Gastroparesis and the trails involved....

What is gastroparesis???

• It literally means paralyzed stomach.  It's a slow or sluggish emptying of the stomach.  It is no fun to live with.  There is no cure for it, and if you get it, your life and eating habits have to change or you'll continue throwing up, feeling nausea all day long, or just flat out not eat because it's too painful.

Why am I writing this?

•  Because I suffer with this disease and I thought maybe I can help those with the things I've learned thus far.  I've only known I've suffered from it for a few months, but in those months, I've had to learn to deal with the pain and uncomfortableness.  I've had to look up ways to relieve my pain. 

What have I learned?

• That you are more prone to indigestion, sour stomach, bouts of nausea that even Zofran can't help.  If I eat too much, I'm going to suffer.  I have good days and really bad days.  I have to take medicine to be able to digest food properly and the side effects of the medicine are no fun to live with either, but it is either take the Reglan I'm prescribed or take a medicine that I'll have to buy from another country.  These are things that aren't explained much on the internet.  I think the other medication is called Domperidone.  It is NOT sold in the US.  My doctor said it is not FDA approved because of political reasons, but that it's perfectly fine to take.  As of right now, the Reglan is working well when I take it.  I have been at home this last year, so I get lax on taking my medications and suffer the consequences every now and again.  As long as the Reglan is working, my doctor will keep me on it.  
• I've learned that nausea is no fun, and can strike at anytime.  It's best to eat small meals throughout the day to keep from getting sick.  I however haven't gotten into that regiment very well.  The medicine helps so well, that sometimes I forget I suffer from this disease.  It helps me be able to eat bigger meals.  It also causes me to get really hungry if I take it and only eat a little bit.  
• I've learned that if you are suffering pretty bad from the side effects, then it is best to eat pureed foods.  I however do not like the idea of cooking just to blend up my food and eat it.  It's NOT appetizing at all.  I have gone the other route that isn't mentioned much on the internet.  I eat baby food.  Not all the time, but when things are bad, I swap to baby food.  It's mushy enough to be able to eat and digest without any medication or any nausea. 
• You have really poor nutrition with gastroparesis because you are limited in the foods you can eat.  It is best to take vitamins every day.  It's recommended to take gummy vitamins.  I made the switch and like it a lot.  It actually take vitamins now because they taste good.  It is hard for your body to digest the vitamins that are pill, but your body can digest the gummy vitamins with no problem.  
• I have NO idea how I got this disease.  Most people that get it have some reason as to why they got it.  Most people who get it have diabetes, but I do not have that.  The closest thing I've found to a reason is that some depression medications can cause it.  Once you have gastroparesis, you have it for life.  I've been on depression medication for about 3 years now.  I've been on so many types of it, that I do not know which one would have caused me to get this dreadful disease.  I still don't know if that is the reason or not.
• Reglan can cause depression.  I already suffer from depression, so if you are put on Reglan, you may need to be put on and antidepressant too.  
• Reglan can cause lactation, so if you find milk coming from your breast don't be surprised.  It will stay that way the whole time you are on Reglan.  It took about 4 months after starting the medication for me to get this symptom.  I went to several different doctors before finding out that my medication was the cause of my lactation.  
• You'll find you have a very sour stomach at times.  My first instinct was to take acid reflux medication.  Till I read up on the internet and figured out that the reason for my sour stomach is because food is fermenting in my tummy.  The best and fastest way to get rid of it is to either take ex-lax or some other medication that is similar. 
• Nuts, popcorn, high fiber foods, whole wheats, celery, and  lettuce are just some of the foods you are not allowed to eat anymore.  I've found that I can still consume these foods when I take my Reglan.
• High fiber foods cause the stomach emptying to slow down and can be the cause of a bezoar form in your stomach.  So using high fiber foods to lose weight is out of the question. 
• Great website for knowing what you can eat.  It provides recipes too.  http://uvahealth.com/services/digestive-health-1/images-and-docs/gastroparesis-diet.pdf

If you have this disease, it isn't the end of the world.  It is manageable, but you have to watch what you eat.  There are some good sites on the web that gives recipes.  I have not tried any of them yet.  I keep saying I'm going too, but until we have more money for me to go purchase the needed ingredients, I have to wait.  

If anyone reads this and has gastropresis, I would LOVE to hear what you've learned from having this disease.  Please comment below so I can hear your thoughts.  I hope this helps.