If you’ve been struggling with unexplained digestive symptoms like bloating, nausea, constipation, or abdominal discomfort, you’re far from alone. Nearly 40% of Americans have digestive symptoms so bothersome that they interfere with their daily life.
In these cases, our team at Las Vegas Gastroenterology may recommend a gastrointestinal (GI) motility test. This test shows how food moves through your digestive system and if you have any conditions that could affect your digestion.
It’s the next step to pinpointing the source of your symptoms.
Below, we zero in on one specific type of GI motility test — the SmartPill™ motility test — and explain what you can expect.
The SmartPill is a small, swallowable capsule about the size of a large vitamin. Once ingested, it travels naturally through your digestive tract while wirelessly transmitting information to a small recording device you wear.
The capsule measures:
These data points help Noel R. Fajardo, MD, and Filippo Cremonini, MD, understand how quickly food and liquids are moving through your stomach, small intestine, and colon.
This can help identify conditions such as gastroparesis (delayed stomach emptying), chronic constipation, and other motility disorders that may be contributing to your symptoms.
GI motility tests differ from other tests, such as endoscopies or colonoscopies, yet they still allow us to see what’s going on inside your digestive system.
Here’s what you can expect from this test:
We provide specific instructions, which may include dietary changes or temporarily stopping certain medications before the test.
You take the SmartPill™ with water, much like swallowing a vitamin. The SmartPill system is only slightly bigger than a standard multivitamin. It measures 26.8 mm by 11.7 mm, which is smaller than many other capsules. Some are as wide as 32 mm.
You wear a small recording device (usually on a belt or lanyard) that collects data from the capsule.
You can go about your normal routine, though we ask you to track your meals and bowel movements.
Within a few days, the capsule passes naturally through a bowel movement and can be flushed away.
We review the data that the MotiliGI™ software collected and discuss the results with you. Your next steps depend on which condition is responsible for your symptoms. Regardless, we recommend the appropriate lifestyle changes, medications, or procedures to help you find the relief you need.
The bottom line is that the SmartPill test is a safe and effective way to gain a deeper understanding of how your digestive system is functioning.
Don’t brush off mystery GI symptoms. Getting answers about your digestive system has never been easier. There are no tubes, wires, or sedation required.
From diagnosis to treatment, we have what you need here in our Las Vegas, Nevada, offices. Call one of our two locations or click here to request your appointment.
