Acid Reflux and a slow stomach... need advice pleaseee!

[samski]

Well, I've had all kinds of tests done to figure out why I am always nauseous and I nothing was showing up until I had an upper endoscopy, which showed I have a slow stomach (the ratio the doctor gave me was that it took me twice the time to digest the same amount of food a normal person does) and the food just sits there and causes the acid reflux. He advised for me to eat smaller, more frequent meals throughout the day but it doesn't really seem to be helping. My nausea gets worse whenever I go out somewhere like a restaurant or a friend's house and he said it could be the fact that I also have anxiety.... but he didn't tell me how I could combat that. The smaller meals really don't seem to be making a difference and I was wondering if anyone here had advice. I need to figure out why I've been nauseous for at least one hour almost every day for 2 1/2 years now. It also gets worse at night... any advice? Or anyone going through the same thing?

[JennaLynnK]

Hey!

I've been through the samething you are going through now. Mine started when I was in high school and almost everyday I was going home from school sick. At night I would feel like I could breath fire.

I had the scope done too, and found out along with reflux, my stomach muscles fuction at a rate 95% slower than a normal stomach. So along with my uclers and my hernia I was in bad shape.

I'm sure you've gotten a prescription to help with the acid, so I would take those as the doctor says you should. I don't know if you also got a prescription for a stomach stimulant, but I know those are avaible. I went through this about 5 years ago, so I can't recall off the top of my head what the pills where called, but I know they did help. So if you didnt get those, I recommend asking your doctor about if they could possibly help you.

Now after saying all that, I'll tell you that, even a year or so after I had been going to the doctor, I still felt completely miserable. Part of it was from the anxiety of being sick for so long, I was terrified it was going to keep happening. I got to the point that I would avoid any situation where me feeling sick and having to leave the room would cause a disturbance. Which is basically every situation when your in high school. I just felt embarassed because I was always sick.

This might sound strange, but the thing that helped me out the most over all, was chewing gum, or sucking on something such as a breath mint or tictac... whatever. I actually told my doctor about this, and he completely agreed with me. It will help keep acid down in, and in turn make you feel better, and it also provides a distraction from your anxiety and worrying. I've also found once you start getting those feelings like you might be sick soon, and you start to panic, just calming taking deep breaths and telling yourself over and over again that your fine will help out a lot.

Thats what ended up helping me out the most, and I hope you can benefit from some of it.

You also need to watch what you eat. Milk is what gave me the most problems, even though at the time when you have a lot of acid, it does sound really soothing. Chocolate, coffee, and pop are also big things that hurt my stomach.

Hope some of this helps you. Feel free to ask me questions if you want.

[Ol'Line Rebel]

Hello. What you are talking about is gastroparesis (GP), and it is NOT diagnosed at all with an endoscopy (you cannot eat food for that check as you will be sedated). You must have had a gastric-emptying scan. If not and you were diagnosed because of endoscopy (and as opposed to a "guess" - which does happen alot in gastrointestinal [GI] issues), go back and say "what gives?" That simply is not done.

I have nausea, bloating, burping all the time. It's technically "mild" GP (my half-time for getting rid of test meal was 110 minutes as opposed to 90; a little slow) as I don't throw up or anything like that, but it's pretty constant. Right now it's exacerbated because I'm 9mos pregnant (which causes temporary GP also - although they never refer to it that way)!

You did not say how long you've tried small meals, or if you're on any kind of medication for GI issues.

You cannot expect anything GI to resolve quickly trying anything, be it medication or lifestyle changes. (In this case, it's not resolving GP so much, as just the symptoms of nausea.) The GI system needs to be in service every single day and can get no real rest unlike with most other medical problems, so as a rule relieving symptoms takes time. Consider yourself really lucky if you feel better in a few weeks!

Anyway, if you've not done things for over a month, don't expect much. Keep at it. Your nausea can be caused by the GP keeping acid in your stomach - AND rotting food - too long and thus, literally hurting the tummy lining. Tummy aches that deep-seated can take a long time to "heal".

I would expect at least that you would be taking PPIs or some kind of acid-reducing medication regularly, as well as being told to lessen your meals and spread them out (which is hard to do, if you ask me). And if you really were diagnosed with GP, I'd expect you'd soon be trying 1 of the few medications allowed for GP. Most prominent now is Reglan; in fact, I think it's the only current medication on the US FDA-approved list. Unfortunately, most of the others have been pulled and the most famous around the world, Motilium, has never been submitted here for approval. It's ironic, because Reglan is infamous for causing all kinds of nerve-related issues in many patients (for me, it was serious pounding and skipping heart after 1 week use). But it's worth a try if it helps you without causing those effects.

Anyway, I'm blathering on. Hope this gave some insight.

[charlies girl]

My advice and experience of REGLAN is don't take it, this drug can make you ill er than you actually are, ok it can work well at first and has the ability to hide side effects from you, you can experience hell on earth, as i did. I am still suffering now from the depression and anxiety it gave me, the twitching, shaking, SUICIDAL THOUGHTS, and confusion has gone after 10 mths of being off it.
I count myself lucky that i didn't get tardive dyskinesia from it {permanent movement disorders }. I have also got chronic fatigue syndrome as a result of taking this drug for 6 mths. BE VERY CAREFULL!

[danabarb]

I had TERRIBLE acid reflux a couple of years ago. Was taking a prescription two times and day and it didn't do much. Found Digestinol on the Internet and now I hardly have to take any medication and can drink coffee in the morning. Digestinol is strong Aloe Very and heals. It is all natural and very safe and can be taken with other medications. Look it up and see the testimonials from people.