Help....Gastroparesis....

[youraw]

Hi everyone,

I have been sick for the last 6 weeks with nausea and vomiting and after a multitude of tests, I have been diagnosed with gastroparesis (the muscles in the wall of my stomach work poorly or not at all, preventing my stomach from emptying properly. This can interfere with digestion, cause nausea and vomiting, and play havoc with blood sugar levels and nutrition.) There are ties to blood sugar issues and hypothyroidism, both of which I have. Obviously I am not thrilled with this, but it is a partial relief to know what is wrong with me.

Here's where I could use some advice. My doctor just wants to put me on medication 4x daily and not see me for 2 weeks! Yeah right! The medication has all sorts of nasty side affects.

I have been reading up on this condition and recommendations are to eat small frequent meals and eat low-fiber foods instead of high fiber. It also says that pureed soups and foods are good.

Eating raw....lots of fruits and veggies...high fiber, unless I juice them. I am wondering if some sort of a juice fast would be good...but don't know about long term.

The interesting thing is that in the last 9 days of eating mostly raw, the only time I throw up is when I don't eat raw, which makes me question the suggestion to eat only low fiber foods.

Anyway, I don't mean to ramble:o but if anyone has any experience with this or any advice I would appreciate it. I am in the process of finding a different doctor.

This is the web site I have been looking at. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/gastroparesis/DS00612/DSECTION=1

Thanks you guys.

[Nurse in the Raw]

Delayed Gastric Emptying

You can try Gastrotab, its a natural alternative but it's a little expensive.
http://gastrotab.com/about_tab.html?gclid=CIKMto7K4o4CFQmZbgodcCK7Qg

Don't eat any oils, ever. Stick to avocados and coconuts. Don't eat broccoli and cabbage, tomato skins, nuts or seeds because they are hard to break down and contain fiber which slows gastric emptying.

Almost all liquids, even those that are high in calories, will empty from the stomach. Green smoothies should be your best friend.

* Eat six or more small meals per day; avoid large meals.

* Chew foods well; solid food, may be tolerated if ground or puréed.

* High-fiber foods should be avoided because they may be more difficult for your stomach to empty or may cause bezoar formation.

* Sit up while eating and for 1 hour after finishing; consider taking a quiet walk after meals.

Underlying disorders need to be treated effectively such as good blood sugar control in the diabetic patient or thyroid medicine for someone with an underactive thyroid. Stay raw though and the need for meds will most likely be eliminated all together.

[Revvell]

In my interview with Victoria Boutenko she mentioned that for those with digestive problems, drink green smoothies for the first 2-3 weeks until the problem is solved. I'd also get a good bodywork therapist who can work that area for you. Also, if you're not doing qigong or yoga, highly recommend it/them.

Revvellicious :)

[jessirose]

wow, you just described my daughter pre- g-tube to a T!! She had malabsorption, low blood sugar, delayed gastric emptying, reflux causing vomiting (we think was mostly due to DGE and acids building up trying to digest stomach contents). We ended up taking her to a Naturopath who tested her ph and she was highly acidic, and deemed that the cause. We were supposed to check for ketones regularly in the urine (a dirty fuel the body burns when out of glucose that has an acidic byproduct it releases). Ketone sticks are sold over the counter in any pharmacy. She was indeed spilling large amounts of ketones, and that will cause a very acidic body. This is usually the result of hypoglycemia. Ketones are also what people on the atkins diet look for in their urine for the weight loss, since no carbs means the body thinks it's starving, burning stores for fuel. She also used to have high TSH levels (thyroid stimulating hormone) which meant low functioning thyroid, but everything ended up balancing out after the detox program she was put on. Since then, she's not had any problems, 1.5 yrs later! The suggestions given above were right on target. 2 of the products for the program that were most influencial were Digestazon and Illumination from www.amazonianherb.com. Also, peppermint tea works wonders for stimulating digestion and decreasing nausea/vomiting.

Hope you feel better soon!!!

[juliebove]

I have gastroparesis. It can be quite nasty so I do feel for you. I told my Dr. I was on a raw vegan diet and although it flies in the face of all they tell you to do in terms of diet, he told me to continue doing what I was doing, unless I was having problems. When I was having problems I was to go on a low fiber diet.

I can't say much one way or the other about juice. I don't personally like juice and I have diabetes, so juice is one of the worst things I can have, unless I'm having a hypo.

I can not really spell out what my current diet is, since it is not totally raw vegan. You were probably given a sheet listing out the diet or find it easy enough online. From that you will likely be able to deduce what sorts of things I eat and drink when I am having trouble. Luckily my bouts of trouble seem to be few and far between these days and seem to be tied into the various meds I have been told to take for GERD and Barrett's Esophogus. These things were discovered when I went in to see the Gastroenterologist for symptoms that appeared to be gastroparesis. In my case, the gastric emptying study was never done because the hospital I went to uses eggs and I have a severe egg allergy.

I presume the med you were prescribed is Reglan/Metoclopramide? It does have severe but rare side effects. I take it only at bedtime and it does seem to help. The few times I forgot to take it, I did throw up.

I must say overall I am eating far less food than I used to. I used to have a huge salad every night for dinner. And I do mean huge. Like serving bowl size! But the last time I did that I threw up so much I don't think I shall ever forget it.

I do still have salad. But not that much of it. Now it has to be a small plate of it and not too much leafy greens. I seem to digest onions, peppers and tomatoes better than I do greens. Not sure why.

I don't eat much fruit. Never have. I seem to be able to eat small amounts of apple, pear, cherries and strawberries. Why those things? Because they grow in my garden. I dislike the taste of most fruit so I won't really seek it out. But I tend to have excess of those things so I will eat those at times. However, I ate one single raspberry and threw up not long after.

The problem I have is that I never seem to know when my stomach will act up. Used to be it was only at night, after I went to bed. I usually take a bath right before bed. But I learned that a hot bath is one of the worst things you can do with gastroparesis because it relaxes the stomach. So now I make do with fewer hot soaky baths (although I do need them for skin problems), and take more quick showers and sponge baths.

I have thrown up once during the day. This was after eating the raspberry. I've gotten to where I have to keep a list of foods that I can't eat. If I get sick from something once, I try it a second time. If I get sick from it again, it is something I won't eat again. Luckily for me, most of what makes me sick is not in the vegan realm. However I really do have to be careful with salad. If I have salad for lunch, I will not have it for dinner.

I've learned to keep my meals small and I seem to be able to have only two per day. I have either breakfast or lunch. Not both. The food seems to move slowly at that time of day and I risk feeling stuffed come dinner time and also throwing up later if I do so. So during the week I have a small breakfast (most often about 3 fl. oz. of chia seeds made into a gel) and then nothing until about 3:30-4:00 when I have dinner. I have a snack before bed around 11:00 to midnight. I'm a real night owl and often do not get to bed until 3:00 a.m.

I've also tried stomach massage when I am having problems. Someone posted a Youtube link here about it some time back. Here's a link. Not sure if it is the same one that was posted or not, but the technique seems to be the same.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=O_TcAo72jlE

I did join a gastroparesis support group that is on Yahoo, but I sort of feel like I don't belong there. Seems like most of the people who are there are so much worse off than I do. Few of them seem to be able to eat solid food, ever.

I just take it one day at a time. When I have problems, I back off and follow the gastroparesis diet, eating a simple and easy to digest menu for about three days, six days if the problem seems to linger. Then I go back to the raw diet.

[clairaw]

hey there :) i also have been diagnosed with gastroparesis. I don't have diabetes, the cause is a stomach operation as a baby and/or virus that i picked up in the tropics. right now i am unofficially trying juicefeasting as a solution (see juicefeasting.com). maybe an idea for other's with this not so raw friendly affliction?

[peacelover]

I feel for you-I know first hand this STINKS!

TriVita makes a great B12 supplement that is not too expensive. B12 is one of the vitamins that the digestive tract uses to move things along. Diabetes can interfere with B12 absorption and show itself as Gastroparesis. I saw a lot of great results when I started using it..BUT I still get sick if I eat SAD food. Which is good overall :) so I like to think of it as my body MAKING me eat right, you know.

The only other relief I find, even with RAW, is to eat very small portions and do not mix a lot of liquid with what I eat-too much liquid can make me as sick as SAD food and I try to not OD on fruit because it seems to cause so much gas-also, my doc says eat no broccoli, kale or zuchini when I am having a bad time.

Hope you are feeling better soon!

Peace-Melissa