Help! Delayed stomach emptying, bloating, indigestion
Posted , 6 users are following.
Hey everyone. I really need some advice. Right now I'm very bloated and when i burp, i'm tasting food that i ate 5 hours ago. It wasn't even a big meal, just a small quantity. I'm also feeling a little tightening of my throat or like something is stuck there. Lately I've noticed I only poop once every 2 days or so. My doctor thinks I have delayed digestion. He thinks that excess acid caused an obstruction to my small intestine so food doesn't pass into it as easily or as fast as it should, so it stays in the stomach for a while.
have a long history of stomach issues. Back in 2014 I used to suffer from sulfur burps (burps that taste like rotten eggs), vomiting and loose stool. It stopped for about 3 years when I changed my eating habits and started eating earlier in the day instead of skipping breakfast and having a late lunch. However, in August 2017 it resurfaced. I get bloating and distension (expanding of stomach), gas, noise in stomach, indigestion (nausea, loose stool, occasional vomiting). I admit my eating habits are not the best. I eat breakfast between 10:30 a.m. & 12:00 noon but thats a lot better than what i was doing before. I used to eat my first meal of the day late in the afternoon. I've decreased my food portions and am trying to stay off fast food. I am about to start a course of Omeprazole (proton pump inhibitor) and Cimetidine (H2 blocker). Do you think these will help? Can anyone tell me which medical tests to do and suggest dietary/natural remedies - like yogurt, exercise etc. Has anyone ever tried holistic therapies such as Reiki? I'm getting anxiety over this. Really need some support & comfort. Thank you.
0 likes, 17 replies
Tiffany188887 farah41194
Posted
Ask your doctor for a barium ray/ scan to see if there is an obstruction. Also ask for a gastric emptying test. Basically you eat something and then they scan your stomach every hour to see how fast food is moving through your digestive tract. If you do have delayed gastric emptying there are medications that will help. Or ask to see a gastro doctor. Hope this helps
farah41194 Tiffany188887
Posted
Thanks for your response. I did a barium scan and thats how my doctor saw the obstruction in my duodenum (first part of the small intestine). Is the gastric emptying test safe? I read that it can make you very sick. Any thoughts?
sanya11314 farah41194
Posted
Dear Farah,
if an obstruction in your duodenum was seen,
this is highly highly indicating SMAS/Wilkie! (the 3rd part of duodenum runs between aorta and SMA, that can, if the angle is to acute, act as a clamp for the duodenum and or left renal vein - hence called nutcracker)
It can be seen and measured in MRI sagittal and axial plane,
it can be seen in ultrasound, when you try to eat a solid,
barium is so liquid and if that get's already obstructed, it is a very strong clamp and I don't know how you are doing it without a nasal-jejunal feeding tube or parenteral feeds.
Please let the doc explain to you, what a duodenum obstruction should mean.
It sounds a lot like SMAS/Wilkie. Many less clamped SMAS get liquid through and the hint is often reverse peristalsis only. If the third part of duodenum is blown up and cut off where SMA runs, it is Wilkie! You need to get more weight on, there is a fat pad around aorta, that can give the SMA a less acute angle. It is a problem as one is so sick to eat. So often a feeding tube and parenteral feeds are used to get weight up and have less symptoms.
Often lying on the left side with knees bent to the chest can help.
Liquid food if at all.
The surgical helps are often not that successful unless the SMA is transpositioned so that no angle can squeeze duodenum (or left renal vein). Often they start with a bypass and connect stomach directly to jejunum avoiding the clamp. It's often not successful.
I got a shock reading that you have already a proven duodenum obstruction/compression in barium liquid swallow!
pippa58442 farah41194
Posted
farah41194 pippa58442
Posted
Thanks for your response. I did a barium scan and thats how my doctor saw the obstruction in my duodenum (first part of the small intestine). Is the gastric emptying test safe? I read that it can make you very sick. Any thoughts?
fernando90225 farah41194
Posted
farah41194 fernando90225
Posted
pippa58442 farah41194
Posted
sanya11314 farah41194
Posted
Eat very liquid, smoothies, drinks, mash. If you have any kind of SMAS, you need no solids as they are harder to pass the compression. If it was MALS, this is an easier surgical fix.
Good luck!
farah41194 sanya11314
Posted
sanya11314 farah41194
Posted
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superior_mesenteric_artery_syndrome
farah41194 sanya11314
Posted
Thanks for the link. I read up on it. I do experience some of the symptoms of SMAS. However, I do not experience any pain and the throwing up is not frequent. I suspect that if I had SMAS I would be throwing up a lot more. I am seeing my doctor tomorrow and will ask for an ultrasound and any other test that he sees fit. Hoping the results are not too serious. Wish me luck!! And thank you again.
farah41194 sanya11314
Posted
sanya11314 farah41194
Posted
Yes, the 'obstruction in duodenum' has to be clarified!
All all the best!
My girl with renal vein compression (same aorta/SMA clamp, but her duodenum can widen to 8mm still in peristalsis) was overlooked multiple times and clearly there in MRI.
One thing: symptoms vary highly depending on the degree of obstruction/compression.
Some do not vomit much, others can't live without a NJ tube.
If the disease is managable, it's fine, but good to know about (so that one keeps weight up and takes care of not loosing weight and if starting to loose weight doing everything to push it up with smoothies and the likes)
Only one doc finally picked up on my daughter's condition after 2 years!, I could see it in MRI and was denied to exist as 'radiologist didn't say about it', and I, yes I, had to do the search for a doc, who knew about nutcracker, MALS, SMAS..... you need to go to a specialist, who has heard of those conditions, otherwise you are not getting even a correct exclusion.
You have this finding in writing, now you do need an explanation and what to do about it. Or if it was a wrong finding. Because the barium study needs more a cinetic study for SMAS than single pics out of context. (Every third part of duodenum can look blown up within a peristalsis wave, only in film or very close pics it can be seen if that was coincidence pic or real obstruction)
Yes, keep on digging please!
And all the best!
We tried gastric motility drugs (has gastroparesis), but didn't help. Clear for us, because it's a different root cause.
farah41194 sanya11314
Posted
Dear Sanya,
I forgot to mention the latest symptom....dizziness. My doctor seems to think i'm not absorbing enough electrolytes through my diet. My pressure is low too.
Woke up this morning with stomach cramping and loose stool. Could not go to work. Having the ultrasound done tomorrow. I have to keep digging for answers.
Thank you for the private messages.
sanya11314 farah41194
Posted
There is so much to look at and need to tick through list.
Wishing you some answers soon as knowledge is power!