Do any disney regulars suffer from Delayed Gastric Emptying?

[kyomagi]

Just curious. I have been having symptoms of bloating nausea and dry heaving and i might have finally found out yesterday that it takes my stomach twice as long to empty than normal. However, i did have the stomach flu for a week so i am going to be retested in 2-4 weeks when my stomach heals up.

Never the less, anyone else have this? My doc has told me that mine may be post viral ideopathic

 

[cornflkgrl]

I would suggest taking Florastor (as long as you don't have any severe immune issues or ports). It is over the counter. It is a very specific probiotic yeast compound. I had a long lasting illness with gagging and inability to eat after a bout of gastritis that required iv fluids. I don't know if it was just lingering from the virus or what but it went on for 2months. I was afraid it was going to ruin my trip, but after a month of the Florastor I am feeling a lot better. Not 100% but I can eat again. You can ask your doc about it too. It can be taken with all the meds they give for gastro issues.

 

[minnie mum]

I am sorry to hear that you are having to deal with this. Do you have any specific concerns about how this will affect your time in the parks? How soon is your trip? Has your doctor recommended dietary alterations that you may have to deal with while dining at Disney restaurants?

 

[kyomagi]

thank you both for replies.

Trip is in april. Right now doc says 6 small meals a day, low fiber. I see him again on tuesday. I was just wondering if anyone else had this condition and still spend a lot of time at Dis.

To give a little background on this, i started having symptoms back in 2008 and it would last about a week and was written off as chronic constipation. It was not until last year that it hit hard, for some reason, it hit longer and harder and made worse by my bad anxiety (which im sure made my symptoms worse this time around) I ended up having an upper endo and colonoscopy done and it showed a slightly red stomach but everything else normal. When i went last year in april, the first day we got to fl i spent the day in the hotel room and in florida celebration hospital. Luckily for me, days at the parks and typhoon lagoon went almost flawlessly. It was while i was staying at disney i learned what made my symptoms better, which i use til this day. Then it started to spread out, i would get sick one night every few weeks it seemed and my med cocktail made me better, and then the next day, it was like it never happened. I knew i was getting the scan and i started to get nervous.

But this week was bad timing on my part with the scan because the stomach virus can weaken the stomach thus causing temporary GP. Not saying i dont have delayed emptying, i dont think i have it as bad.

 

[happymommy]

Yes, my daughter has this! She had Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. We never knew why, since she was a baby, she would throw up so easily and often. She had so many tests done, and finally this spring we discovered what has caused her multiple illnesses! One common problem with her condition is delayed gastric emptying (gastroparesis). We tried a few medicines from the gastroenterologist, and found the best thing for her is a tiny amount (1/4 of a 250mg pill) of erythromycin before meals, which helps empty her stomach.
The underlying issue is that her connective tissue isn't formed right. Therefore, her skin stretches, she has joint pain and hypermobility, headaches, walks a bit funny due to ankle issues, has pretty strong nearsightedness, scars easily, bleeds easily, and her GI tract is likely affected. She going in for an echocardiogram and genetic testing next month at Johns Hopkins (took months to get in, but luckily we live nearby so it's convenient).
I wish you luck with your stomach issues! I'd ask you doctor about erythromycin if you're not allergic. It took a week or so before it started helping, but now she won't eat a meal without it!

 

[kyomagi]

see im afraid of taking that since i already have a irregular HB. but i am looking into something called iberogast that is supposed to increase gastric emptying like reglan without the side effect.

 

[ForeverDance]

My DD (who has CF) has a severe delay in gastric emptying. Before we found the right combination of medications it was a real battle for her. She would throw up every couple of weeks. This often included completely undigested food (in one case from what she had eaten 14 hours prior). Eventually they put her on a combination of domperidone (morning and night) and erythromycin (before each meal). She does have a heart murmur so they did a ECG before and after to ensure that the medications didn't cause any problems. Knock on wood, it's been working well for her. Hopefully your doctor can figure out something that will work for you.

 

[kyomagi]

wow that stinks! Mine would hit ever couple of weeks unless i had the stomach flu then it would make it worse for a while. I fine that lactulose helps me because it gets rid of the bloating thus getting rid of the nausea. My biggest prob is i dont throw up food, even a few hours later. The test said i had 53% left after 4 hours. i came home and threw up and there was just acid and a teaspoon full (5%) of the egg after 4.5 hours of eating it.

 

[HyperPippi]

My oldest son (wish child) has had gastroparesis since his 4th heart surgery. We have long thought that perhaps the vagus nerve got nicked during that open-heart surgery as that sometimes happens, but my mom was diagnosed with Ehlers Danlos and I'm getting tested. He shows way more signs of it than I, so it's likely that he has THAT to deal with as well. Despite his heart condition (HLHS), he's been approved for erythromycin on a daily basis. The cardiologist just reduces the amount of his Digoxin (for heart failure) because that med stays longer in the bloodstream when you're on erythromycin. He would basically vomit after almost every meal and wake up throwing up because he couldn't digest enough. He's g-tube dependent now, and given that this is long term, we doubt that's going to change. He was on reglan and that did work well. But that's not nearly as safe when you've got a heart problem as erythromycin. We just try to not let him eat too much meat at dinner, since that takes a longer time to digest. Steak is the worst. Fries tend to clog his g-tube too. Unfortunately, that's usually the only meal he's hungry for...

 

[kyomagi]

wow...im sorry to hear that about your son. many prayers!

my main goal right now is to get my hunger back. I know how to curb the symptoms, i just need to force myself to eat since i have been suffering from depression and anxiety since iv been sick. I will be talking to my doctor about taking lyrica since it seems to make people hungry and eat

 

[kyomagi]

Just an update. I had alot of blood work done, everything came back normal except vit D, it came in super low at 7.7, where normal is 31-100. I am going to be checking my thyroid next but man, this might explain my tired weak feeling when i do have stomach issues

 

[kyomagi]

another update for anyone that was here. Turns out i dont have gastroparesis. I actually have IBS-C. I guess this mimics some of the main Gp symptoms of bloating, nausea. I can eat decent size meals, but i cannot have certain foods like tomato based anything. A1 and teriyaki included. My new GI doc has been really great and told me my stomach flu messed with my study that showed slow emptying. he basically dismissed the results since i can keep meals down ect. Thought i would share