Silent reflux or something else

with slice of wholemeal bread, then natural yogurt.  It is boring and I am not enjoying my food at all. Will it be like this forever?  The upside is that I have lost 4Ibs in weight (and I really do need to lose weight).  When my daughter and family visit a few times a year we always go out for a meal, usually italian as the grandchildren like the food.  What am I to eat and drink or should I just not go.

I don't have a great social life but would like to be able to go out occasionally.

You probably thing I am complaining too much. I go back to the gp on Monday.

I don't know if she will send me for any tests at this point.  Here in London it is hard to get appoinments through with all the cuts etc.  I wish I could afford private but we are pensioners and we can't.  At least I slept last night, the night before I was up half the night retching and spitting into a tissue.  I read on different forums that this conditions goes on for years, I do hope not.  Can any one offer any more advice.

Sorry for going on feeling very low.

To diagnose it, I had a stomach emptying scintrigraphy, where they take images of food in your stomach right after you eat it, and then at a half hour later, one hour, two hours, and four hours later. They can then calculate the percentage of food that remains and determine if it is leaving the stomach normally or is slower.

I'd never heard of igastroparesis until I was diagnosed with it, but it tends to affect women more, and many times it's uncertain why the problem came about. In my case, the symptoms started after a very bad gastrointestinal infection, so my gastroenterologist thinks that is what caused this, and hopefully it will improve gradually.

I take omeprazole to reduce acidity, but to really treat my reflux symptoms (which also include a lot of burping, feeling full after eating little, or nauseous after eating sometimes), I have had to modify my diet quite a lot. Others take drugs that are "prokinetics" such as domperidone if diet changes alone don't help enough.

I eat very small meals six times a day, and I avoid foods with insoluble fiber. I limit my fat intake as well, so not more than 10 grams of fats at a meal. This has actually helped me quite a lot. I also avoid the things others have mentioned, such as alcohol (which can slow stomach muscles even more) and coffee.

These measures are all taken so that there is nothing to further slow digestion in the stomach so that it can pass into the intestines sooner. You can search online for "gastroparesis diet" or perhaps consult with a dietician for help understanding which foods are easier on the stomach to digest (it can be very individual, but there are some good starting guidelines).

Hope some of that is helpful. Good luck!

When I ate large meals, I noticed that hours later, I would feel stomach contents come up that were from that meal. I don't feel heart burn, and don't usually vomit or feel sick. Some reflux I don't notice during the day, but occasionally I do.

Since I've changed my eating, my vocal chords are less inflammed (still not quite back to my usual soprano voice, but the hoarseness is not nearly as bad as it was).

And as Claudio mentioned, smaller meals might help, no matter the problem. What was hard for me to change was my high fiber diet - to avoid bran, brown rice, cabbage - because they have a lot of insoluble fiber. Now I eat cooked squashes and potatoes, frozen thawed spinach, and the like (trying to get plenty of soluble fiber so I don't get backed up on the other end), as well as white rice, bread without seeds and nuts, etc. And I eat often, focus on getting enough protein, and keep each meal small in volume. I also try to stop eating 3 or more hours before bed, so there won't be a lot of food in my stomach when I lay down (and thus less likely to have a lot of reflux overnight).

Because of the IBS, I recommend changing your diet slowly (if you choose to try that) to avoid stirring up trouble there. Fortunately, sometimes the decrease in insoluble fiber (but keeping up the soluble fiber!) can help ease inflammation in the gut. Reducing that inflammation has improved muscle problems I was having in my low back and hips. (It's amazing how connected things are!)

Omeprazole can cause abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and flatulence; however their frequency is less and these side effects occur in less than 5 to 7% people. Your symptoms seem to be due to IBS.

If you are taking Omeprazole 20 mg two times a day, please consult your GP to reduce its dose. Omeprazole 20 mg once a day is also a sufficient dose for acid reflux.

Omeprazole inhibits proton pump in our stomach and completely stop gastric acid secretion. Actually gastric acid secretion is necessary for our food digestion. Due to lack of stomach acid, there is a possibility of indigestion and loose stool.

Please let me know if you are taking any treatment for IBS. If there is no improvement even after dose reduction of the Omeprazole, you need to take treatment for IBS.