"Gastroenterology"

I have to have an endoscopy for stomach problems at East Surrey Hospital under the 2 week rule.  I opted to have both sedation and throat spray but was told that I could only have one or the other.  I told them that last time I had this done (at Crawley Hospital) I had the throat spray first but I had a panic attack as I felt as though my throat had closed and I couldn't breathe through my nose so they gave me sedation and well and after that I didn't remember the procedure, which is why I wanted both this time.  I was told that I could have sedation, so they gave me that but started the procedure without the sedation kicking in, I was gagging so much that I thought my eyeballs were going to pop out of my head.  I felt that they were not listening to me and kept trying to shove this camera down my throat with tears running down my face.  They gave me another dose of sedation and tried again but again the same thing happened.  I honestly thought that I was going to blow a blood vessel or my eyes out.

Eventually they gave me the throat spray as well and this time I didn't panic and I was so relieved that I couldn't feel my throat.  The procedure took place and I could feel every biopsy that they took.

Afterwards I was left in a big room to recover and given a cup of tea.  When I got home my throat was so painful.

This whole experience has left me quite nervous of having anything like this done again.