Anyone diagnosed with Gastroparesis?

I eat several small meals a day, but sometimes the food just sits in my stomach. A walk usually helps. I also gently massage my stomach to help stimulate it. I lay a microwavable heating pad on my stomach when it gets painful and do more gentle massaging. My doctors advise me not to take reglan. I tried the domperidone (may not be spelled correctly) and I had several side effects and it was no help for me. Propulsid did work, but it went off market shortly after I started taking it. What works for one person may not work for another. Sometimes you deal with several differrent conditions and it makes it difficult to figure out what will work for you or your loved one.

no I don't have it but a dear friend almost certainly does, and I have been trying to help. she has had every sort of test I can think of done due to her crippling condition and nothing else shows up. I told hewr reglan is risky but she has lost so much weight and is malnourished from it. has no other options that they share with her so I came here.

@pendragonart If she has not tried domperidone I would recommend she try it before reglan. I had to go to a compounding pharmacy for it. It does not have side effects that are permanent like reglan. I have other issues that contribute to me trying to maintain weight and was not causing the problem I had when they tried me on it. Liquids or pureed foods and low fiber also help. If her gastropareis is severe her best option may be the pacemaker.

she is on reglan. I just told her about the domperidone and pureed foods. she couldn't go to thanksgiving dinner because of her stomach and bowel issues. she is miserable always feeling like she needs to "go" and cant. yes she is avoiding fiber.

When I first was having problems with my idiopathic gastroparesis they put me on Reglan. My family Dr told me to stop it because it can cause Parkinson’s disease. I’m doing quite well on the pacemaker I’ve had since April 2012.

I think there are many good ideas in this discussion that she should talk over with her doctor. It sounds like her problem is severe. The pacemaker may be a better option for her. It may depend on what other digestive problems she has.. and it sounds like she may have more than gastroparesis (I have no medical training.. I'm just guessing). I deal with 4 digestive diseases myself and many in this group deal with more. Finding a diet that works all the time is impossible. There are bouts of constipation and diarrhea. I wish her the best and pray she finds help soon.

Yes it can. I was on it many years and started having 6 months of terrible shaking, and almost the inability of writing my name. Then .a black box warning just came out stating the severe side effects you mentioned and that they may be permanent. I tried domperidone from Canada which helped but then used the erythromycin that my insurance paid for (125 mg 4 times a day as a prokinetic---stomach contraction). I was lucky that all the shakiness abated but took many months. It is very serious. AS a nurse, we used to use it on infants who had reflux. I never knew it had such severe side effects and like I said, I took it at least 6 or 7 years before it became so bad. NEVER again! Tardive dyskinesia is a horrible side effect that I have had patients with and I thank God I did not get that. The uncontrollable shakiness was enough. It almost was to the point I had to sign an X. My neurologist was so thorough always reviewing all my medicines and was the one who found the NEW alert!

with domperidone, CHF is not to be used by the way! Just a side note. A friend of mine is using it and has CHF and a pacemaker but the alert states not to use if heart failure. That is the problem with some of our doctors and getting medicine from Canada. She is paying $800/month and a friend told her of another pharmacy for $500/month. Erythromycin is an antibiotic that used in a low dose is a prokinetic,,,contracts the stomach muscle. Best of luck.

botox worked great for my gastroparesis. I had it down to the lower sphincter in the stomach and that way, when the food gets there, a hole is always open allowing it to enter the small intestine. Botox is injected into 3 small areas of the muscle. With stomach contracting so slow, by the time the food reaches the bottom, the muscle is closed. Food can collect and "rot" causing infection. Botox keeps the muscle slightly open allowing food to exit in small amounts preventing this. I had it done January 2014. The daily nausea and vomiting are gone and excessive weight loss. I still have limited foods I can eat but NO pacemaker. Botox is still working and is a blessing. I use liquid erythromycin (granules) to make my stomach contract and eat small meals. My vitamins are gummies or chewables and foods must be easily digestible. Breads have to be white (refined) nothing that takes long to digest causing further problems. A wonderful dietician helped me. I am not diabetic and it was caused by medications. As an RN, I never had encountered it. My case was/is severe. The botox really saved me. Best of luck! Joan

Hi All:

I have been reading with interest your discussions on gastroparesis. I have had 3 surgeries of the upper digestive tract and 2 of the surgeries were invasive. Since the second surgery, I certainly have a lot of the symptoms of gastroparesis, with feeling full quite quickly and feeling nauseous if I go beyond the full feeling. I noticed that some of you have mentioned walking after eating and I realized that exercise was probably a good idea. As a result, I "Googled" exercises for gastroparesis and found some very interesting, easy to do exercises that don't require walking outside. These are to be done after you eat. I've tried both of them and could notice feeling better without so much of that bloated, full feeling. I just wanted to share it with you in case you would like an alternative treatment.

Here is the link, http://www.diabetes-book.com/exercises-facilitate-stomach-emptying/.

Have anyone tried other exercises after meals? If so, will you share your experiences?

Teresa