Does Reglan really work?

After 6 months of severe stomach pain, I finally was referred by my family Doctor to see a G/I Doctor he did a gastric emptying study and my results came back positive, he prescribed Phenegran(for the vomiting) & Vicodin ES(for the pain) & tried amitripilline & nortripilline neither one of those helped with the pain... later he prescribed Reglan, unfortunately that hasn't seemed to help either, the worse part is that now he won't prescribe me anymore Vicodin, due to the fact that so many people become addicted and he doesn't want me to be one of those people.... Is there anything else that can be done so that I can start eating again... I've lost over 40lbs in the last 6 months and I was only weighing in at 138lbs to start with.... One positive thing is that my stomach doesn't hurt as bad if I don't eat or drink anything... but that is an impossibility! How else can one stay alive without food or water!

[Dr. Erik]

Reglan (Metoclopromide) is used to treat Gastroparesis, slow gastric emptying. It works well but has some troubling side effects.

[Wilson]

Hi, sorry about your troubles. I'm assuming they've looked at your stomach with a scope (don't know whether the gastric emptying tests include that). If not, there may be some yet undetermined cause for your pain. Is the doctor attributing the severe pain to the delayed gastric emptying alone? I was on Reglan for awhile and found that it CAUSED some pain, nothing severe - more like mild cramps.

Obviously you have to eat, so I would try eating very small amounts of food more often throughout the day. Are you able to exercise, even a little? That can help promote motility. You might want to consult a nutritionist to get some tips on maximizing the calories so you can put some weight back on. Good luck.