Questions about the pill camera

Hi All,
I decided to make a new thread about this because others may have questions as well. Our doctor has not told us what kind of prep you have to do beforehand and if you can eat during the procedure. If your child has had it done can you pipe in and let us know what to expect before during and after. thanks!

No experience with a pillcam but hope all goes well and it gives you some answers!

When Ryan did the pillcam, he did prep similar to that for a scope. He was at the hospital, so they gave him about 8 glasses of sprite mixed with something like miralax to drink, then NPO. Then he took the pillcam like a pill and wore a tight belt with a receiver on it. He just wore the belt around and played video games all day after that. They did encourage him to get up and move around. The camera is only active for a limited time. Moving around makes it go farther so that hopefully they get pic all the way through the SI and maybe into the colon. It didn't make it into the colon for us while it was active.

Good luck with the pill cam. After prep, it was easy.

My son recently had the pill cam. It seems unusal in the UK as none of the medical staff had ever seen it and were fasinated with it !
My son had his done under anesthetic as he was having an endoscopy at the same time. I did see the size of the camera though and don't think he would have been able to swallow it.
He couldn't drink for a couple of hours after having it or eat anything as they needed the camera to start it's journey.
They do need to get up and walk around as this makes the camera move better. We were told the batteries last around 8 hours.
The receiver and recorder are fairly heavy as well to move around with.

I am so pleased that my son had this done, as they finally found out what was causing his flare. The crohns was found in his small bowel and iliem and jejunm [ sp ] He had so many tests before and nothing was picking up the cause.

I hope that you also get the answers you need for you daughter, good luck x

My daughter had full prep the previous day and then clear liquids the day of (maybe after a couple hours?) After about 4-5 hours I think she was able to eat a light lunch... She spent the day hanging out at a mall and went to watch the Hobbit in 3D at the theatre while they waited for the time to pass to have the equipment taken off.

Hi there I reiterate what previous people on posts have said. Yes you do have prep meds at home first. After that it is very easy.Swallow a small capsule pill and wired to a belt which feeds info into their computer. After 2 hours allowed a drink and they can observe on camera. Later a light lunch.It is the easiest test I have had, rarely done. Last one to discover I have Crohns. Do not worry ¡ I hope all goes well for her.

I had a pillcam once, but I didn't need any prep for it. Just told not to eat x hours before, not to drink y hours. You can eat and drink at certain times after the pill has gone down - can't remember exactly but it was a relief after the fasting! The pill was actually way easier to get down than I thought it would be, though my mum told me I had a blinking blue light in my cheek while I swallowed it
Carrying everything around is ok, as it was strapped on like a belt for me. The only hard part in that respect was getting the patches off my chest and abdomen - even with loads of easing and acetate it still hurt!
Hope all goes well

Hi there, Correction : I did not take prep meds before only given a time when to fast. I had forgotten about that! Best wishes,

A is having her pill came this Friday but our instructions are the same as with the dummy pill. The day before the pill she is to start a clear liquid diet after lunch. No medicated prep involved. We are to be at the hospital at 7 AM so she can swallow the pill by 7:30. She can have a drink 2 hours after swallowing, and a light snack 4 hours after swallowing. We are to return to the hospital at 2:30 to return the belt. Seems simple enough.

Thanks everyone for the replies. I am still waiting to hear back from the doctor about whether she needs to do a prep. We did start her on clears after breakfast. I have called the doctor a bunch of times but they keep saying she is in clinic and will get back to us. I am also still waiting to hear the exact time to be there.probably around 10 am again. We plan to do something fun while she has it on.

We're going to do something fun too as a reward for being such a trooper. We're planning on playing mini golf at a fun course and then grabbing a snack at Downtown Disney.

They finally called and said yes you have to do a prep. She said either mag citrate or miralax. How fun!

Interesting. I have the paperwork from the pill cam company and it doesn't mention anything about a prep. But I suppose each child is different and each doctor has different preferences. A passed the dummy pill in a little over 6 hours. If she had done a prep first she probably would have passed it in 4! lol

I am glad sh eis doing the prep ... I recommend it. Danny had 2 pillcams and the only prep was nothing to eat the night before or AM of. There were some imgages where they were not sure if it was a lesion or debris. I thought ... well, if he was given a prep, then there would not be so much debris possibly covering things up. He was told not to eat anything the first few hours after the pill was inserted/swallowed (very early in the AM). He was allowed to eat lunch and we were encouraged to walk rather than sit all day. Good luck!

Thank you all for the good info. My son will be having this test also. I have another question: If my son has been feeling absolutely fine for three months, would it be more advantageous to wait until the next flare to peek inside? I don't want to miss something because we ran a test during a remission.

@1tiredmama...

I am sorry that I am not familiar with your story but where is your son at with Crohn's?

If he is undiagnosed then feeling fine does not necessarily equate to no internal activity so it may well still be worth going ahead with.

If he is diagnosed and is feeling well then it can be used to gauge his progress and response to treatment. So again, a worthwhile tool.

Dusty. xxx

a are here getting the pill cam. Caitlyn brought a bat man symbol to put on the belt.

pill cam swallowed on the first try! Now we are off to miami sea aquarium for some fun.

How awesome! I hope A is able to get it down easily too! Your girl rocks! Enjoy your day!!

All done just turned in the equipment, have to call tomorrow to schedule follow up appt. Taking Caitlyn out for a well deserved dinner in Miami.

Glad all went well and you enjoy a fabulous dinner

kimmidwife said:

All done just turned in the equipment, have to call tomorrow to schedule follow up appt. Taking Caitlyn out for a well deserved dinner in Miami.

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I'm so glad all went well. I hope it gives you and her doctor lots of good information.

So glad it went well, Kim. I hope you get some useful pictures.

DustyKat, thank you for your response. My son is not yet dx'd.

Ok one word of advice, We let Caitlyn eat a normal dinner last night after having not eaten for a day and a half. She got extremely sick after about three bites. We barely made it home. (it was an hour ride and we stopped several times for her). She passed the camera and then started having terrible cramping. She felt so bad she wanted to go to the hospital. I managed to convince her to take some pain medicine and relax and see if it helped. It helped enough to let her sleep and she woke up this morning feeling better. We kept her on a light diet all day today. So my advice after a pill camera or any test that requires a prep have them eat lightly for the rest of the day. Not fun!

Aww, that's terrible! Your poor baby! I'm glad she's feeling better now. Thank you for your advice.

Hi All,
Just wanted to update Caitlyn is all recovered from the pill camera. Now we await the results. Our follow up appt is in 2 weeks. I am hoping she will call with the results sooner (Not holding my breathe through) I hope everyone has a great weekend. We are planning on just resting. I had a rough day yesterday. I had a kidney stone. It is feeling better today so I am hoping it passed!