NG Placement
Having an NG tube placed by the nutrition nurse has always been fine for me, she explains as she is doing it you look straight forwards as she pops the tube up your nostril it easily goes over the bend at the back and she pushes it gently until it goes down into your throat and enters your stomach.
Unfortunately this is not the practice that happens in hospital in my experience, as of course staff in various departments don't have the experience the nutrition nurse does and any many don't even like to do it as they know it can be traumatic when they do it.
I have seen medics asking others to do as they didn't want do, some refusing to completely, some saying they haven't done it in over 10 years so having to get familiar with the procedure and others who simply give it a try and keep trying until it is in.
All this can lead to various methods of tilting the head, meaning the passage is not inline, being asked to swallow water then you can't swallow, the tube coiling in your mouth but they are not use to the feeling and continue pushing, and the worst one for me is the hammering of the tube at the back of the nostril trying to bend the tube over, this is so painful, it causes the eyes to water and can lead to a nerve pain for days once the tube is in.
Placing the tube looks easy but has to be skill and I don't envy the medics doing this job, especially when it's not something you do all the time to perfect.
Some staff members will have experienced this in training so my tip if you ever need this done apart from asking for an experienced member of staff, relax as much as possible to help the tube go down, if you need them to stop tell them before hand you will raise your hand to show them this. If it is sore after any initial discomfort, sometimes moving the tube to a more comfortable place on your check and behind your ear can easy it.