Do gastroparesis symptoms slowly creep up on everyone?

@mavans10
I don't know how you plan any use of DMSO, but word of warning -- My Dad injected DMSO in his late 60's to early 70's because he read about the pain relief he could get in his legs and back. When he spoke you could see the blue vapor coming from his mouth, and the smell of that stuff was horrific, like raw oysters. His whole house smelled like that, and when he went out west every summer to pan for gold, I went over to wash down walls, clean rugs, but the smell was embedded in furniture, carpeting and the walls themselves. At 76 Dad had a minor stroke, and while in the hospital they ran him through a brain scan and found two non-malignant tumors near both sides of the brain stem. No one in our family before or since has had brain tumors, so please be careful. I used Colostrum myself for a couple of years, and while I had no side effects, I also saw no difference, except I didn't get the flu or the annual run of NORO Virus. However, that could also be because my son graduated and moved out to go to college, and they bring every bug there is home with them from school and share freely.
In 2004 I learned about gastroparesis from a nurse at Cleveland Clinic calling to set up appointments for me to go through a barage of tests prior to receiving an artificial aortic valve. When she called I was so weak from having my first gastroparesis attack the night before, with vomiting, diarrhea and hours of dry heaves which finally sent me to ER for IV's to stop the dry heaves. I told her I'd never been hit by anything like that in my life. 12 solid hours, 3 hours of dry heaves and trying to sleep on the floor in the bathroom. Nothing would stop it. The pain across my upper abdomen felt like someone was trying to saw me open. SHE told me her brother had these same attacks every time he ate and told me to look up gastroparesis and see if this is me. It was, and when I went in to see my old gastroenterologist, who I had been with since being 28 years of age, I asked him if I have gastroparesis and he told me, "Well, since you have slowed digestion, and that is what gastroparesis is, I would say yes." Same doctor that misdiagnosed a heart attack at 47 years of age as GERD. That heart attack went undiagnosed for over a month, and my heart built it's own collateral artery to do it's own bypass. Same doctor that put me on all those antacids for over 30 years, and this was back when doctors COULD spend time with their patients. Good luck in all that you try to do for yourself, it's a tough place out there when you have something few have heard about.

Oh my gosh I am so sorry for your health journey and all you have been thru. I appreciate the info on DMSO, I haven’t purchased it yet doing more research but I know some of my sisters are and will let them know. So scary sometimes and hard to know what to try or not try especially when nothing seems to work. Keeping you in my prayers. Thanks!

I wasn’t able to reach my friend again who had surgery to correct her gastroparesis to get the details, but I found multiple articles online (I’m no expert) about surgical treatment options. And, additionally options for electrical stimulation devices to treat it. I saw one device made by Medtronic, who makes my insulin pump. Think it’s called Enterra therapy. I have no affiliation with the company. I might check a medical facility that has the most current information on treatments.

@celia16
Thank you very much for this information. I will look this up.

Smooth move tea works great for constipation. You can also steep it longer if you need it to be stronger. I have suffered from chronic constipation since child hood and it's best and most natural constipation relief I have found. Magnesium citrate in the bottle also if you are really backed up.

Many Thanks katgirl. I'll try them.
Tadueo

Yes! Thank you so much for this question. I am 56 - have always been active (aerobics, running, etc.), I'm a realtor, notary and up until 2 weeks ago had a very successful karaoke show I had to stop because of these issues. I have chronic pancreatitis, EPI (exocrine pancreatic insufficiency), severe protein calorie malnutrition, IBS, diverticulosis and GP! I believe my pancreas was having issues (in 2014) and my gallbladder was removed because they thought my symptoms were GB related. However, after GB surgery, I woke up in horrific pain in my pancreas. It was freaking out literally. I have since has several bouts of pancreatitis and know now that was the pain I was experiencing after surgery.

Since that time I have slowly lost the desire to eat anything. When I can eat I can only eat a few bites. It absolutely has come on gradually until now I can barely get anything in and stay nauseated until around 2PM each day, if I've eaten solids the day before. Now I am belching all the time and it seems like liquids want to come back up on me. All this and after years of going to my GI doctor he is JUST NOW having the stomach emptying study (scheduled for the 5th) but, the writing is pretty much on the wall. He said the scan of my pancreas and stomach showed a bunch of undigested food just sitting in my stomach.

I take a 10mg gummy every night and the other night after trying to eat two bites of sausage (I now know that's a mistake) I panicked. I realized I can't eat and that I will die if I can't eat. I'm already in malnutrition! Severe malnutrition - the doctors failed to tell me they diagnosed me while I was in the hospital in February - I found out reading the notes in my patient portal - and none of the medical professionals seem to be very concerned. It's frustrating but you do have to be your own advocate. I'm a member of a GP group on Reddit and many of the members there are on hospice. Something else they don't tell us about GP - it can shorten our lives. My father died when he was 43 of cancer and I always worried about getting in. In many ways, what I have going on is worse. They don't have entire wings of hospitals dedicated to treating GP.

All that to say I am so sorry you are going through this. You are not alone. It is not in your head. I'm comforted having others to speak with but so sorry we are all suffering (literally) with this condition. Sending you hugs and prayers.

Please-get 2nd and 3rd opinions! Also I might suggest seeing a pancreas specialist. They are hard to find but well worth it. You can go to PanCAN.org and they will help you find a Dr in this area. You should not live like this!

Thank you so much for sharing the link. I will absolutely look into this!

I was diagnosed 2 years ago but have had issues with my digestive region since I was about 12 years old. I'm 61 now so they didn't do any testing when I was a child just told antacids. In my 20's I had a scope and was diagnosed with GERD, but 2 years ago bam I was having pain under the breast area, feeling the food just sitting at the top of my stomach for hours and hours, severe constipation, severe nausea. The meds used for it I can't have due to allergies, not compatible with some of my meds and one I tried and did nothing for me. I've been referred for the stimulator and will probably have the surgery the end of December or in January. Nothing helps my nausea and my food processing has slowed down as well, I can eat the day before but still after about 24 hours be belching that previous days food. Oh and I'm diabetic, I was on Maunjaro for about 1 1/2 years before my diagnosis. I came off of it just to see if any difference (my dr. said they doubted and said most likely the diabetes) so I stayed off of it for over 6 months with no changes. The surgeon who is going to put in the stimulator wants me off of it at least until after my healing from the surgery. I went off of it again anyway 5 weeks before I saw her just to test it again. I have gained weight from this as well and the bloating is horrible which are both symptoms, so I do follow the diet but now going to again get back on liquid diet. I'm not at the point yet for a feeding tube or IV feeding but sadly I think it's heading that way. I sleep in my recliner 90% of the time, I only lay in my bed when my lower back needs no pressure on it (had surgery 14 weeks ago) and then back up in the recliner, sleeping is sporadic and I do work 40 hours a week in an office. I pray for all suffering from this, my friends don't understand it and I wish they would just research it a bit to see that these symptoms are real and severe.