Gastroparesis...so They Say.

[stacyrubel]

I have been having digestive issues for years.  My family has always been convinced I was suffering from Celiac's, but I never bothered to get it checked out.  Recently, either 20 minutes to 3 hours after eating I would get severe lower abdominal cramping and then have awful loose bowel movements.  I finally broke down and when to the GI specialist.  He had me get a blood test for Celiac's and did a biopsy for it.  However, during the endoscopy, despite having fasted since 6pm the day before, he found food in my stomach.  He told me I was suffering from Gastroparesis.  Some of my symptoms were consistent with the diagnosis of gastroparesis, but the lower abdominal cramping, the loose stool, the headaches, the lethargy were not consistant.  I do not have the results back from the Celiac biopsy or the the blood panel.  Anyone else have this issue? Any ideas what I should do, or what I should pursue with my doctor?

[cyclinglady]

I do not have gastroparesis, but I think that there have been a few others who have posted in the past. Try doing a search within this forum.

It is hard waiting for test results. Assuming your doctor took plenty so samples during your endoscopy, you could start the gluten free diet or enjoy gluten until you get the results ( that is what I did since my only known symptom was anemia). If you do have celiac disease, it can really slow down your digestion (or speed it up), so the gastroparesis could easily be related to celiac disease.

[Juliebove]

I have gastroparesis.  I do not have celiac or even wheat or gluten issues.  But...  I do have mulitple food intolerances and if I eat eggs, dairy or some other things, I can get the big D.  I don't usually have headaches but I do occasionally have lethargy.

 

When my gastroparesis is the worst, I will usually just start to feel off.  My stomach won't necessarily hurt or feel sick.  It just won't feel right.  Then usually I will feel saliva backing up.  And I need to grab the pukey bowl and then head to the toilet.  I will begin to vomit but if it is really bad, it will come out the other end as well, often at the same time.  In that case, my stomach will hurt and very badly.  I can see it having violent spasms.  Oddly enough if I am not feeling right and I lie down in bed, that will get the ball rolling.  And of course it usually strikes me around the time that I need to go to bed.  I will try to stay up just in case but exhaustion will overtake me.  Then by morning I will be exhausted from all of the violent vomiting.

 

Following an episode, I mainly just eat plain white rice and perhaps a little applesauce.  I used to have chicken broth until I learned of my chicken intolerance.

 

From what I have read, Celiac can cause gastroparesis.  So it is possible.  But the most common cause is diabetes.

[nvsmom]

I know that my gut is slow to empty but I assumed it was due to hypothyroidism and celiac disease.  

 

When I was pg, I could vomit meals that I had eaten 24 hours earlier, and I can fast for a few days and still have bowel movements... I'm like a camel with food. LOL

 

As the others said, I have seen that as a symptom of celiac disease too.    

 

Good luck with the biopsy.

[BritChick]

I have been having digestive issues for years.  My family has always been convinced I was suffering from Celiac's, but I never bothered to get it checked out.  Recently, either 20 minutes to 3 hours after eating I would get severe lower abdominal cramping and then have awful loose bowel movements.  I finally broke down and when to the GI specialist.  He had me get a blood test for Celiac's and did a biopsy for it.  However, during the endoscopy, despite having fasted since 6pm the day before, he found food in my stomach.  He told me I was suffering from Gastroparesis.  Some of my symptoms were consistent with the diagnosis of gastroparesis, but the lower abdominal cramping, the loose stool, the headaches, the lethargy were not consistant.  I do not have the results back from the Celiac biopsy or the the blood panel.  Anyone else have this issue? Any ideas what I should do, or what I should pursue with my doctor?

Stacy, I was diagnosed with gastroparesis in 2009.  My main complaints at the time were frequent vomiting after eating and a lot of stomach acid that no acid refulx meds could cure.  I did a stomach emptying test that showed slow emptying and was prescribed reglan.  After reading up on reglan I was too frightened to take it and ended up in the alternative medicine arena.  I've been gluten free for over 11 years now.  Never been tested for celiac but if I eat gluten I have abdominal cramping and diarrhea and blisters that break out behind one of my knees.  Avoiding gluten cured all of that and the sudden onset in 2009 of vomiting and acid was a huge emotional upset for me since I thought I'd figured out how to eat and be healthy and feel good.  I went to the ER several times over six weeks and had every test imaginable (gallbladder, endoscopy etc.) and all looked fine other than stomach inflammation on the endoscopy results.  A natural medicine practitioner was convinced I was dealing with a gallbladder issue that couldn't handle certain fats/proteins and told me she was certain I was blood type A and needed to try vegetarianism.  Turned out she was right.  I've lived on a diet avoiding high fat foods in addition to no gluten and no meat and been perfectly fine since 2009.  Fish, eggs, cheese and yoghurt seem to be OK although I have to go easy on the cheese and yoghurt amounts.  I am actually in the middle of a relapse right now due to overconsumption on many fronts including chocolates and wine over the Holidays, although the final straw seems to have been a small helping of ham I decided to try a week and half ago.  I spent the night with the toilet after eating the ham.  Apparently I needed a reminder that meat is not my friend.  What I've learned over the years is that there can be many causes of food digestion problems, and sometimes changing your diet is all that is needed.  This doesn't work for everyone, but if you can feel better avoiding certain foods then it's totally worth it.  There's lots of resources for how to start a food intolerance elimination diet - that's what I did 11 years ago for the gluten.  Intolerance or allergy to gluten seems to often go hand in hand with intolerances or allergies to other foods.  Good luck to you, Joanna

[Rosiesallergies]

My gastroparesis was diagnosed just before my Celiac diagnosis. My gallbladder was also removed at that time. This all happened many yeArs ago. I was prescribed Reglan which worked like a charm for a long while. My doctor informed me there's a medicine lime Reglan that's sold in Canada, but the Canadian version is much more effective and safer than Reglan. I kept taking the Reglan for probably a year. Now when I here all the reports about Reglan I'm concerned. I found adjusting my diet to easy to digest, low fat, gluten free foods made a huge difference. Digestive supplements also help.