Diabetic gastroperesis

annie999

Newbie
Messages
1
Hi my son has been diabetic type 1 since the age of 3 he is now 19 since November he has really bad stomach pains which make him sick. His gastroenterologist thought it was crohn's but every test is negative he's had an endoscopy, colonoscopy, barium follow through camera capsule test. We now think it is gastroperesis does anyone have experience of this? it basically means "paralyzed stomach"
Looking it up there is a gastric pacemaker that can be fitted but we know little about this. He went into hospital again yesterday he is in A&E every week the only pain relief that touches it is morphine which then can slow the gut down which obviously isn't ideal. Anyone with experience of this I'd love to hear from please.... I know diabetes is like a lotto but it's so unfair as he has very good control of blood sugar levels.
thank you
Annie :(
 

Daz

Active Member
Messages
36
I suffer from this as I am sick every morning but with no sharp pains and I am on a couple of tablets a day to help my gut push food through. My sister who is not a diabetic complained of the same problem WITH pain and it turned out to be gall stones, might be worth checking for this


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teddy2702

Member
Messages
13
Hi I've had gastropareis for a while now and I had the stomach pacemaker fitted 3 years ago. It was the best thing I've had done. It is not a cure but it really helps the stomach pains and the nausea and vomiting. The pacemaker helps speed up the food passing from the stomach to the bowel which then stops the food stagnating in the stomach which in turn stops the pains in my stomach and vomiting. I have flare ups now and again but then take anti sickness tablets until it passes.
I hope this has helped.

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AXLEFOLEY

Newbie
Messages
3
Hi ,

I was just about to post questions about this as I am new here and my partner has been diagnosed with Gastroparesis recently after the onset of severe sickness,stomach pain etc. He is Type 1 and poorly controlled with severe neuropathy and takes very high doses of insulin.
He is due to see a surgeon in a couple of weeks but over the weekend he has had two bouts of fecal incontinence, both whilst asleep unfortunately and he is extremly distressed about it. It has just happened again in the last hour, I have managed to sort him out and he is back to bed right now. I didn't know if I should have taken him to the hospital (although he is resistant to this) or called a GP out as this is so sudden, he is very down at the moment and I feel so sad for him as he is only 38 and tonight he has said that his Specialist told him 6 years ago that he wouldn't see 40 ........ the Gastro side seems to have got very quickly worse since Xmas .

I appreciate any advice you can give me about how I can help , I hope I haven't gatecrashed the original post :-(

Many thanks
 

donnellysdogs

Master
Messages
13,233
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Dislikes
People that can't listen to other people's opinions.
People that can't say sorry.
If your partner has jelly babies for hypo's I would advise changing to a different hypo stopper....

I had bad stomach and bowel probs last year. My consultant said to me...' is there anything different about your diet?' .... Yes, there was... Due to medical professional advice and my circumstances at the time.. I had changed my hypo stoppers to jelly babies.

I had bariums, shape tests etc, and saw another consultant last week. This is now the 3rd consultant who has told me that they are seeing so many more diabetics nowadays. My shapes test showed that I still had 50+ shapes out of 60 still in my body after 5 days. They said I had slow colonic transit... A diabetic complication.

I told him my stomach and bowels have pretty much returned to normal since I stopped jelly babies. He said he had never considered jelly babies and would do some research in to it. I asked to be discharged but he said he would like to see me in6 months to see if no jelly babies has kept my stomach working.

Men I believe are so embarassed at bowel problems. I do so sympathise with them, it is horrible. However everybody should get themselves checked asap if bowel movements change for unknown reasons.

Like me andmy jelly babies, it may be because of a change infood or meds that are causing problems, but it may not. Nobody should have to be scared because of their stomachs and bowels, there's lots of tests that can be done... Andmy consultant had told me initially that he thought I may have to see specialist in London to have my stomach sorted out, but so far I think my problem has been improved.

I was admitted twice to A&E and the 3rd time I phoned the out of hours gp. I then paid orivately for ny 1st consultation to jump the waiting list in nhs to initially see the consultant. From there I was referred back to nhs to have the investigations done. They were all done within 5 weeks, and the results were given to me as they did the tests. I was seenand tested all before the official nhs waiting time to see a consultant.

With diabetes.. Bowel probs can also play havoc with your blood levels. Mine were constantly high every time my stomach was bad.
 

toastlover

Active Member
Messages
33
I had similar symptoms which at first the consultant though was gastroparesis. I had a food motility test where you eat a pancake with tiny amounts if radioactive chemical in it and you are x rayed every 10 mins to see how quickly you digest the food.

Mine turned out to be normal. After another 4 hospital admissions with non-stop vomiting it turned out to be gallstones!

Ask for the food motility test to be sure.


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teddy2702

Member
Messages
13
Hi Axlefoley
I understand and emphasize what your boyfriend is going through. Please tell him not to give up and try to go for the pacemaker. With gastropareis if food stays in the stomach for too long and and cannot get out via the bowels it can sometimes get clogged up and then overflow into fecal incontinence. Believe me I'm speaking from experience. Since I've had my pacemaker I feel really good, as it helps move food from stomach to the bowel which then makes it easier to open your bowels normally. Since my pacemaker I suffer more with constipation which is great compared to before!! !
I hope this helps. If you would like to email me, please do if I can be of any help. Take care.

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katebrady

Member
Messages
9
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Hi
I'v ehad bowel problems on and off for years, type 1 diabetes on insulin pump and metformin twice daily (insulin resistant). Diabetic consultant told me on one occasion to take erythromicin (antibiotics)as when the food stagnates you get all sorts of infections in your stomach, bowels etc. After putting up with violent diarrhoea, sickness etc. for three months I screamed at my young GP to give me the antibiotics as I could be dead by the time I saw a gastroenterologist in tow months time. Lo and behold within 24 hours all was calming down. One and a half hour scan showed food was taking about eight hours to go through my stomach. No support form consultant so researched on the net, lots of things to eat and not eat especially what causes flare ups. Also gastroparesis group on Facebook who are all sufferers and can offer lots of advice and support (including children and non diabetics). Incidentally just to say that I have stopped taking Phenofibrates (instead of statins) and my life is so much better with few symptoms. There is a link between gallstones and gastroparesis, look it up (had my gall bladder removed some 28 yrs ago) but there are familial cholesterol issues. Around the same time it was found that my vitamin D levels were dangerously low- is there a link? who knows but certainly function better now they've gone up.
As to being incontinent yes that has happened to me, shopping had to revolve round toilet availability - but the antibiotics cured this. I take erythromycin twice daily and seems to be working for me.
Take care. Kate
 

AXLEFOLEY

Newbie
Messages
3
Hi Guys , thanks for your replies I got him to the Docs yesterday and he believes he may have a stomach bug that is adding to his problems at the moment so he prescribed anti di. tablets , last night was ok so fingers crossed xx
 

AdamAdam

Active Member
Messages
25
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Hi Annie999. You son most likely has gastropresis like me. He needs to put his meals in a blender and add water and drink them as a liquid so the food passes through the pyloric valve. He also needs to purchase Super Papya Enzyme Plus to take with his meals and finally needs to chew gum after every meal for atleast an hour to help food go down. Hope this helps
 

hanadr

Expert
Messages
8,157
Dislikes
soaps on telly and people talking about the characters as if they were real.
BErnstein writes about gastroparesis. You might find it helpful to read it in his book.
Hana
 

danielcvs

Member
Messages
14
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi all.
I'm a 37 yo type 1 diabetic.
I have suffered from "non-digestion" of food for several years.
I have not yet resolved the problem, but i'm trying to deal with it in order to avoid the pain.
Here's what i learned:

1) I can eat a good amount of food, and that food may take a long time to digest; so i have to wait until the digestion is over (placing my hand in my stomach allows me to see if my tummy is still full or not) in order to eat again.
That was my problem: i didn't wait and the second food intake would paralyze my stomach.
Even taking a cofee 15min after lunch would paralyze the digestion process.

2) When my digestion stops, there's only two ways of getting rid of the problem: either the food gets digested, in which case i have to wait painfully, or i put my fingers in my throat and vomit ALL that is inside. The second solution is the one that works best for me and really stops the problem at hand.

3) i used to take boxes of digestives like Rennie, Mallox or Kompensan, but it does nothing to help, because the problem is a full halted stomach, so the anti-acids won't work, they will only make the situation worse.

That is my experience, but now i have a question for you:
I need to get a lot of Carbs so i can gain weight (i've lost a lot of weight due to this problem), i even want to go to a gym but this digestion problem is limiting me in that effect.
Do you know any easily digestible carb i can take? I tried Cornflour mixed with milk or water, but it is raw flour and it blocks the digestion also. If i could cook the flour it would be more digestible, i think. Any recipes/industry products/ideas?
Thanks.
 

alohanicky2009

Well-Known Member
Messages
182
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Fish , bad manners,
I had constant nausea and violent vomiting that required hospital visits, I have now been confirmed as having gastroparesis ( you eat a meal of radioactive egg omelette and toast , then x rays at set times to see how far the food has moved ,it then decided by the results if you suffer slow transit and to what degree, I now have Botox injections every 4-6 months ,it has been reasonably successful although I am unable to eat food that require a lot of digestion such as meat , very unripe fruit and veg.if I feel lumps of undigested food in the stomach area I eat a simple soft food diet of soups cereals eggs etc,
 

Shankara

Newbie
Messages
1
Hi to all. Was diagnosed with Gastroperesis six weeks ago following about two years of pain, diahrea constipation and sickness. And you know sickness just don't cut it, absolutely disgusting! Two weeks in hospital, one week out followed by another week in. On three antiemetics three times daily, and talked about a pacemaker. Also lactulose because of medications for neuropathy (Opiates and Physeptone). Have also had sodium channel blockers and oh to many tabs to mention. Ah, and Ketamine infusions. Told by pain clinic what does work for neuropathic pain. And it does. Polyneuropathy, both legs total, left lower arm, right hand wrist and now stomach. I also got other diagnoses that complicate. Need some self disaplin cos I live on me own, trouble is never really done disaplin hence I'm in this mess. I is 51 n diagnosed with Diabetes type 1 in early 1974. My apologies, got abit carried away n did me intro here. Tiss all new to me, forums n stuff. Many thanks for the opportunity to put pen to tab. Oh yeah, bit worried.
 
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Adele99

Well-Known Member
Messages
143
I've what is called intermittent gastroparesis. so sometimes my digestoins is delayed by several hours and at other times irt works normally. . Causes huge fluctutations in my blood sugar readings over a day. Given Erythromycin twice a day which helps a bit as it tends to move the bowel, Metoclopramide caused my ankles to swell severely ,and Domperidone caused swallowing problems so not allowed them now.
 

danielcvs

Member
Messages
14
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I've had this problem for years. and only 2 things have helped - Iberogast, herbal drops to take when you eat and CBD, sold as an electronic cigarette (all herbal, non tobacco) sold by Medipen. In the UK you can get Iberogast via eBay and the MediPen from their website.
 

danielcvs

Member
Messages
14
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
And I just found out in another thread that some people are using R-ALA. I just bought it from eBay but I haven't tried it yet to give a review, but it's worth to try.
 

danielcvs

Member
Messages
14
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi my son has been diabetic type 1 since the age of 3 he is now 19 since November he has really bad stomach pains which make him sick. His gastroenterologist thought it was crohn's but every test is negative he's had an endoscopy, colonoscopy, barium follow through camera capsule test. We now think it is gastroperesis does anyone have experience of this? it basically means "paralyzed stomach"
Looking it up there is a gastric pacemaker that can be fitted but we know little about this. He went into hospital again yesterday he is in A&E every week the only pain relief that touches it is morphine which then can slow the gut down which obviously isn't ideal. Anyone with experience of this I'd love to hear from please.... I know diabetes is like a lotto but it's so unfair as he has very good control of blood sugar levels.
thank you
Annie :(

Hi, I suffer from this for years. After eating, the food gets stuck in the stomach for hours (or days) until I vomit it or eventually it passes through (which prolongs the pain). That is why I try to vomit when it happens so the sickness goes away. The only 2 things that have helped so far are Iberogast (herbal drops to take with the food) and CBD. You can get Iberogast from eBay and the CBD from Medipen as an e-cigarette (it helps a lot).