Common
Headache
This can be caused by fasting and the bowel prep. If necessary, you may take paracetamol up until 2 hours before your admission with water. Please tell the staff during your admission that you have a headache or have taken paracetamol.
Abdominal Pain/Bloating
This is caused by trapped air in your bowel. You need to pass wind.
Localised pain or inflammation at the injection site.
Sore throat
Gastroscopy patients may experience a minor sore throat following their procedure
Uncommon
Bleeding
If you have had biopsies taken or a polyp removed, you may experience some minor bleeding when you go to the toilet. This can be residual blood. Occasionally bleeding may be experienced 7 – 10 days following your procedure when the scab falls off the polypectomy site. A little bleeding is OK, however ongoing heavy bleeding needs to be addressed. Please report this to your Dr if the bleeding persists.
Rare
Aspiration
This occurs if you vomit during your anaesthetic and fluid is inhaled into your lungs. This can develop into pneumonia. If this occurs, you will be given antibiotics and transferred to another hospital for further assessment and observation.
Perforation
There is a 1 in 5000 risk of perforation of the bowel (putting a hole in it). If this occurs you will require admission to another hospital and further surgery to repair the hole.
Drug Reactions
This will be addressed at the time by the anaesthetist and may require the administration of more drugs to combat the allergy.
Damage to teeth
During your gastroscopy, or in the event of an emergency, there is a possibility that your teeth may be damaged by our equipment.
Infection
Your bowel is full of good and bad bacteria. When we take biopsies or remove a polyp there is a minor chance of the bacteria entering your blood stream. If this occurs, you will experience shivers and fevers in the hours following your procedure. You must report this to us and seek medical treatment. Treatment includes antibiotics and fluid replacement.