My Experience

I was in the hospital, being treated with steroids for pemphigus vulgaris, an autoimmune disease that causes blistering of the skin and the mucous membranes. I began to have persistent and severe abdominal pain, so they wanted to look at my esophagus and stomach.

I was wheeled on a stretcher to the endoscopy suite. They put a blood pressure cuff around my arm and a pulse oximeter on my finger to measure my pulse and oxygen levels in my blood. I already had an IV line, and they gave me Versed to help me relax during the procedure. The doctor sprayed a topical anesthetic in my mouth to numb it and gave it a few minutes to work. He put a rubber bite block in my mouth, which had to be gently placed because the lining of my mouth was very fragile and sensitive from the pemphigus. The doctor then put a 3 cm flexible tube into my mouth to the side of the bite block and began to move it down my throat. I could feel it going down my throat but I didn’t have any pain and no gagging. I was in and out a bit because of the Versed, although I do remember at one point seeing an image of my esophagus on the video screen. The doctor talked to the nurse about what they saw and asked for suctioning. I was very relaxed but awake and I watched the screen during the procedure. They took a biopsy of a section of my esophagus, but I didn’t feel it. Then the doctor advanced the endoscope into my stomach. After about 12 minutes, he pulled out the tube and took out the bite block. I was moved to a recovery area for a half-an-hour. I had no residual pain, and I could eat almost immediately.