Question about Upper GI's and antibiotics

Does anyone know why you should be off of antibiotics for 4 weeks before getting the UGI that my doctor wants (in leiu of an EGD). It seems to be a standard test for all his wls patients (pre-surg).

And does one have to be off of antibiotics for the EGD if one was to get that?

I ask because for the lst 2 months I've had a UTI come back 2 times and had to postpone my UGI. I finally was able to reschedule it after my last round of abx, only to now have pyelonephritis! So now, I am on another round of abx (2 as a matter of fact....cipro and keflex). I can't seem to shake this...I know it's due to my diabetes because this also happened a few years ago when I was first diagnosed with diabetes. I'll have to reschedule this UGI again, I just wanted to know if anyone knew why.
  
Thanks! 

If you are referring to the Upper GI test that is done in xray where you swallow the barium (or other contrast) and they take xrays and look at live fluoroscopic images of the esophagus and stomach, that makes NO sense to me.  I am a former xray tech, did it for 5 years, did hundreds of upper GI tests, and have never heard of that.  An antibiotic would not influence the result.

Now, for an EGD it would make sense, because they routinely test for H. Pylori infection and they might feel that an antibiotic would skew the results. 

It sounds like there may be a flaw on whatever instruction sheet you are looking at.  I would try calling your surgeon's office or maybe the radiology department and clarify those instructions.

Also, with chronic UTI's and pyelonephritis, you need to make sure that is totally cleared up before having surgery!

Karen

I agree with Karen. UGI x-rays are completely non-invasive and virtually risk free (except for a little radiation exposure, of course). I can't think of any reason you would need to be off antibiotics for them. Call the radiology dept, tell them about your ongoing problem, and see if they will agree that you can proceed. If you get a clerical person who is just following (silly) instructions, ask them to run it past their supervisor or the radiologist.

Larra

I know that I am getting the H.Pylori breath test the same day, but the directions for the "no abx" is on the instruction paper for the UGI. I don't know why, but I'll ask the office on Monday.

Thanks for the help!