Bloated, cannot eat a tic-tac!

[Ol'Line Rebel]

I have gastroparesis (GP), and I have definitely mentioned it as well as having the emptying test, which confirmed it.

Mine is "mild", but like purple, I get scared it will get worse.

There is no cure; but then, there is no cure for GERD either (no good 1 besides surgery), and that itself can lead to esophageal or throat cancers, albeit small chance.

Basically they keep you on PPIs to reduce the damage done by refluxing, and try you on a motility drug.

In the US, the ONLY legal motility drug for this is Reglan. I was anxious to try it, although I knew all about the many bad side effects, both scale and scope. I hoped I would be spared those and get mostly good out of it. But Reglan gave me tremors and major heart palpitations after 1 week on minimal dosage (sent me to ER after I stopped - and I am NOT a worry-wort who goes to the ER at every turn). I'm still struggling (minimally) with heart palps. I haven't bothered using Reglan since (but still have a whole bottle of it!).

The idea with motility drugs is that they, too, are maintenance drugs as are PPIs. You'd need them to keep it going, as GP supposedly doesn't go away. Motility drugs don't cure it, they just help it.

Although, apparently in rare cases, if you have a GP problem caused by some VIRUS infection, you should eventually lose the GP. But mostly, this isn't the case.

1 mention here: if you have GP, the recommendation is to go LOW fiber. That means meats are better than veggies, and you have to be careful about what veggies you have; high-fiber foods are bad because they are difficult to move as they do not break down. In bad cases these can ball up into a bolus that gets stuck in the stomach and causes more problems.

Hope this helps with some info. Feel free to ask and I'll answer what I can. I'm no expert - I've only known I have this for ~8 mos, and it's "mild", never mind I'm not a doctor! But as a hypochondriac I tend to read like crazy!

[Purpleball]

Thanks for your knowledge guys; these message boards are priceless...

Just to answer a few of your questions,

I undertook a recent endoscopy which showed no visible sign of any ulcers in the stomach. Digestion has been fairly good apart from the occasional bad day, but nothing out of the ordinary.

I have had the celiac blood test which turned out negative, I’m unsure about any wheat or dairy allergies; however I think that there is a chance it could be this. I have had periods where I would eliminate a certain foods for a week or so to determine any improvement, but no results as yet and to be honest I haven’t been 100% strict as I should be (e.g. milk with tea). I had a food intolerance test taken recently which only showed a problem with tomatoes and chocolate (since which I have stopped eating, with no improvement). It was a 'Vega' test, and research shows it’s not the most accurate food intolerance test. Does anyone know where I could take a more accurate intolerance test (UK) or would you guys recommend I just do trail and error with different foods?

Vitamin B deficiency, it could also be. Over the last couple of years I have lost count of what I have and haven’t been tested for. This might sound a silly question but how important are vitamins? Do you think I could see an improvement by taking supplements? I am skinny & find it increasingly difficult to gain weight, would you suggest protein/weigh gain shakes etc? I have also considered taking probiotic tablets; do these help with the good bactaria etc.

I’m a fan of alternative medicine, and always looking for the route cause rather than drugs that counterbalance the symptoms. I’ve recently tried acupressure and ayurvedic but with no avail. I also hear yoga can be very helpful with these sorts of symptoms. The recent medicine I have been prescribed so far has been for the Oesophagitis. They include a pump similar to an asthma inhaler which was swallowed rather than inhaled, then I tried Nexium and now I’ve finished a month’s supply of Singlair, all prescribed by my gastroenterologist none of which have helped.

Based upon the above my history, what do you suggest I could try?

Purpleball

[Papyrus4]

Hi again Purpleball,
I know a person who tested negative for celiac but her doctor was bright enough to tell her to cut out wheat anyhow........and she showed major improvement. So don't assume because the conventional test for intolerances is always reliable.
I know how hard it is to give up foods that we've been raised on......but give it a week or 2 without the wheat. Look up rice recipes/bread/etc. And learn to read labels really well.

Is your gall bladder okay?

Vitamins and minerals are extremely important. They are how our bodies get things done.....like make important enzymes, nerve transmission, etc., etc.
I get a bit overwhelmed trying to figure out what vitamins/minerals I might need, so I do internet searches and look for a list of which vitamins do which things. For you, you could focus on the ones that seem to be most important to digestion and the nervous system.
Just start taking a good multi-vitamin every day. Then add to that a good B-complex vitamin. I like taking the sublinqual B12 tablets. One also comes with folic acid and B6.
I used to think just eating a well-balanced diet takes care of all the vitamins, but I learned how depleted of vitamins and minerals our soil has become, and how alot of our junk food actually depletes them in us.
You should really look up vegetarian stuff on the internet. I remember learning a long time ago that vegetarians easily become deficient in the B vitamins, and so you are supposed to be sure to get plenty of beans..........but do an internet search.
One thing I was thinking..........and I'm not sure how much to believe this........but supposedly not having enough stomach acid can cause similar problems as having too much. I think "Betaine" or something like that can be taken to give you more acid. You could try that.
You could also try some digestive enzymes and see if that helps move things along.
Vitamins and supplements can be overwhelming when you just start to learn about them. Get a paper and pencil and sit down at the computer, and start educating yourself slowly on what things help what in our bodies, and go to a reputable health store, and start to try out just a few of the things that seem to point to your symptoms..
The body is so complex. We might think its just a matter of our stomachs freezing up, when it could be a small deficiency in something that really messes up the whole works.
The Omega 3's and 6's are important too. Are you eating fish, and olive oil?

Back when I had incredible bloating, I used peppermint oil capsules, which helped somewhat.
Probiotics are very important. Eat lots of yogurt and find a good probiotic pill to take.
My bloating problems started after I had a horrible bout of the flu and pneumonia. I assumed the virus really messed me up, but I've always wondered if the antibiotics somehow damaged my GI tract. Unfortunately, probiotics don't seem to help me, but they might help you. It was at that time that I could eat very little, and I would blow up like a blimp. I just had to really limit what I ate.
Another thing........and I don't know if this guy has been around here, but on another GI forum I'm on, there's a guy who's written a book on how carbohydrates cause GERD.
Even if you don't have a wheat problem, you should try to cut back alot on your carbs and see if this helps. His theory is that our bodies weren't meant to eat as many carbs as we eat, and when our GI tract is overwhelmed by carbs, it quits digesting them and starts fermenting, and then everything shuts down, with tons of bloating.
I would say if you try something, try to do it for at least 2 weeks at a time, and see how you feel.

[brook65]

Hi again Purpleball,

The reason I was asking about wheat and dairy intolrances, is because my ex has intolrances to these.

His stomach also used to really bloat and feel uncomfortable and gassy. He then cut out all dairy products and ALL foods containing wheat. Now his stomach is flatter and he doesn't have the problem with gas and also his toilet problems have eased off.

Coincidently he is also a vegetarian. I will say one week to cut out certain foods and to expect results is expecting a bit much too soon. Really you would need to give it at least a few weeks to see if there are any results.

I would also say being a vegetarian, you have to be careful about getting plenty of zinc, iron as well as B vitamins in your diet to make up for what you are missing by not eating meat.

I bet as well as being thin you are also very palid in complextion?

My ex eats lots of nuts, as well as marmite which is brilliant for B vitamins. Also probiotics are great for diagestion problems, like the yoghurts that you can get .

If your problem is linked simply to food allegys, then the gas is obvioulsy being caused due to the fact your body isn't able to digest and break these down properly.

Don't forget when you try the ellimination (please excuse spelling lol) don't add ANY milk to your drinks.

I hope it isn't the other more serious problem that another poster suggested, and that it is just a simple case of food allegy.

Another thing I forgot to mention is have you thought about chinese medicine, or even going to a herbalist? going to a doctor they are always keen to just hand out drugs, which I think just adds more poisons to the body, as well as side effects.

[Ol'Line Rebel]

All I can say in addition here is, check out a site that deals with "quack-watching". Lots of time and $$$ wasted on these unresearched theories.