Gastroparesis with severe symptoms!

Enterra therapy is a device that is implanted under your skin to help with the nausea and vomiting caused by gastroparesis. I have tried most of the medications and alternate therapies, fodmap diet, vitamin and mineral supplements, acupuncture for my gastroparesis, and none of them seem to help. Most made me sicker. Finding a doctor to treat has seemed nearly impossible. I have an appointment set up for Mayo in Jacksonville, but it's not until Oct. I have been dealing with this for over 2 years. You can find out more about Enterra at their website. They are having a webinar of Aug. 5 to get more information.

@fradashe
My wife is under the care of gastronology at Mayo Jacksonville. We just has an appointment in which he expalin the role of the implant and it has shown to help with and what it has shown to not help with.

Gastrolnology has specific doctors for exams and specific doctors who perform speicalty surgeries.
Good Luck. FYI: Come early if your appointment is in morning to find a parking space. If full you can use the parking garage but you have to pay 5.00 where the outside parking is free.

I was diagnosed with gastroparesis about 2.5 years ago and boy does it suck, the nausea and vomiting with the abdominal pain is horrible, I've lost about 50 lbs, the raglan and other nausea meds don't work but ive heard about a stomach stimulator that helps move the digestive trave to help get things moving and empty. It's a surgical implant that they place in your abdomen and helps stimulate the digestive track

I was diagnosed with gastroparesis about 2.5 years ago, since then I've had a few flareups and end up in the hospital anywhere from a few days to a few weeks and ill be on NPO and ive fluids and nutrition. I also have lupus which doesn't help at all. Im currently dealing with a gastroparesis flareup and I go to er and they send me home, it's going on 3 weeks now and I still can't seem to keep food/fluids down so ill go to er again and hopefully they will admit me this time around. But ive read about a stimulator that they surgically implant in your abdomen and it's supposed to stimulate the digestive tract to get things moving to empty the stomach and ive read that it really helps especially with the nausea and vomiting, the stomach pain is horrible with the gastroparesis but this time ive been having severe back pain and im not sure why. Does anyone have any tips on how to deal with this

My daughter has the gastric pacemaker. It has helped her tremendously with the nausea and vomiting. However, the other issues are not cleared. She is looking at the option for bariatric surgery as it show promise in resolving the gastroparesis.

I'm right there with your wife. I have advanced cardiac autonomic neuropathy with vagal nerve involvement. My digestive system is shutting down. It started with gastroparesis and has led to dysphagia and a colon that doesn't really have the peristalsis movement anymore. I have been through 3 feeding tubes, and if I hadn't had complications from the feeding tubes, they would've been awesome. My diabetes type 1 is completely out of control because I don't digest food properly. The feeding tube gave me control. Plus, you can still eat with a feeding tube...so it is not as scary and limiting as people think. I had it removed due to rare complications and cannot get another. I also have severe swings in blood pressure to the point that it is threatening my life. Dizziness and weakness are hallmark symptoms. They are talking to me about a vagus nerve stimulator. My sister had the stomach stimulator/pacemaker and it didn't really work for her. Anyway, wanted to reach out with my experience to show you...your wife is not alone. I pray things are going better.

@itiswhatitis
Thank you so much for writing your experience. I am going to pass on to my wife. She thinks she is unique and something specific she is doing or not doing causing it.

He glucose rollercoaster like yours is completely out of whack. Even though she has an excellent diabetic endroctronoloigist I don't think she knows how much the gastroparesis affects how food is digested and what normally occurs with ingestion of food is not the same with someone with gastroparesis.

Thank you again as a caregiver for my wife really appreciated. I just looked at your I.D. again what an unique I.D. and what life is all about.

Thank everybody on this thread for describing their symptoms. I have had a " ball of gas" right below my sternum for about a month. I have attributed it to my Monjorno shots shrinking my stomach, and slowing my digestion. I came to this thread looking for help, and now I can ask my doctors for the egg test and I can change my diet. Thank you all. I will keep checking g back for any updates.

I was diagnosed with gastroparesis in 2018. My Gp is idiopathic ( unknown etiology) .I have other digestive diseases tat make things worse for me. I struggle with nausea, bloating, reflux, gas, weight loss , constipation and fatigue. I was not a candidate for the Enterra device. I refused to take Reglan because of its side effects (Tardive Dyskinesia). I had botox injections to relax the pylorus, but they did not work. I manage my gastroparesis with diet. I only eat soft, purée, small meals. I follow a low fiber, low fat, dairy and gluten free diet. I never eat out and I spend hours in the kitchen cooking from scratch. No matter how careful I am with what I eat, I never feel well. For me, bloating is the worst sympton. I take vitamins, supplements and digestive enzymes to easy my digestion ( most of the time they don`t work). I sip water or smoothies all day to stay hydrated. I also push myself to exercise. I try to learn as much as I can about this disease. Crystal Saltrelli books are a good resource. She has gastroparesis herself. I wish there were at least treatment for this rare and painful disease.

@sori good choice about reglan. I took it- the doctor in the hospital who gave it to me didn’t warn me about all the nasty side effects and I ended up losing half my vision on top of a ton of other things. Luckily I didn’t get TD. I also had a hard time withdrawing off the med. I was just diagnosed this year after multiple bouts in the ER for dehydration and not being able to eat for three weeks- I was sent inpatient for tests and after a gastric emptying test, it was determined I have gp. I really don’t know what to do. I’m seeing a functional medicine doctor and will be meeting with her to go over all the tests soon. Hopefully, she can put the big picture and underlying causes together and come up with a treatment plan.