/r/Gastroparesis
Gastroparesis is a condition that affects the ability of muscular contractions to effectively propel food through your digestive tract, resulting in delayed gastric emptying. Gastroparesis is typically diagnosed via a gastric emptying study (GES) and is thought to be a condition belonging on a spectrum shared with functional dyspepsia (FD) rather than being a totally separate disease.
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About Gastroparesis:
Gastroparesis, also called delayed gastric emptying, is a medical condition consisting of a paresis (partial paralysis) of the stomach, resulting in food remaining in the stomach for a longer time than normal. Normally, the stomach contracts to move food down into the small intestine for digestion. With Gastroparesis, food then moves slowly or stops moving through the digestive tract.
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/r/Gastroparesis
Hello everyone, for the past 6 days I’ve had the following: extreme nausea, full body shakes, stomach cramps, and constant stomach gurgling. Lots of trips to the bathroom. Anyways I looked in the toilet and saw that it was all black and tarry ish, I just want someone to tell me it’s not what I think it means.
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This subreddit continues to grow every day. With that being said, how can we continue to improve this subreddit? Please offer any advice, critiques, or suggestions on how we can keep our people happy and our community growing strong.
Mods of r/Gastroparesis
I’m currently admitted to the hospital for a copd flareup and will be released today. I am scheduled for a gpoem Wednesday.
Obviously I will call my surgeon tomorrow and see what they say, but what are the chances they will cancel it? Will the anesthesia be bad for me?
Thanks for your kindness
Does GP increase the chances of cancer? I have severe GP plus the LES is stuck open. The reflux is so bad. My esophagus is also twisted. I just worry about my older self and if any of this increases my chances of getting cancer.
I'm having my stomach emptying test in January. Right now the nausea is so bad that I've lost 7 pounds in a week. I've tried Pepto, zofran and promethazine. None of it helps. Yesterday my stepfather gave me some ginger to chew on and I was able to eat some jello with fruit.
What else has your doctor put you on that helped with the nausea so you could eat?
Hypochlorhydria, or low stomach acid, can cause digestive issues that may lead to infections and other health problems. Gastroparesis is a chronic condition that can cause nausea, vomiting, and belly pain. While there's no cure for either condition, treatments can help manage symptoms: Hypochlorhydria: Treatments include changing eating habits and taking supplements to address nutrient deficiencies.
Gastroparesis: Treatments include changing diet and taking medications.
Is Low stomach acid the reason for your pain? Watch: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtmzrMJ6sftIqAUcfYcUPfJaRaOz_Zj-6&si=66oIJ0c1OZnvzWDQ
Also: 7 signs of low stomach acid
I take Betaine HCI, enzymes, slippery elm and am doing the low FODMAP diet and am currently fixing my stomach acid and am having a lot of success. I have always been told I have too much stomach acid yet no one ever tested this and just gave me ppi's In reality as we are our acid levels drop and we cannot digest our food. I'm now looking/ using a safer approach based on these videos and will update once I figure out this method called the seed method that is safer than taking B- HCI. I believe I got it right but am gonna wait and update this post.
You really should read a lot about what your pancreas does and this will all make sense.
This may not work for you but it's working for me.
Btw, I have no gallbladder. I stopped taking my omeprozeale.
New to this. Was told to avoid fats and fiber. But I’ve seen people here say when they need a snack they choose ice cream or French fries. But aren’t they filled with fat? Is there good fat and bad fat? Obviously everyone is different but I’m confused. I probably need a nutritionist but I don’t have one yet. Any tips?
Hi all -
I have Gastroparesis and my weight is horrific right now, but I cannot gain any weight despite any efforts.
I am about 5'3" and if I weigh 80 pounds, that would be on my best day (but I deal with severe constipation, intestinal dysmotility, so I'm sure some of that isn't even 'real' weight). I know this is awful. I struggle to eat because of nausea, but I won't take anti-nausea meds because they cause constipation. Last time I took zofran, I ended up with a blockage.
My diet is very limited to pretty much things that are pre-packaged - no fruits, veggies at all, barely any meat, I limit fats because those trigger my symptoms, and I do not consume fiber (most would be under 5 grams per day). I can tolerate carbs, and anything that sugar-y fine, but this isn't sustainable. I do not consume any water orally - only mostly soda (coke & ginger ale) and sometimes gatorade.
I have brought this to the attention of my care team time & time again. I see a regular GI doctor, a motility specialist, nutritionist, and my hematologist manages my weekly IV fluids that I go into his clinic for. I first asked my Hematologist about getting a port-a-cath placed because my vein (only one on one arm is useful) is taking a hit. He said sure, but he wanted clearance from GI. So, I asked my motility doctor & her response was insane. She said, "Well, I was hoping this was going to be temporary and we need to maintain the integrity of your intestines" - not sure what she was thinking was going to be 'temporary'? Gastroparesis, EDS, intestinal dymotility are all permanent conditions. Regardless, I am suffering. My electrolytes are out of whack, hematology keeps treating them and then they fall again.
My primary GI doctor asked me when I wanted to get a feeding tube placed, but motility pushed back and said we need to determine if my motility is throughout my entire intestinal tract (I thought we already determined this..), just my small bowel, or just my colon because that would change things. She never went into detail.-I'm a grown adult, and I need her to. I don't want to be rude to her, but I've been messaging her, and she's not budging.
Has anyone else experienced this? Did you have to ASK for a feeding tube?? I don't want something dangerous to happen to me, but don't know what else to do. Motility doctors are not easy to just get in to see a different one, so I cannot just call up another hospital and walk in to see a new one quickly.
I'm having a nasty flare right now. I should have been more careful on Thanksgiving. My lorazepam prescription (for insomnia) arrived earlier and I took 0.5mg about an hour ago. I feel like my stomach is finally moving again. Is that possible? I had terrible nausea when it first kicked in because of the sudden movement, but I'm finally able to pass gas and I my stomach is making the noises it makes when it's grinding back to life.
Has anyone else experienced this?
Hello, I have a concern regarding radiation exposure.
I have Gastric Emptying study scheduled next week, but meanwhile I got my yearly mammogram done earlier this month, and a week later, I had to go back and get additional mammogram done due to some abnormalities found (result was benign).
I am wondering if these would be a concern for too much radiation exposure at short period of time….
I also had my foot x rayed in August due to taylor’s bunion, and had few x rays done in June and earlier this year for tooth aches.
Should I delay the Gastric emptying study to perhaps next year?
Any thoughts would be appreciated!
My gastro has been threatening to put a PICC li ne if I fall below 115. Despite every possible measure and effort-I am rapidly losing weight and this feels impossible. I fell to 112.5. I had a PICC line for TPN both pregnancies due to HG and the idea of having one again seems absolutely absurd and miserable. Does anyone have any protein shakes/heavy caloric supplements they have easily kept down? I can’t do any chocolate flavored ones, or ones that are chalky (I know that takes most out of the equation 😣😣-they instantly come back up), I am grasping at straws at this point
I am asking because in my case I woke up on Nov 8th with dry heaves. I had fast food the night before at around 9 pm.
I ignored the dry heaving which was on and off for about a week and ate normally.
However the dry heaving got worse along with nausea and lack of appetite. Eventually I had to take Zofran and some domperidone to help with my symptoms. and i am on a mostly liquid semi solid diet at the moment.
I thought with a virus I would be running to the toilet and having major vomitting and diahhrea. i did not even have the sniffles or a fever....
The only thing I can remember is waking up very warm in the middle of the night a few days prior to the start of all of this.
I was tested for EOE and celiac and h pylori a while ago when I had a similar episode to this around 5 years ago. I wonder if i should test for celiac and h pylori again. eoe i think is more about swallowing issues.
Thanksgiving just passed and I tried to be good and mostly follow my diet but I still felt awful stomach pain and diarrhea. I mostly ate mashed potatoes but I did have a bite of turkey and Mac but probably a spoon full. How do you guys manage the holidays and the holiday food?
The facility I was originally going to go to in my area unfortunately couldn’t get me in until April….
I found another place and they were able to get me in this coming Tuesday.
I am a bit skeptical because their test is only 2 hours long??? I thought the standard was 4 hours?
I know it's a long shot, but I was curious if anyone else has taken testosterone HRT with gastroparesis and had a change in symptoms? My motility specialist told me to let him know if anything changed, but didn't actually specify what might happen. After some digging, I believe he may have been thinking about how most people with GP are women and seem to have worsened symptoms related to times during their cycle where there's higher Estrogen levels. I appreciate any info!
I have not been properly diagnosed with Gastroparesis yet as the doc who specialises in Gastroparesis at my hospital is all booked up for months, so I'm calling it slow digestion for now, but I'm pretty sure I will get diagnosed eith Gastroparesis when I finally get tested.
Anyway, when it began in July, if I eat lunch, I would be so full until the next day's lunch time. Now in December, my stomach feels like it's starting to digest my lunch around bed time, and I don't feel so full when I wake up in the morning. (Not hungry either though. Just not too full.)
So I guess it is very very slow but I'm getting better over time? Anyone else seen any improvement over time?
Honestly as much as I hate it I think I’ve figured out the best way to relieve my constipation: nervous pooping. All I gotta do is make plans or even just think about them and then I’ll spend 4 hours every 10 minutes going and going bc I got nervous poops like nobody’s business. It’s inconvenient; can be extremely painful, uncomfortable, but at the end of the day that consitpated feeling is gone, I can sit down normally again, I’m left with one less of a discomfort while my own body is malfunctioning and a small laugh bc while it sucks like there’s no tomorrow I find amusement in it and relief 🥲😂 RIP my toilet
So we all know GP is h.e-double-hockey-sick on the teeth and I have EDS making that even worse. My teeth are in bad shape in no small part due to the bite blocks from all the endoscopy’s and the vomiting I have two broken teeth in front and one small chip from those stupid bite blocks. I just went to my dentist before the holiday and he was great not only was he just understanding in the fact that this happened while I still took care of my teeth and it’s a product of my conditions but he specifically planned how to fix my teeth in the best way possible for my health issues. Some dentists might just take the easy route and pull the broken ones which is never ideal but my dentist is doing one root canal then build up and crown that tooth and the other broken one is getting a build up and crown and the chipped a crown. He’s doing all this so that I have a stable chewing base thus making it easier to chew my food more thoroughly than if he pulled which in turn allows me to digest more thoroughly, ideally helping the GP slightly. I love my dentist and I’m grateful for the fact that he understands this isn’t a result of poor mouth care and that GP is a real and serious condition and things and small as how throughly we chew will effect our GP. I know I’m probably one of the lucky few with a dentist this good but I hope if any of you find yourself in a similar situation that you have a dentist as good as mine. Thanks to anyone who read this I know some won’t care but it has made me happy and I wanted to share with someone who might understand.
Hi i recently got diagnosed two days ago but was given my diet plan a month ago, I shared with my pcp that the diet plan given was too hard to follow he was surprised to the see the amount of restrictions given by my gastroenterologist. The doctor doing my gastric emptying test also showed shock to such diet plan. I have been asked to seek a second opinion by my pcp as he thinks this diet could cause vitamin deficiencies. Has anyone else been given a similar diet?
no whole milk products. no grains except white bread, rice and pasta. no proteins except eggs. no vegetables except squash, carrot, potato, and spinach when cooked and peeled. no fruits except pineapple, banana, and applesauce. and no more than 40g of fat and no fiber.
Yesterday was Thanksgiving, and I went in with a set plan. I'd do the chew and spit method so I could at least taste a little. My stepdad is an amazing cook and every year since I've known him he's always invited a ton of people over, made a ton of great food, and it was a fun time. My favorite was always his baked mac and cheese, and this sort of crustless sweet potato pie (basically mashed sweet potatoes that firmed up in the dish like pie filling). This was my first Thanksgiving since having gastroparesis and I expected it to be rough, but with careful planning, manageable. I decided to go against the chew and spit method because I thought eating tiny amounts over a few hours would be a good strategy that let me actually eat something too. I had probably a tablespoon of pie (pretty much no crust, just filling with some crust crumbles on top) and a teaspoon of mac and cheese every two hours, each teaspoon chunk maybe had 4 noodles and some cheese. At the moment I felt fine. A little spike in nausea as most high fat things tend to do for me, but by no means bad, nothing I didn't expect. I had taken a preventative zofran the morning of, and more when allowed throughout the day, so I thought everything would be fine. That was until the next morning, when I woke up feeling like I was actively about to vomit, nearly gagging on all the excess saliva. This "about to vomit" feeling stayed the entire day. The excess saliva, the face tingles, the weird stomach bubbling and spasms. All of my usual "you have seconds to find a trash can" symptoms but no actual vomit. On one hand, I'm glad I didn't actually vomit as I had plans with friends that I already gave the all clear for, even had one friend who was already en route to pick me up, so I really didn't want to cancel. On the other hand, I spent most of that mall trip stealthily holding a barf bag just in case, or whipping out my emergency rubbing alcohol soaked cotton balls to sniff. And the constant stream of extra strength hard ginger candies. As of writing this none of the symptoms have lessened any, just less anxiety because I'd rather puke at my house than in public if worst comes to worst. Normally I'd be the type of person to eat Thanksgiving leftovers for every meal happily, or even now having gastroparesis, at least have maybe one noodle here or there. But I don't even want to think about anything edible right now. I'm already dreading Christmas since similar dishes make an appearance. I usually stick to an extremely strict daily diet since I was first diagnosed where me and my care team found a good diet for me. I have rarely ever deviated from it since, and if so just to remove an item, never add one. I suspect eating foods I haven't eaten since before developing gastroparesis, that had such high fat contents to boot, did me in. I have also ruled out food poisoning as everyone ate the same food with no issues and even some of my more sensitive stomached family members were fine. Yet here I sit, waiting till 3AM so I can safely have my next dose of zofran and hopefully fall asleep. I just need to make a poster on my wall reminding me how miserable this is the next time I think a spoon or two can't hurt 😭😭😭.
I starved before because of post eating disorder gastroparesis and I told myself “it’s better” because I could tolerate all foods and didn’t feel full for hours after eating a single gummy but honestly, until I said it out loud to my mom today I realized I still can’t eat jack shit food without horrible pain and discomfort. There are no limits on what foods I can eat but eating even a little bit more that necessary causes this awful intestinal burning and after thinking about it part of me wonders if I ever really recovered from the gastroparesis aspect because I sincerely have not been able to eat without pain since the first time I ever noticed I couldn’t eat well, six months ago. Any and all weight gain is a product of willing force feeding because Im just so fucking scared of starvation again. And the more I force feed the worse it gets. I thought it would help since I was scared of fitting the stigma of someone with an eating disorder and for a lot of people with eating disorders, eating more food usually helps, but in my case it’s just getting worse and worse. I don’t have pancreatic pains either, so as much as pancreatitis would make sense it’s probably not that. I have enough weight now that I can afford to listen to my body and not eat and lose weight without danger of medical starvation, but after a point, I really do not know what to do. Force feed and have constant pain, distention, etc, or continuously lose weight? Do I just fit as many calories as I comfortably can in and lose weight but just slowly? This might not even be gastroparesis, I just suspect it is because of past issues. I know usually people who post in this sub have a diagnosis, but maybe I want to post this just because even if I don’t, there is the community here that understands eating = pain but also is trying to avoid starvation.
Okay so I had a GPOEM on 10/4/24. So far everything has been pretty good. Recently I've noticed that basically every time I eat now, I can't burp afterwards and the more I eat, the longer it lasts. It's been about 5 hours and I still can't burp and I can feel that if I did force myself to burp I food would come up. Did anyone else experience this? I've never not been able to burp so consistently like this before.
Hi, My 19 month old twins got prescribed motilium today and I am super scared, someone else have an experience , this is in Mexico he is widely used, but im scared
Does anyone have experience with prucalopride and what I can only assume is overflow as I get awful painful, nauseating waves that then lead to bms that are both liquid and solid pebble like stool. This is usually after 2-3 weeks of either typical bm or still too solid but more frequent with no pain. This is an ongoing cycle my gastroenterologist cant explain. I dropped my dose to 1mg but found my bloating was horrific for a week. This week I tried psylium husk to see if that could help with bulking.
I assume something is moving too quickly where something else isn't. My husband thinks maybe my body is not absorbing liquid?
For a recap ibs and painful constipation for 15+ years, colonoscopy is clear, endoscopy + gastric emptying + pH test showed ineffective peristalsis. Can't take movicol laxatives as they just build up over two weeks and cause painful diarrhoea. Had low fodmap for years with little improvement. Had hypnotherapy a few years ago with some improvement to pain.
Honestly I would just like to know what people think is happening!!!
How does everyone cope with the fact that few people care about this disease?
I’ve lived with it for a number of years and the hardest part is feeling so sick from not being able to eat and going for help only for my reality to be questioned. Even when I was so weak I couldn’t muster the strength to walk to the bathroom and couldn’t sleep as I would wake up shaking from how little food I could eat, I truly thought I was being taken seriously. I had never heard of a feeding tube, motility medication or any other treatments. I had no idea I wasn’t believed and was recently told it was my perception of being ill and there was nothing wrong. The dietician dropped me like I’m a piece of trash and I always wondered what I had done to deserve no help with nutrition seeing as they have a motility clinic. Hearing people laugh and being told solely relying on shakes wasn’t the point with all messages otherwise being ignored as I was struggled to make it through the day without collapsing. Somehow I thought I was being taken seriously and looking back, I had no idea there were treatments I should have had access to that would have limited my suffering. I told providers last time that I couldn’t go through this again and I have never experienced the amount of disdain I received over the past few months. Complete refusal to see me, raised eyebrows at appointments, and comments like I’ve seen worse, there’s no reason for this, why don’t you just eat, you’re not trying hard enough, this won’t go away so we’re going to do nothing to help as you’re at your baseline, you shouldn’t be here, no one will help you and watching others being treated with respect while I begged for help. I’ve completely lost faith in humanity and I’m not sure living is worth it anymore.
I’m trying to decide what to do but the more I think about it, the less I expect my future to be any better. If it happens again, I don’t think I’ll reach out to anyone as I’ve already decided what to do. I’d rather die than be subject to the obscene comments, lies written in notes, abject indifference and pain that comes with not being able to fuel my body properly. None of it is worth suffering through anymore. Not when there is one level of care for some people and indifference towards me. All the cold weather does it remind me of what it was like. I can’t do this anymore.
I have a severe case of gastroparesis and cannot take any meds to hep as I am allergic to them. Since they told me they can’t do anything more for me locally they have sent me to consult with Froedert hospital. I go 12/9. However, I also have eating disorders and tho I’m trying recovery, have found that if I induce purging my symptoms are alleviated. I’ve been doing it so often at night that I think I have tamed it quite a bit for now.
I know this is not healthy and really don’t want to do it but does anyone else do this? Do you find relief?
Sorry it is an uneasy topic and I’m a bit ashamed to write this finally but I just need to know if there are others who do the same or similar.
Hi everybody. I have gastroparesis pretty severe along with a grade 3 hiatal hernia and esophagitis. My mother also has gastrointestinal issues like IBS C and D along with a redundant colon and has links inserted to control her heart burn as esophageal cancer runs in the family. My brothers has EOE, an immune disorder affecting esophagus and my uncle Tim had dumping syndrome. Since they can’t do anything locally for me and my issues ( I’m allergic to all the meds) I will be going to Froedert hospital December 9 for help. I have a strong family history as you can see. Therefore I was wondering about Dumping Syndrome. I don’t know much about it and the internet can only give you sort of generic info. Could someone with this syndrome explain it to me so I know what I’m talking about when I go on the ninth?
i’m 15 with severe gastroparesis, currently going through a terrible flare and i haven’t really been out of bed this entire week. i lose a pound about every other day and as of right now i’m 77 pounds. my mom sees me suffering and hears me crying and doesn’t care when i tell her i feel like i’m gonna die. she hates taking me to the hospital because it’s inconvenient for her, and she often makes it all about herself saying “i hate being here”, and doing whatever she can to get me discharged early. the last time she had to take me to the hospital (a few weeks ago), because i was shitting straight blood, she was very angry with me and throwing a tantrum. i can barely take in calories by eating (below 600 a day now) and the hospital was gonna do an nj on me in june but she refused it. i feel like i really need medical help at this point because i am having chest pains and palpitations when i stand up or sit up in bed. i am having terrible stomach pains and the worst nausea and though my mom knows all this, instead she offered to take me to the beach. what do i do? how can i get help?
update: she offered to take me to get acupuncture 😐
So if you take domperidone and live in the USA then you probably dont know this, but the Canadian Post is on strike and you will not recieve your medicine for "a while". This is assuming that if you live in the USA you get your medicine filled from canada, I normally do because the Canadian pills are coated and smaller than the indian ones that are chalky, they also normally take wayyy less time to ship. The former, however, is just a personal preference.
Anyone canadian here have any insight on the strike? I'm from Virginia and I stay out of politics so I have no clue whats going on.
Also i was told canadian post is the only post office that will ship medications to the USA.
Luckily I have leftover indian vomistop/motilium (domperidone).
Still, i recommend ordering your medicine sooner than later because I'm the kinda person to wait until the last minute to do things, even though this is my most necessary medicine...(not the brightest, i agree)
Although I haven't had the GES done yet, my GI doctor thinks I have gastroparesis after taking one semaglutide injection almost 9 weeks ago. I'm currently being prescribed reglan and while I don't have the nasty side effects, I can't say it's helped with the heaviness/early satiety/fullness. Right now I'm having really hard time getting calories and taking in fluids. How do you guys manage this?