Barium meal

Have you heard of barium meal? Is that a foreign cuisine? Or a special meal?

Well, like everyone else, I had never heard of it until I underwent one myself just yesterday. I was complaining of stomach gastric problems weeks ago and went to doctor twice but the problem still persist. So, my doctor told me to go get a barium meal test done. My barium meal was scheduled in the morning and I started fasting after dinner the night before to ensure that my stomach would be empty for the test.

Although I had read up a bit about barium meal beforehand, I was actually a little disturbed when I was left laying down on the platform alone waiting for the radiologist to arrive (after the assistant explained the whole procedure to me). The more I told myself to relax the more I got nervous. Luckily, I remembered to focus on my own breathing and started counting 1, 2, 3 like in a meditation practice and that helped calm me down. Actually the test is pretty simple and straightforward. It does not hurt but I guess too much of movie watching makes me think hospital room scary.

When the doctor came in finally, I was given an injection to help relax my stomach muscle. Next, I was told to swallow some crystallised powder and a cup of milky liquid. The powder which tasted like 'Fizzi' is actually bicarbonate powder + acid that will create gas in our stomach for clearer X-ray pictures to be taken later. The liquid that tasted chalky is barium sulphate. I was told to hold the gas in my stomach and tried not to 'blurp' but I found it rather not easy. As soon as I finished drinking the liquid, I blurped. Anyhow, I managed to hold the remaining gas left and rolled around into different positions according to the doctor's instructions to allow for images of different angles of my stomach to be taken.

A typical barium X-ray picture can be seen here:
http://www.liv.ac.uk/HumanAnatomy/phd/mbchb/travel/ba1b.html

The whole process took less than an hour and I could collect my report after another 1 and half hour later. I was relief when I saw 'no ulcer or mass lesions...' written on the report. Since I've done an ultrasound scan earlier on, gall bladder problem was ruled out because symptoms of stone in gall bladder is similar to gastric problem. It then comes back to my own eating habit and mental stability. I need to take 6 meals per day instead of 3 regular meals as advised by my doctor because stress has caused my stomach to produce more gastric acid then usual. Oh ya, by the way, remember to drink more water after a barium meal because it may cause constipation. And don't get surprise if your stool colour is greyish white. After the barium is washed out several days later, everything will be back to normal. And as a reminder, for female patient, please make sure that you are not pregnant because the radioactive ray will have bad effect on the fetus. Another more popular or common option would be to perform an endoscopy.

For more info on barium meal, click on these links:
http://www.patient.co.uk/health/Barium-Swallow-/-Meal-/-Follow-Through.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barium_meal