# Delayed gastric emptying



## 22599 (Nov 27, 2006)

I am frustrated right now...bear with me. I recently had an endoscopy where absolutely nothing showed up and, after being to about 3 doctors before this, my new doc decided to diagnos me with delayed gastric emptying and gave me medication for it (reglan). I ate better, consistently and cut out coffee, chocolate and ate very very bland on this medicine and felt better along with the miralax that I took to make me go to the bathroom. My doctor calls and lets me know that I need to come off of the medication because of the possible side effects (ticks, muscle spasm, anxiety, depression) and so I got through finals week at school...only to be loaded with coffee, chocolate and now I do not feel good. Being at home means new food and with my dad's cooking, (oils, butter, fat...spicy) all-in-all very bad for my stomach, I am back to feeling terrible. So now I am stuck with having to go on new medication, possibly another one, but nothing at all is working. Something is wrong and I do not know what it is. I should not have this bad of a problem at 19 years old. I want to do things naturally, but I cannot live without the medication to help empty my stomach. But even trying to empty it does not take away the bloating and discomfort I go through each and every day with little relief unless I starve myself. I am going to try erythromycin (?) an antibiotic to help with stomach emptying and continue the miralax as well and maybe adding in zelnorm. To treat the depression and anxiety I want to get on natural vitamins and minerals to help out. I am at a loss and very frustrated...On a good note. Christmas (for those that celebrate it) is only like 6 days away. How exciting. This year my Mom works on Christmas Day, so we are going to celebrate it on Christmas Eve (Sunday). I am pretty excited. Today I baked 2 batches of cookies. It took me about 4 hours, one was very intricate).


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## Nikki (Jul 11, 2000)

I have never heard of delayed gastric emtying, and do not understand why an antibiotic would be given for this- you'd have to tell me more.I can think of one simple way in which you could solve the current food issues. Cook your own.I do most of my own cooking.Hope you manage to get through christmas and get some relief!Nikki x


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Erythromycin tends to speed up the GI tract. Sometimes at doses that aren't really high enough to kill many bacteria.I've heard of delayed gastric emptying. It can be very uncomfortable. I know we think when we are young we should be totally healthy, but diseases don't understand that they should only happend to 80 year old people.Sorry you are feeling so bad. Hope you find something that will work for you long term.K.


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## Nikki (Jul 11, 2000)

Im glad you had heard of it Kath, I was beginning to think I was just really dumb. I even looked it up in my medical dictionary and couldn't find it!Hope your crimbo is going ok so far!Nikki xx


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

The technical name is gastroparesis here is an article http://www.gicare.com/pated/ecdgs45.htmK.


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## 15748 (Jun 27, 2006)

Sounds like what I was first diagnosed with. I had an endoscopy done; only the night before (6pm to be exact) I had half a hamburger which he found still in my stomach. Therefore the GI doc labeled it as full blown "gastroparesis". I had a very bad time with my tummy emptying - though now my current GI doc said it was because my Crohnâ€™s Disease was so severe everything was narrowed and swollen so of course things wouldnâ€™t empty right. (Sighs the CD diagnosis was after 3 different GI docs and finally the surgeon that was going to do an exploratory on me figured it out) Ok so I was on reglan for 4 months. I was only supposed to be on it for one but it made me feel so much better â€" I could eat small meals with out vomiting constantly. It was a dream, and when I got the call like you did where the doc said you canâ€™t stay on the reglan because itâ€™s a very bad drug I was devastated and begged him to keep me on it. I mean flat out begged because it worked wonders. Around the end of the second month I really did start to feel the side effects. They were horrible but the thought of going off the meds was so scary I kept on taking the pills. I got another call from the doc telling me that there is a medicine that you can only get in Canada that is much better than the reglan â€" but its not USDA approved even though they use it in Europe and other well developed countries. I got a hold of some and it was great did the same thing only w/out the horrible side effects and it was going as well as it could be â€" then I was sent to the surgeon who had the CD tests run and boom I was diagnosed w/CD. I was taken off all the motility agents and put on pentasa and entocort (the entocort only for 2 weeks) Even on the pentasa things still tend to goop up inside instead of having the runs. Iâ€™ve had to find out ways besides Milk of Magnesia to deal with it â€" Iâ€™ve found that a good probiotic does wonders. Also for me personally 600 mg of magnesium a day works well too. I started off with 200 but then slowly increased it until I felt things went better. There are some more tips â€" you can actually use Vitamin C to help but for me it doesnâ€™t work very well. Go to http://www.jinipatelthompson.com/# and scroll down to read Natural Remedies That Work: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) article. I had to find and experiment myself because most of my docs donâ€™t believe in homeopathic remedies and I was so tired of the powerful drugs not doing anything but causing side effects. These methods really help but I still have problems occasionally, therefore I still use MoM. This is just my experience â€" I hope itâ€™s helped you some, I am really sorry that the docs seem to be scratching their heads at your case I know the feeling.Feel better Conqueribs,Moine


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## 15748 (Jun 27, 2006)

Ah! I forgot to comment on your lighter note!! COOKIES!!!! I love to bake sweet things!! Cookies are my fav to bake and decorate! Their a lot of fun make and even more fun putting dye into the frosting to get the best colors!!! Canâ€™t eat most of my concoctions but I do love to see people enjoy my baking. ^.^ Moine


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## 22599 (Nov 27, 2006)

Thanks for all the replied. I am taking it easy this holiday season, although my stomach is not cooperating. Yes delayed gastric emptying is called gastroparesis and I have done a lot of reasearching on it. Although I have not had a gastric emptying study, this is what my Doc thinks is the problem after ruling out all other possibilities. A couple years ago another doc diagnosed me with this after coming to her with major pain and no other explanation because it is always caused by the onset of eating and lasts most of the day.Moine, the reglan does work wonders! I still did not feel the "best" most days because I had discomfort continuously, but not that I am off of it and trying to take other stuff, I cannot believe how much pain and nausea I get now. My Doc also took me off of it because of the side effects, but told me I could stay on it if I could deal with muscle spasms, ticks, depression, anxiety and racing heart...hmmmm...I do not like the sounds of that (who would?) So I came off of it. As for the antibiotic (erythromycin)...doesn't work. It makes me stomach hurt even more. When I take it I do not feel like eating anymore because of how nauseous I get and the pain that comes along with it. My Doc told me about the medicine that is not approved here, but can get a pharmacy to mix it up for me..(which scares me)..but it would cost me about $40-$50 a month IF insurance would allow me to take it. I should look into it though and make sure to call my Doc as soon as the Holidays are over.My Dad thinks I should take fiber to help with constipation, though this is no longer my problem. I used to get constipated a lot, but now I am on medicine to help with me that...I am no longer constipated and I thought that would take care of my pain and bloating and all other symtptoms associated with it, but it does not take it away. I used to take laxatives to help me go to the bathroom and I thought once I was off of those, then I would be better - wrong again. This truly is a game for "what works for me" and sticking to it. Some things bother my stomach more than others and on reglan I could eat just about anything, but now I am off of it, my stomach is so sensitive again and I need to watch what I eat..which is frustrating. The Holidays are fun and enjoyment is key. If I could have one wish - I would wish for my stomach to be healed and better...not gonna happen - I know I know. I love making the cookies as well, it helps that other people enjoy them and think they are wonderful. every year my family decorates cookies with frosting and colored sugars - not sure if we are going to do that this year, but the concoctions are fun to come up with!!! Now I must get back to the Christmas celebration!


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