Stomach never settled; aly1978

[prunyan]

Looking for--------------- aly1978
This person had exact symptoms of me and advised for gastric empty test.
They were correct; Gastroparesis
aly1978 please email me so we can discuss our similar problems.
***@****

Thanks,

[Annie62]

I am obviously not the person you are looking for, but if you have any questions about gastroparesis, I might be able to help.  I have gastroparesis (severe) and have also done a lot of reading on it.  I was dxd a year ago on gastric emptying scan but have had the symptoms for years.  I take medicine for mine and do believe it helps some.  Anyway, you are welcome to post back/ask questions and I will respond as best I can.  

[prunyan]

What medicine have you taken that helps?
All of the ones I've tried have very little affect.
-Reglan
-Zelnorm
-Carafate
-Erythromycin
Any food you found that does not upset your stomach.

Thank you for your help,

[Annie62]

I take domperidone.  It is not available in the US yet (if that is where you are), but some formulary pharmacies that make their own drugs will have it and it can also be gotten from Canada or overseas by mail order/online.  That is how I get mine and it is the cheapest way (about 30 dollars/month, as it is generic), although it could be double that amount depending on the dose you take.  I have very little nausea but it is supposed to help with nausea as well as being a prokinetic/move the food through.  You would have to ask your doctor to write you a script for it and then mail it to the pharmacy.  

I responded to another person on this forum who has diabetes and possible gastroparesis a few days ago and talked about diet, so you might want to read that post.  Basically, if you don't already know, people who have GP are supposed to be on a low-fat diet (fat slows down digestion), eat small meals often (4-5 times a day) and not eat a lot at any one time.  This helps the food to move through more quickly.  Also, espeicially if you have a problem with reflux, don't eat for several hours before going to bed.  I try not to eat at least 5 hours before lying down, otherwise I have reflux, which contributes to the chest pain/epigastric pain/trouble swallowing.  The foods you should stay away from are high-fat and the foods they tell you to avoid with GERD/reflux (spicy foods, caffeine, etc.) that can irritate the lining of the stomach and esophagus.  You can find those online and also a gastroparesis diet online.  I don't stick to this as well as I should, but basically don't overeat, don't eat before going to bed, eat low-fat (good for overall health as well), avoid foods that cause reflux.  

It is also suggested that a low-fiber diet be eaten, as high-fiber foods (fruits, veggies, whole grains, beans) are harder to digest and can potentially cause bezoars/blockage, but a low-fiber diet is an unhealthy diet, so it really isn't a good thing to cut these foods out of your diet, and if these foods absolutely bother you and cause you more bloating/pain, the best thing is to cook foods well/soften them so they are more easily digested (although the heat kills a lot of the vitamins).  Better yet, put raw fruits and veggies in a blender and juice or puree them, as they are easily digested in this form.  Skins and peels (potatoes, apples, etc.) should be avoided unless you blenderize them, but if you don't eat organic then you probably should just peel and throw away due to the pesticides on the skins.  Soup is a good choice, since it is mostly liquid and you can even get ones that are all liquid/pureed.  I eat soup every day.  I eat organic ones that have veggies and beans (high-fiber) in them, but if my GP gets worse in the future I will start throwing those soups into the blender in order to blend the vegetables and skins on the beans.  

You have to be creative with what and how you eat in order to still eat healthy and yet accomodate your gastroparesis.  Regarding nausea/vomiting, if you have that, I do not know what to tell you, as thankfully this isn't much of an issue for me.  I know some people can't keep anything down.  Just keep track of foods that cause you symptoms and which ones don't.  Ginger is supposed to settle the stomach and of course there are drugs for nausea.  Hope you found this helpful.