Drinking and eating at the same time is definitely a problem and slow and steady seems to be the best pace. If you (citygirlannie) are looking into a pacemaker for your stomach, given my experience, I very much advise you to also ask about surgical alteration of our pylorus (valve or sphincter between your stomach and small intestine). In reading everyone's posts, my thinking is leaning toward the premise that both (stomach pacemaker and pyloromyotomy) is the best solution. What I mean by solution is improved ability to eat and drink without the consequences of dumping and/or bloating and fullness. I think we are all aware there is no solution to the dilemma of gastroparesis. I am not super familiar with the stomach pacemaker. I think though, if I had to choose, I would choose to have the surgical alteration of my pylorus. Call me old fashioned, but I am a little leery of foreign substances or products (pacemakers) being placed in my body. The pyloromyotomy I had simply changes how my pylorus opens and closes and allows my stomach to open of its own volition. With that said, a pyloromyotomy is not a perfect solution. The correct mix of stomach acids is not in place due to lack of communication to my pancreas (vagus nerve injury), my stomach does not contract and mix the foods I eat because it does not get that message (vagus nerve injury) and my pylorus opens and closes sporadically instead of based upon communication signals from my nervous system (vagus nerve injury). I am living testimony, however, to the HUGE improvement in stomach emptying following my pyloromyotomy surgery. The Mayo surgeon (Rochester) also cut notches in my diaphragm muscle on both the right and the left sides to improve my ability to swallow. Many folks in this group talk about difficulty swallowing. My esophagus has zero/no contractile ability; my esophagus does not contract to move the food and liquids I swallow downward and toward my stomach. Gravity is the only force moving things I swallow downward and toward my stomach. As has been indicated by others, gravity is really good at keeping our feet on the ground, but not so good at moving food (and sometimes even liquid) from the throat to stomach. I firmly believe both these surgically procedures are what have kept me alive. I recommend anyone with gastroparesis due to vagus nerve injury talk with their physician's about both the pyloromyotomy or pyloroplasty and the Heller Maneuver. I hope this information and my experiences are a help to someone.