For the second time in six months I’ve undergone another BRAVO 96-hour PH monitoring test, whilst investigating my chest pains and digestive problems.
If you’ve not heard about this, during a 96 hour PH monitoring test, a small electronic capsule is attached to the lining of the gullet above the valve for the stomach. The capsule sends wireless signals to a receiver to record the acid levels in the gullet over 96 hours. This is the device I am wearing around my neck, which has to stay within a meter of me at all times until monitoring it finished.
The first time I did this procedure the capsule dislodged on day 2 so thats why I’ve had to repeat the test. It’s just one in a string of tests I’ve been doing to get to the bottom of my problems which are difficulty digesting my food, food getting stuck in my chest, chest pains, severe bloating, burping and feeling full all the time.
I was knocked out to the sound of Oasis playing in the background. It was cool 🙂
On both occasions I wasn’t awake for the procedures so didn’t feel a thing but there is some discomfort and pain afterwards. The first time my capsule became dislodged it was very painful and lasted for about two weeks. This time it feels a bit better so fingers crossed.
How’d I find it?
Overall I would say it’s not bad at all. It’s better than the alternative of having to tolerate a tube in your nose for 24 hours. I would say if you ever have to get one of these done go for the 96-hour monitoring rather than the 24-hour monitoring where a catheter is inserted into your nose, extended to your stomach and remains for 24 hours.
So far the tests including breath tests, barium swallow, endoscopies and biopsies, manometry tests have found:
– An overgrowth of bacteria in my small intestines
– Oesophageal dismotility (meaning that food struggles to travel freely through my oesophagus into my stomach)
– A malfunctioning stomach valve which likely needs surgical repair.
One doctor suggested that these problems are symptoms of the malfunctioning valve. Once I complete the ph monitoring and my current batch of antibiotics (currently on a 3 month rotation of antibiotics for SIBO) I will repeat the breath tests and see what the consultant recommends.
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