CT scan tomorrow morning.

Been having pretty much constant abdomen discomfort for a couple months finally gave in and went to see the doc a couple weeks ago and after a weeks worth of pills didn't solve the problem tomorrow morning I'm having a "abdominal CT scan with oral and IV contrast"....have got to be at the hospital at 8:30 a.m. and they say by 10:30 a.m. it'll be over.

Naturally I hope nothing serious is going on inside me but whatever it is needs to be taken care of.

IKE said:

Been having pretty much constant abdomen discomfort for a couple months finally gave in and went to see the doc a couple weeks ago and after a weeks worth of pills didn't solve the problem tomorrow morning I'm having a "abdominal CT scan with oral and IV contrast"....have got to be at the hospital at 8:30 a.m. and they say by 10:30 a.m. it'll be over.

Naturally I hope nothing serious is going on inside me but whatever it is needs to be taken care of.

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I wish you luck with the results Ike...

Have you had a CT scan with contrast before ?... I have had 3...

Hope everything turns out OK, Ike. People get scared at the idea of a CT scan, but it really isn't bad at all.

The only problem I've had with contrasts/dyes are a little flushing/heat and once I felt like I had a mouthful of old copper pennies. It passes quickly.

They aren't bad. Waiting for results is more what probably worries.

I've had so many CTs in the last year, I lost count.

I think what's worse is when they can't determine what's wrong. Sometimes. At least when a cause is determined, there is a course of action and at least one knows.

However, I get the fear that it will be something major. Hopefully it isn't and my prayers are with you.

AutumnGal said:

They aren't bad. Waiting for results is more what probably worries.

I've had so many CTs in the last year, I lost count.

I think what's worse is when they can't determine what's wrong. Sometimes. At least when a cause is determined, there is a course of action and at least one knows.

However, I get the fear that it will be something major. Hopefully it isn't and my prayers are with you.

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I've had several CT scans.. they're different to CT scans with contrast...

Neither are painful.. but the CT scan with contrast means you get injected with a contrast (dye) which make you feel all through the Scan like you need to go for a wee... so it's important that you empty your balddet before you go in for the scan...

hollydolly said:

I've had several CT scans.. they're different to CT scans with contrast...

Neither are painful.. but the CT scan means you get injected with a contrast (dye) which make you feel all through the Scan like you need to go for a wee... so it's important that you empty your balddet before you go in for the scan...

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I've had those too. They warn you may get warm and need to "go" or "wee" or feel like that but they too never bothered me too badly.

But yes, go for as long as you can, I mean use the bathroom, up until you have the scan.

The ones that bother me the worst are the long ones.. Most aren't too bad but when they are an hour for instance...

I've had surgeries this year too. I sweat them more than CTs. Other than I get some good sleep for once during the surgery at least. As I don't in daily life.

I'd rather have a CT with dye even than an MRI. But they are all painless at least.

AutumnGal said:

I think what's worse is when they can't determine what's wrong.

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I sure hear that; currently what I'm going through. I think I've needed a CT scan or an x-ray from the beginning of these mysterious chest pains but it was decided instead to give me an echocardiogram, an MRI and a mammogram and they all showed nothing wrong. Meanwhile, the pains continue. So the next visit is to a cardiologist. I don't think it's my heart since the echocardiogram was normal but I guess they'll put me on the treadmill stress test. (I think it's a hernia or maybe pleurisy so that's why I want a CT scan and a chest x-ray but they don't want to do that; my PCP thinks it's just a pulled muscle but it's been going on for a couple months now.)

@hollydolly I've had a couple CT's before but not with contrast...they're telling me I'll be given 'X' amount of the contrast to drink first and about 20-30 minutes later they'll give me some more through my IV.

Thanks for the tip and I'll make sure that I go to the little boys room prior....sure would be embarrassing to end up with wet britches.

IKE said:

@hollydolly I've had a couple CT's before but not with contrast...they're telling me I'll be given 'X' amount of the contrast to drink first and about 20-30 minutes later they'll give me some more through my IV.

Thanks for the tip and I'll make sure that I go to the little boys room prior....sure would be embarrassing to end up with wet britches.

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lol..it would.. and the first time you have a CT scan with contrast and they don't tell you until they're injecting the dye that you will feel a warm senation.. and that you will feel you need to pee...is pretty scary..... because you really don't know if the warm sensation is coming because you already HAVE peed inadvertently...LOL>. ..so now I tell everyone make sure to go the loo before you go in..

Good luck with your CT scan. I don’t believe I’ve ever had one so can’t offer any additional info about it.

IKE said:

Been having pretty much constant abdomen discomfort for a couple months finally gave in and went to see the doc a couple weeks ago and after a weeks worth of pills didn't solve the problem tomorrow morning I'm having a "abdominal CT scan with oral and IV contrast"....have got to be at the hospital at 8:30 a.m. and they say by 10:30 a.m. it'll be over.

Naturally I hope nothing serious is going on inside me but whatever it is needs to be taken care of.

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Hope all goes well IKE.

Had the CT scan with contrast this morning and it wasn't a big deal at all.

A little over one hour prior to the scan in order to highlight the stomach and intestines I was given 15 ozs. of vanilla flavored barium to drink which was cold, sorta thick and in a way tasted like melted vanilla ice cream then the IV was put in for the iodinated contrast dye.....the scan itself probably took a little less than ten minutes.

Now the wait begins for the results.

The waiting is the hard part.

@IKE , I wish you the best of luck resolving the abdominal pain issues. That is some of the worst kind of pain because it's right where we live. I dealt with sometimes severe and lingering abdominal pain for several years. It would come and go and I suspected it might have something to do with what I might have eaten or something. It was so bad at times, I would wake at night in a sweat. I was taking OTC pain pills by the hand full at times. I was in the military and the doctors never resolved it. They put me on Prilosec a couple of times but that didn't fix me.

Fast forward to civilian healthcare. I mentioned the pain to my doc that was doing a colonoscopy. He ordered up an ultrasound test of my abdomen. The ultrasound test revealed a reduced functioning gall bladder. Said my gall bladder was like packed with "sand". So I had gall bladder removal surgery. It wasn't bad at all. He didn't have to lay me open. Just several small incisions to get the gall bladder out. And that was it. No more abdominal pain for me.

That pain had caused me so much anxiety and stress besides the pain itself and for years. I feel like the gall bladder surgery gave me a new lease on life and a whole lot better outlook. Man abdominal pain is no fun. Good Luck @IKE !!!

officerripley said:

I sure hear that; currently what I'm going through. I think I've needed a CT scan or an x-ray from the beginning of these mysterious chest pains but it was decided instead to give me an echocardiogram, an MRI and a mammogram and they all showed nothing wrong. Meanwhile, the pains continue. So the next visit is to a cardiologist. I don't think it's my heart since the echocardiogram was normal but I guess they'll put me on the treadmill stress test. (I think it's a hernia or maybe pleurisy so that's why I want a CT scan and a chest x-ray but they don't want to do that; my PCP thinks it's just a pulled muscle but it's been going on for a couple months now.)

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I've been through a year of stuff and didn't plan on sharing it but yeah, do I get it. I trust my gut and my instincts on my own body but try to convince some of that who don't listen. Test after test, problem after problem causing another...

It's scary to find out it's a far from perfect system.

I'd never been through much in my life until this past year and what a wakeup call...

They are overworked, overpaperworked and more but there are also just bad ones in the system or the good ones are burned out and aren't able to do things they might get or see... Add in insurance...

THere's a ton medicine has not figured out or are stopped from being able to fix imo... I kind of rank it up there with meterology. They try to figure it out but I think my looking out the window is more spot on to this day.

However, that's not to say some things they don't have figured out very well... I mean we have some amazing people and places and they can transplant hearts and more which is amazing. There is a lot of good in it... And some GREAT doctors. There really are. I've had some. That I'm majorly impressed with.

I've also seen the crap of the system. And there's a lot of that as well....

There's so many facets to it all...

I wouldn't even know where to start. And I think most of us have seen it if not with ourselves, then a loved one.

I could also tell stories of very great things, not as many as the bad things but some...

Even the ones who want to be good are dealing with insurance and government and the facilities they are working in...

IKE said:

Had the CT scan with contrast this morning and it wasn't a big deal at all.

A little over one hour prior to the scan in order to highlight the stomach and intestines I was given 15 ozs. of vanilla flavored barium to drink which was cold, sorta thick and in a way tasted like melted vanilla ice cream then the IV was put in for the iodinated contrast dye.....the scan itself probably took a little less than ten minutes.

Now the wait begins for the results.

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yeah, it's just another imaging thing. dye one is told might make you feel warm with a possible urge to pee. for me, it lasts a few seconds and isn't overwhelming and all is fine. heck i get hot and cold constantly anyhow every day.

I agree, it is the waiting for results that is the most worrisome part. And for many, that's not bad either. It's good in that you worry they might find something/but it's bad in that they don't find anything/answer.