Member Comments are provided by individuals and reflect their personal opinions only. Under NO circumstances should you act on any advice or opinion posted in this forum. ALWAYS check with your personal physician before taking any action regarding your health! MedHelp International and our partners, sponsors and affiliates have no obligation to monitor any comments posted on this site, or the content and/or accuracy of such exchanges. MedHelp International does not endorse the views of any user.
For Kats13 and Everyone re: Gastroparesis & Costochondritis
by GastroparesisVictim, Oct 23, 2009 12:06AM
Kats13 and Everyone, I'm a 47 yr. old female who had a stroke 26 years ago involving cranial nerves going to my face, ear/balance, right jaw, and especially the 10th nerve, the Vagus nerve that just quit on me last year. My stomach became paralyzed, my colon has very little motility to it, and my legs are so weak that I can't walk far without resting.
About my paralyzed stomach first, called Gastroparesis. I never vomited with this condition, just became nauseated and had projectile, sludge/Army green diahrrhea. I lost my appetite, I always felt full and could hardly drink water because my stomach wouldn't empty. I only ate a small portion of fish or chicken at night w/ my husband. I went a long time with this condition before the doctors thought of the stomach emptying test that is painless. I ate an egg sandwich they tainted with radioactive dye in it and was taped to a table for 2 hours and couldn't move. A scanning machine followed the dye as I digested it and timed it. Except It never left my stomach. That proved I had the disease. The gastic/stomach pacemaker was installed 1/6/09 and stopped the diahrrhea, however I do have constipation. I'll take the tradeoff. At least I can leave my house. Laxatives are slow to work with my body (3 days vs. 24 hours) and I don't like the griping feeling, so I use Fleet's enemas once a week and Miralax occasionally.
The pacemaker was placed below my stomach and looks like the heart pacemakers. There are 2 lead wires that go up into my stomach that simulate the gnawing and movement that a normal working stomach would do. The surgeon turned up the rate of the pulse of the wires 3 months after I had it in place, and I was able to have more of an appetite and felt like I had more energy. The surgery was done under general anethesia and will have the same type of anethesia in about every 4 years when the battery needs to be replaced. I would say that the pacemaker saved my life because it felt like my large and small intestines were going to burst. I could hardly move.
I was just diagnosed yesterday with Costochondritis that can be associated with having a bowel disease or having a virus I would like to share. KATS13...this will particularly interest you. Since I FINALLY have a diagnosis after CT Scans, blood work, and X-rays, my doctors were about to give up. They just weren't believing me. I had to be in severe pain to get their attn. I too, have a racing heart, when my pain is bad enough in my chest over my left breast and as it goes up to my collar bone my blood pressure goes up to 150/90 and my pulse has been as high as 107 when I'm laying on the sofa watching a movie! Bending over to feed my little dog will make the pain and BP worse. I have light headedness, have to catch my breath, I have a lot of coughing especially at night. KATS13, what do you mean by your eyes feeling "BUGGY?" I have double vision and blurred vision (had 4 surgeries to try to help, but no more are possible). My eyelids twitch. You've had weight loss, I've had weight gain because of edema, but have lost 7 lbs. in a week for no apparent reason. I have edema from GParesis all over me, but take Spironolactone 3 x a day (diuretic) because I only urinate 2 x a day even though I drink a lot of fluids. Does anyone else have that problem?
KATS13, you have sleepless nights, so do I.
Please get to your doctor. Your heart attack feeling could be Costochondritis. That's exactly what it feels like on the left side of your chest. Unfortunately for me, I can't take Steroids, but that is one way they treat it. My doctor only gave me Tramadol, which I think is a pain pill. I read where it can also be treated with anti-inflammatories since it's an inflammation of the cartilage of the sternum and the ribs. My doc. didn't offer me that.
My big stroke happened when I was 21, and it involved the IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, and right IX cranial nerves. I have tiny teflon pads in between the offending arteries and the damaged nerves. My left hearing nerve was severed by this artery and left me deaf, of course, and a terrible noise that has rung in my head like train for all this time, non stop.
I'm hoping the information of what I've gone through will help you KATS13, and anyone else out there.
About my paralyzed stomach first, called Gastroparesis. I never vomited with this condition, just became nauseated and had projectile, sludge/Army green diahrrhea. I lost my appetite, I always felt full and could hardly drink water because my stomach wouldn't empty. I only ate a small portion of fish or chicken at night w/ my husband. I went a long time with this condition before the doctors thought of the stomach emptying test that is painless. I ate an egg sandwich they tainted with radioactive dye in it and was taped to a table for 2 hours and couldn't move. A scanning machine followed the dye as I digested it and timed it. Except It never left my stomach. That proved I had the disease. The gastic/stomach pacemaker was installed 1/6/09 and stopped the diahrrhea, however I do have constipation. I'll take the tradeoff. At least I can leave my house. Laxatives are slow to work with my body (3 days vs. 24 hours) and I don't like the griping feeling, so I use Fleet's enemas once a week and Miralax occasionally.
The pacemaker was placed below my stomach and looks like the heart pacemakers. There are 2 lead wires that go up into my stomach that simulate the gnawing and movement that a normal working stomach would do. The surgeon turned up the rate of the pulse of the wires 3 months after I had it in place, and I was able to have more of an appetite and felt like I had more energy. The surgery was done under general anethesia and will have the same type of anethesia in about every 4 years when the battery needs to be replaced. I would say that the pacemaker saved my life because it felt like my large and small intestines were going to burst. I could hardly move.
I was just diagnosed yesterday with Costochondritis that can be associated with having a bowel disease or having a virus I would like to share. KATS13...this will particularly interest you. Since I FINALLY have a diagnosis after CT Scans, blood work, and X-rays, my doctors were about to give up. They just weren't believing me. I had to be in severe pain to get their attn. I too, have a racing heart, when my pain is bad enough in my chest over my left breast and as it goes up to my collar bone my blood pressure goes up to 150/90 and my pulse has been as high as 107 when I'm laying on the sofa watching a movie! Bending over to feed my little dog will make the pain and BP worse. I have light headedness, have to catch my breath, I have a lot of coughing especially at night. KATS13, what do you mean by your eyes feeling "BUGGY?" I have double vision and blurred vision (had 4 surgeries to try to help, but no more are possible). My eyelids twitch. You've had weight loss, I've had weight gain because of edema, but have lost 7 lbs. in a week for no apparent reason. I have edema from GParesis all over me, but take Spironolactone 3 x a day (diuretic) because I only urinate 2 x a day even though I drink a lot of fluids. Does anyone else have that problem?
KATS13, you have sleepless nights, so do I.
Please get to your doctor. Your heart attack feeling could be Costochondritis. That's exactly what it feels like on the left side of your chest. Unfortunately for me, I can't take Steroids, but that is one way they treat it. My doctor only gave me Tramadol, which I think is a pain pill. I read where it can also be treated with anti-inflammatories since it's an inflammation of the cartilage of the sternum and the ribs. My doc. didn't offer me that.
My big stroke happened when I was 21, and it involved the IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, and right IX cranial nerves. I have tiny teflon pads in between the offending arteries and the damaged nerves. My left hearing nerve was severed by this artery and left me deaf, of course, and a terrible noise that has rung in my head like train for all this time, non stop.
I'm hoping the information of what I've gone through will help you KATS13, and anyone else out there.
Post Comment
Related Communities
Recent Videos
Related Expert Forums
Recent Activity
Most Popular Trackers
RSS
Expert Activity
Community Members
