Living with Gastroparesis: an Introduction to my Diagnosis

On August 1st, I had a gastric emptying study done at the Hershey Med Center to test for gastroparesis.  A gastric emptying study involves eating a small meal with a radioactive tracer in it.  You then have images taken right after eating, an hour after that, an hour after that, and finally two hours later, for a total of four hours.  The meal I ate consisted of scrambled eggs and toast with jelly. The eggs were so terrible, I even asked the nurse if they were real eggs.

“Believe it or not,” he said, “they come from the hospital cafeteria.”  Well, there you go, further proof that hospital food is not food.

Regardless of the egg’s true origin, I finished the test and an entire novel and anxiously awaited my results.

I should note that for the two weeks prior to this test, I was following the gastroparesis diet as per my doctor’s recommendation.  It was absolutely the worst. The gastroparesis diet is very limiting and I quickly developed a migraine that wouldn’t go away.  I finally caved and ate what I wanted and immediately felt better.

Now, for the test results.  The nurse called me the following day to tell me what three of my doctors already suspected: I have gastroparesis.  

I explained to the nurse that the diet made me feel terrible. “Just follow the diet,” she said. I asked if there were any anti-nausea medications I could try.  “Just follow the diet,” she said. I explained that the diet gave me a migraine and I was pretty sure I lost another pound. “Just follow the diet,” she said. I could see that I was getting nowhere fast with this person, so I asked for a referral to a nutritionist.

My appointment with the nutritionist is on the 22nd of this month.  I’m hoping she can help me figure out the best things for me to eat that don’t exacerbate my other chronic illnesses.  I would also love it if she could help me to gain back the weight I lost last year.

Between the gastroparesis and chronic fatigue syndrome, I really don’t have an appetite nor can I eat very much.  I am hoping that I will soon be back up and running this blog with healthy recipes that still use local ingredients but are also gastroparesis friendly.

I’m looking forward to posting more for you soon!