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My
eyes we're a blur after seeing the 22nd different doctor in about 4
months. But this time there was a partial prognosis. The doctor said some of my
problems were due to a condition called gastroparesis. Gastor, what?? Basically, it means the muscles
in my stomach had gone on strike. How dare they quit now. I have tons of back
yard barbecues and stadium hot dogs to eat yet. Like a spoiled child, for my whole life hadn’t I given my stomach muscles everything they
wanted? The endless plate of French fries, double cheese burgers, super sized
diet cokes, spicy hot wings, chili cheese fries. What else could a good set of
stomach muscles on a guy want? So after
a delayed stomach emptying test and upon hearing the news that my stomach
muscles are not working right I said to
myself, Oh great...another dysfunctional
body part. I thought there must be a
little blue pill, or purple pill, or
maybe a lime green pill that can cure
it, right? I was wrong.
Well,
I guess when there is food remaining in the stomach for a longer period of time
than normal this is not a good thing. Some little nerve, called the vagus
nerve, is suppose to controls the contractions and send food to the lower
intestine for digestion. With
gastroparesis, the doctor told me, this doesn’t happen and food will move
slowly or stop moving through the digestive tract.
Oh
great, it is true, what happens in the vagus nerve , stays in vagus.
The
worst part about gastroparesis is that it is relatively unknown, so family and
friends have no idea why a person with this disease, like me, throws up every day.
Worse yet, they don’t understand why in some cases. Someone can throw up every
single day and not lost a pound. News Flash: People with gastroparesis don’t throw up because they
want to!! The throwing up part is a
result of the food that doesn't gets digested and it rots in the stomach. The throwing
up is the body's quickest way possible to get rid of the food still
in the stomach. Since the stomach nerve muscles are not digesting, it comes up
through the esophagus. (Gross I know.) As a result of the food not being
properly digested, most of the nutrients never make it into the body. So the
body has learned to store any nutrients it has so it doesn't starve itself to
death. The body of a person with gastroparesis sometimes goes into starvation
mode.
I am
not a doctor, and I only pretend to be one when I want to impress the ladies,
so do not look at any part of this blog post as medical advice. If you are
having issues with abdominal pains, nausea, vomiting, etc you need to go see
your own doctor! The bottom line of this disease is that throwing up is
not voluntary like it is with Bulimia. That is why someone who is suffering
from bulimia is thin and continues to lose weight, yet, someone with gastropareisis
is bloated and can actually gain weight. So yes, throwing up is hard to do!
Have
a great day!
