Gastroparesis and acid reflux

[Rebecca85]

Feeling a bit sorry for myself tonight. I was woken up about half past 12 by a horrible reflux episode. My own fault- I had a super hot curry as I am trying all the old wives' tales about getting baby moving out now she is full term, and before the hospital induce me for gestational diabetes.

Anyway, it got me wondering, given that I finished eating the curry by 7 o'clock, surely there shouldn't be enough left in my stomach to completely fill my mouth with reflux 5 and a half hours later? And now it's 2:45 and I am still getting regular little refluxes, enough to stop me sleeping (I already gave up on bed and am trying to sleep sitting up). Is that a possible sign of gastroparesis?

I already had 2 doses of Gaviscon, not sure if anything else I have in the cupboard is safe to take while pregnant, and if I drink anything to try to dilute the acid I'll be up all night peeing! It's going to be a long night.

 

[Bioheaded]

Could be but it's also a symptom of a lot of other conditions as well. The only real way to know if it's gastroparesis is by doing a digestive study.

 

[Rebecca85]

Yeah, think I'm going to have to put my foot down next time I see the gastro. Since Gaviscon *usually* works for me, they just tell me to take that rather than finding out the cause. I need a proper investigation of my upper GI to see what the problem is.

 

[2thFairy]

Gastroparesis is not uncommon with diabetes. Since yours is gestational diabetes and you are nearing the last stretch, I would just hold off on being tested until after delivery.

I rarely have any sort of heartburn or reflux, but have had food come back on me SEVERAL hours later when it just didn't agree with me. Have you tried eating soda crackers?

 

[Ihurt]

The test for that would be called a gastric emptying scan. I will be honest, they are not that reliable. My old gastro doc( ughh, he was the best, but he moved out of state ), he told me that the GES does not always give honest results. I had it done back years ago when I had upper gut issues( I would get real bloated and feel full after only eating a bite). My GES came back normal. Here is the thing, when you take this test, they give you either eggs or oatmeal mixed with a radioactive dye. Then you are suppose to eat it all and then lay under a scanner that will see how long it takes for the food to leave your stomach. The day I did mine, the tech rushed me, told me I only had to take a couple bites of food and did not even let me drink the water they gave me. Well since I only had a chance to eat a couple bites, it was not a "real" test. Also, my gastro said he did the test himself just to see. He said they gave him oatmeal (which he never eats, and hates). Well his test came back showing he had gastroparesis, which he does not. He said he eats like a pig and has no issues digestive wise at all.

There also is a chance your issue could be in your small bowel not your gut. I finally had a test called a small bowel manometry test. This allowed them to see how my small bowel worked. That is when they found that my small bowel perstalisis was irratic, which was causing my symptoms. They dx me with a neuropathic dysmotility of the small bowel. That was back in 2005. After years of suffering, I decided to do a gluten free diet and it did get better. I still have issues, now new issues so I am waiting to get my tests to see what is happening.

Hope you get some answers and feel better soon...