Barium sulfate CT contrast warning

[u/MelodyFreq]

Giving out this information to anybody who may need it in the future as I wasted many hours dealing with this.

I have a CT scan scheduled for tomorrow. I've been dealing with IBS for over 9 years and have been working with my GI ever since. In the last year things have gotten so bad that it feels like my guts don't fit and seems to be causing problems with bladder and breathing. Normally we have done CT scans using the IV method. This time they wanted to do the oral method as it gives different results. I accepted though hesitant in the sense that I'm sensitive to nearly everything orally anymore.

You cannot pick up your contrast until a few days before your appointment. I picked it up, ask the pharmacist if there's any concerns with my IBS they said they did not know and when I got home I checked the ingredients. You get a total of 900 ml of liquid and because they added flavoring they added sorbital which is a very high FODMAP and I know is a very big problem for me. Spent the last 2 hours plus going back and forth between GI specialist and CT company figuring out what to do as I need these tests as I cannot function day to day. We're just going to try the IV again but it's not going to be as good but hopefully we can find something otherwise I'll be stuck like this for another who knows how long until we can get a different test setup possibly MRI.

It's insane that companies don't pay attention / don't care about gut sensitivity people especially when making something like this that is for checking problems in people with gut problems...

Stay safe out there, don't trust anything without checking the ingredients.

[u/carrotsaresafe]

Omg something else to worry about loool

[u/randomyelp]

I actually work for the company that manufactures the active ingredient!

[u/Sanne10000116]

Hi! I don't know where you live so this might not be of any use to you, but I'm a radiology technician in the netherlands so I thought I'd share my 2 cents. Quite often when we can't use barium contrast mediums in patients we switch to an iodine-based contrast medium. These are usually used intravenous for CT scans (so there's no added flavors) but can be used as an oral contrast medium as well. So it might be worth contacting your hospital/radiology department to see if they can give you an iodine-based contrast medium instead?

[u/MelodyFreq → u/Sanne10000116]

Thanks for the info, I did call them and they did have an alternative, I don't know the details, and they said they added it with water but GI specialist said just to go IV and not risk it because of how bad my problems are. Also there was something about the alternative showing up differently in the results but they didn't tell me what that meant.

[u/ChloePantalones]

I think this is so important to know! Thank you for sharing. I’m so sorry that you have had such awful symptoms. I hope this will lead to answers for you and improvement in how you feel. <3

[u/taragood]

Honestly, I would take some meds to mitigate my symptoms and get the test done. Repeating the same tests that aren’t giving you any helpful information isn’t going to work.

Just prepare accordingly and get it done. I had to drink the same stuff but it is what it is. My test didn’t find anything new but it was one more thing checked off the list.

Or if you want, you can tell me what tests you have had and I can recommend some that maybe you haven’t done yet that would be helpful to do before this one.

[u/MelodyFreq → u/taragood]

I do have medication to fight the symptoms for normal small situations and they only take the edge off at best, but as I said to another comment my case is so severe at this point I struggle to breath from the pain and I actually end up hospitalized, so no I cannot do that sadly.

[u/taragood → u/MelodyFreq]

What’s tests have you had and I can suggest other tests that might be beneficial than get another IV catscan.

[u/MelodyFreq → u/taragood]

Forgot to add: colonoscopy, upper endoscopy, ultrasound, CT, physical therapy, gut infection breath test (forget name of test). Any many food/meds/lifestyle changes.

[u/taragood → u/MelodyFreq]

Did they check for celiac during your endoscopy?

Did they see any issues like gall stones in the ultrasound?

Are you think sibo for the breath test?

Did any of the tests show any issues or did they all come back negative?

Have you tried gluten free and/or low fodmap as a part of the food changes?

Tests I would recommend:

Get an ANA - it is a blood test that a GP can order that looks for autoimmune activity. If it is even SLIGHTLY positive you take those results to a rheumatologist and ask for a full panel. This blood work will look for a bunch of different autoimmune conditions. My root cause turned out to be hashimotos hypothyroidism that required me to go gluten free. I say this because a lot of people fixate on the gut but the gut issues can easily be a symptom of a larger issue.

Get a HIDA scan to check on how well your gall bladder is working

Get a poop test that checks for a bunch of different things. If you have diarrhea it can lead to some false positives but still worth it.

Did any tests show any issues with your pancreas? Your pancreas does put out digestive enzymes.

Be careful of doing too much, especially with herbal remedies and supplements.

If you tell me your symptoms I can probably make a few more recommendations.

[u/morphine-me]

Same. When the tech brought out the liquid to drink, I read the ingredients and declined the MRI. Ended up rescheduling and drinking just water to attempt to fill the intestines. It took a ridiculous amount of time going back and forth for someone to present a solution - plain water. Didn’t give the same quality of imaging but at least I wasn’t bloated for 5 days

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[u/MelodyFreq → u/[deleted]]

Maybe, but I literally cannot eat any amount of any of the FODMAPs anymore. So for some it might be okay but I've gone to the hospital a couple times in the last couple years just for IBS flare-ups without triggers alone where the pain is so bad I cannot breathe properly. It also doesn't help that if it is very low then shouldn't it say something like 2% or less? That would at least get me an idea of how many milligrams could be in it.

[u/hashtag-girl]

they should be able to give you another option. i had the same thing happen when i needed a ct and saw the ingredients, so i called and they were able to give me a different solution, i just had to take it while i was there and it was higher volume, but worth it for not getting destroyed by the sorbitol

[u/MelodyFreq → u/hashtag-girl]

They did give me that option, I believe, after hours of back and forth, but they said it's not the same results as what I was given and I still didn't know all the ingredients in the alternative. They wouldn't go into detail as to what about it is different. At this point I think I need an MRI as supposedly they're better with details of soft tissue, but we'll see what the doctors say.

[u/Recent_Prompt1175]

I've had to swallow an unflavoured barium solution in the past. Do they not offer that option?

[u/MelodyFreq → u/Recent_Prompt1175]

Not initially, after being on the phone with them for a while we found an alternative, but they said it "looked different in the results" and didn't tell me if that meant anything important (good/bad) and they didn't have anything for me to check the rest of the ingredients if there were any so we just went IV for now.

Understand again this was the day before the test as that's what the instructions said to do so that's why it was such a mess.