"Upper Endoscopy: Far easier than I expected!"

I attended the Endoscopy unit at Lister Hospital, Stevenage for an upper endoscopy last week. I was genuinely dreading this, having read a few horror stories online, but I needn't have worried. I was seen promptly and the nurses and all the staff were very helpful. I chose to have the IV sedation, which was given via a canula fitted to the back of my hand. This doesn't knock you out, but just makes you feel calm and relaxed. I was then given the throat spray by a nurse, which tasted pretty rank, but was quite bearable. This numbs your throat so you don't feel the scope go in. I lay on my left side on a padded bench with my head on a pillow, and the nurse put a kind of mouthpiece in, which the endoscope is passed through. I felt a little discomfort (very briefly) as the Doctor first put the endoscope into my throat, but after that I barely felt a thing. (The scope is only about as wide as my little finger). I had oxygen via a little tube thing taped onto my nose, and had no difficulty breathing at all. The nurse was very reassuring during the whole procedure. They pumped some air into my stomach (through the endoscope) so they could see better, and again I didn't feel this. They took biopsies, which are extracted by a very thin wire that goes down inside the scope (no pain at all!), and then the scope was removed and they took out the mouthpiece. At no point did I feel like retching, or even feel aware there was a tube down my throat. The whole endoscopy including biopsies took less than 5 minutes, and was nowhere near as unpleasant as I'd read. The sedation wore off quite quickly and I was collected to go home around an hour later. (A nurse had brought me a drink of water and offered me some food while I was still in the recovery room). I wanted to leave this review to thank the nurses and staff and also to reassure anyone who has to have an endoscopy: it really isn't anything to worry about!