, I honestly thought it was going to be the day of my death. I felt so weird and horrible. I knew what Indians meant when they declared they were dying today. That same nurse came and took blood and it turns out every electrolyte and a bunch of other stuff was very un-normal. They stopped the milkshakes on day 3. When my husband pulled out the tube and it was only a few inches long, we thought it had broken off in my vein. That's when we discovered it wasn't placed correctly.

I tried singing a song while he placed the line but all I could think of was the A B C song!

 

[paras4ri]

The official term is external version. DD was breech and already 8 pounds at my 38th week of pregnancy. My doc suggested trying to turn her by kneading my stomach like bread dough!

I needed an amnio first, which wasn't bad at all, then after a supposed muscle relaxant he put his heart, soul and all of his more-than-200 pounds of himself into turning that baby!

It didn't work which turned out to be a very good thing. I had a c-section to deliver her...without even having to go into labor!!! I know everyone's experiences are different but after delivering DS "the old-fashioned way" this was a piece of cake!

 

[jan/cape]

Had a bowel blockage years ago.This required having an N.G. tube threated through my nose to my stomach (to get the garbage in my stomach removed) by a fairly new student dr. at a teaching hosp. He was NONE too pleased when I tore the whole thing out before he finished because the process was so agonizing I just couldn't stand it. Needless to say he and the other ? with him called in someone with more experience doing it, and she got it in quickly. I as in tears and she was very compasionate.
Next worst experience (1 year previous to the above) is waking after surgery and the pain meds. have worn off, and a 7 1/2 inch verticle abdominal scar . OH MY GOD!!! I would rather delivery a 10 pound baby through my nose (well maybe not, but it was pretty darn painful!).

 

[Rajah]

Can someone tell me why I'm reading this thread tonight?

Okay...marking my list of tests never to have done... I'm a huge baby when it comes to tests that make you uncomfortable!