Gastroparesis - Describe Your Experience
Please describe your experience with gastroparesis.
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What is gastroparesis?
Gastroparesis means weakness of the muscles of the stomach. Gastroparesis results in slow emptying of food from the stomach into the small intestine.
The stomach is a hollow organ composed primarily of muscle. Solid food that has been swallowed is stored in the stomach while it is ground into tiny pieces by the constant churning generated by rhythmic contractions of the stomach's muscles. Since smaller particles are digested better in the small intestine than larger particles, only food that has been ground into small particles is emptied from the stomach. Liquid food does not require grinding.
The ground solid and liquid food is emptied from the stomach into the small intestine slowly in a metered fashion. The metering process allows the emptied food to be well-mixed with the digestive juices of the small intestine, pancreas, and liver (bile) and to be absorbed well from the intestine. The metering process by which solid and liquid foods are emptied from the stomach is a result of a combination of relaxation of the muscle in parts of the stomach designed to accommodate food, and the pressure generated by the muscle in other parts of the stomach that pushes the food into the small intestine. (Thus, the stomach can store and empty food at the same time.) The metering also is controlled by the opening and closing of the pylorus, the muscular opening of the stomach into the small intestine.
When the contractions of the stomach's muscles are weakened, food is not thoroughly ground and does not empty into the intestine normally. Since the muscular actions whereby solid food and liquid food are emptied from the stomach are slightly different, the emptying of solids and liquids follows different time courses, and there may be slow emptying of solid food (most common), solid and liquid food (less common), or liquid food alone (least common).
See what others are saying
I have gastroparesis. It started about seven years ago, but I've had many tests and just learned about it two months ago. Within five minutes of waking up in the morning, I start vomiting. Sometimes, it wakes me up. I will vomit from 6 a.m. to noon. I love my job, but since I have missed work for four weeks, I am now on medical leave. What is strange is that if I stay up late and sleep late on the weekend, I do not vomit. But when I go to bed around 9-10 p.m. and get up at 6 a.m., I vomit. This seems to be a clue but I can't figure it out. I have elevated the head of the bed. I've had numerous prescriptions, but nothing working. I'm doing fluids, Jell-O, and broth, and start over with the same diet the next morning. My medical leave is just 12 months and the job is not guaranteed.
I was diagnosed with gastroparesis two years ago after having a gastric motility scan. My gastroenterologist told me it probably came from a bad stomach virus I had suffered previously. We were hopeful I might overcome the gastroparesis in time, and for a while, I had a very mild case. (I was even was able to get off Prevacid by making changes in my diet.) Unfortunately, stress and another minor stomach bug appear to have erased those gains. I now have constant reflux that is barely controlled by Prevacid (taken twice every day), and I am on Carafate to protect my throat. I'm nearly at the end of the diet and lifestyle changes I can make: I do not smoke, drink, or drink soda. I am a vegetarian, so most of the big triggers were not in my daily routine even before I got gastroparesis. I've moved to small frequent meals and away from anything fried or fatty. The hardest part is the nausea and throat pain, I am finding that having no food in my stomach is as much a nausea trigger as having too much. Some days it's not clear what is triggering things to be worse or better. I do still drink coffee, but only in small amounts and on a full stomach. I cannot tolerate Reglan, and I am afraid to take domperidone. (The arrhythmia side effects scare me.) Coffee or a little bit of chocolate does seem to help get things moving after I eat. I can't take them on an empty stomach though; they make me feel sick if I do that.
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