Hello @annief . Sorry to hear you are not feeling well. MALS is a really tricky and complicated disease/diagnosis. I don't think any two people are the same. Usually all have general similar symptoms like you have described. My MALS was found by accident. I have always had stomach issues since I was little. Told IBS and had ulcers. About 4 years ago, the pain was so bad I decided to go to the er just for pain meds or something. They insisted on ct scan. The dr. came out and asked if I knew that my arteries were narrowed. I was like I don't know. He said I should see a vascular surgeon. I told my pcp an he got me into a University teaching hospital and with the chief of vascular surgery. I had no idea what was going on. They did the doppler and said my velocities in the celiac and SMA were literally off the charts and I needed surgery right away. I was a teacher and asked to wait for spring break he said no. I thought ok, I took a month off. Wow was I wrong. Now of course mine was different. I had two arteries and they were severely compressed and it was a mess and about 8 hr surgery. I did feel better after. Long difficult recovery, plus a lot of personal stresses, family deaths, which didn't not help. But my arteries were good. However, 5 months later they were narrowing again. My surgery was Feb. 2014, In Sept. 2015 I got stents put into each artery. It would have been best to do a bypass, but I physically could not handle that. I did feel relief again. Then it came back. I also had SIBO, which is a big issue to watch for. I was getting confused of what was what. If that is caught and taken care of, I think it would be fine. Mine wasn't. Oct. 2017 I had a balloon in the celiac. For me this will be a life long thing. That doesn't mean for you. I have heard people have open surgery and in a month feel a lot better and continue on that path. There are many that have had laparoscopic an out of the hospital in like 3 days and done great. It depends on the situation. If you are unsure I would definitely get a second opinion. I think, personally, it should be a vascular surgeon. I have not had luck with GI drs even acknowledging that MALS is causing damage to the stomach. I have heard though some GI drs were great in diagnosis of it.
Sorry not much help. As for eating, I used to try to stay away from certain foods. Honestly it didn't matter. Just depended on the day and how bad my symptoms were. Water is really hard for me. Weird I know, but if I am really thirsty and drink more than a couple of sips, it hurts so bad, even now. I would definitely eat SMALL MEALS and more often throughout the day. If you have a problem with eating, and one day something sounds good and is working, eat it all day, who cares as long as you get something in you.

Well good luck to you. Oh and I was 47 when I was diagnosed and my surgeon said I was young, but I don't think he realized it was truly MALS until he went in and saw the diaphragm compression. I don't think age matters so much as the shape and health you are in. Feel free to ask any questions. Don't know if this helped any....