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Do gastroparesis symptoms slowly creep up on everyone?
Digestive Health | Last Active: Jan 30 3:25am | Replies (114)Comment receiving replies
Thank you for your response. is your GP as a result of diabetes? was it diagnosed with a gastric emptying study?
i pretty much have figured out what foods to eat and not to eat by trial and error - i asked my GI doc for a dietician referral when i was first diagnosed - he couldn't even give me that - just a "regular dietician" who knows very little about this 'not so common" illness. i subsequently have found lists of what to eat and what not to eat online and pretty much it is what i figured out by trial and error. i do seem to get "flares" though - which last several days where i literally can only take liquids and maybe thin pureed soup or shakes - but no solids. The biggest problem i have is sleeping at night - the food just "sits" and makes acid. for months now i stop eating at 2 p.m. and go to bed 9-10 p.m. so the food has 8 hours to "go down" but still some nights i have problems getting comfortable with a lot of "pressure/aching/gas/acid" etc. i haven't eaten "dinner" per se in over a year - just tea and maybe a very small amount of frozen yogurt or a popsicle... it sometimes feels thing are getting worse and more restrictive and i was just interested to see if other people had the same experience. No-one has mentioned having problems sleeping at night - which is actually my main issue (even if i manage what and when i eat during the day)
Replies to "Thank you for your response. is your GP as a result of diabetes? was it diagnosed..."
I wanted to ask you - do you have problems laying down after you eat. How many hours before you go to bed do you eat your last pureed type food? Other than being very restricted as to what I am able to eat, this is my biggest issue. I really cannot take anything other than liquids 6-8 hours before I go to bed - which means 2 p.m. is my "cut off" for eating any food. I can have high protein chocolate milk or a smoothie up to about 5-6 p.m. and then just tea/water
@denisef I totally have issues with sleeping because of my gastroparesis. It has always taken me longer to digest my food and would get miserable heartburn if I exercised or layed down after eating. Several years ago, I discovered a digestive enzyme called Duozyme, which has worked wonders for me, reducing my heartburn and helping me keep food down. Sadly, a couple years ago, my stomach decided that it needed 12 hours (instead of the usual 6-8 hours) to digest anything, including purees and liquids. I even have to sit up for an hour after drinking water! And then, just a few weeks ago, my stomach graduated to taking 14 hours digest. So if I eat lunch and finish eating around 2pm, I can't go to sleep until 4am. And on nights I eat dinner, I am up all through the night. I've had to get used to this schedule, as it is a holdover from another chronic condition that made me have to blow my nose for 12-20 hours after eating. So one night, I will eat dinner, stay up all night blowing my nose, and then, eat lunch the next day, continue blowing my nose throughout that whole day, then, finally be able to lay down and sleep that following night. Between these 2 conditions, I am losing alot of sleep, and I am often hungry when I spend whole days sleeping to catch up on lost sleep. Doctors haven't been able to figure any of this out and just tell me to come back when I have managed my symptoms. One even dropped me from her list of patients. I am in the midst of having a new primary care doctor, so we will see how that goes. I don't get my hopes up much, though.
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@denisef, My docs think the gastroparesis could have been caused by vagus nerve damage from years of Type 2 diabetes. I started being unable to eat properly a year ago this past fall and finally wound up in the hospital in March after several trips to the ER. After being admitted I had a gastric emptying study which confirmed gastroparesis. They also did an upper endoscopy, found some esophageal narrowing (and stretched my esophagus) and did a colonoscopy. The gastroparesis diet they gave me was impossible for a diabetic with renal disease to follow so I had to develop my own meal plans as a result.