Gastroparesis, post-prandial pain, eating difficulties

I have had to grapple with hypersensitivity in relation to digestion.

I am not even severe but have still observed ridiculous hypersensitivity to some bacterial products for example. So much so that I have to wash celery & lettuce in detergent with a sponge ensuring full contact and abrasion of all surfaces, for example. On the other hand I can drink live apple cider vinegar with mother in water no problem. It is hard to spot a pattern but the same problems recur repeatably. Something about my digestion is very picky what it will accept since ME.

Anything out of order and my bowel evacuates. For example I cooked with a new brand of chicken schmaltz the other day, one teaspoon in a stirfry. It was a bit artisan and I think it had a lot of free amines in it and long story short I was up half the night. This kind of thing has been a problem since onset 38 years ago.

Graphic details aside the point I am getting to is there seems to be a powerful vetting system involved with digestion with immune like ability to recognise the constituents of food being digested and the physiological and neurological connections to veto the process. Probably evolved to deal with toxicity.

In my experience of ME this system of digestive veto is dialled way up and I am not even severe. I wonder if that was even more hyperactivated, it might make it virtually impossible to digest anything.

 

By the way gastroparesis is not the same as what I'm talking about which is dumping syndrome

Thread on dumping syndrome
https://www.s4me.info/threads/dumping-syndrome.39486/#post-545676

 

I've had fodmap sensitivity for ages. I blew up one of those hydorgen breath tests and got a record score, suggesting my body wasn't coping well with them. But recently i've begun to suspect histamines. Keeping to the fodmap diet simply wasn't providing 100% effects. And even on keto I seemed to have bad digestion.

Yesterday I did an experiment where I ate just cream and cucumber, today my guts are perfect!

I'm strongly considering that all the fermented and aged food I've been trying to eat to heal my gut might actually be making things worse!!

I'm hopeful that actually nailing down the actual source of the problem might let me relax the fodmap side a bit. It has definitely been the case that sometimes I eat something apparently rich in fodmaps and get away with it. Here's hoping!

 

Another thought is that gastroparesis may just be part of the signaling response. It isn't some extra problem. We probably all have gastroparesis when we have 'gastric flu'. Each person's problem may be a bit different but we know that the way the autonomic system responds during eating is very subtle and complex.

 

That makes sense, as it seems to correlate with general symptom level, at least to some extent.

All told, I'd say there were about 20 years when I couldn't eat a main meal after lunchtime because gastric emptying takes so long in deep PEM. If I ate at 7pm it wouldn't happen until around 3am, and there's no chance of sleeping until the bloating and the painful pressure on the sphincter has eased. I had to be up at 6am for work.

Now it takes about four hours on average, because the compounded PEM I'd get when working is a lot less frequent. I can't help but be aware of emptying because it always makes me retch as it starts, but then the pressure against the sphincter quickly eases and it's only a few minutes before all the discomfort's faded.

 

oh wow does it ever!

this is so true for me too, its really unpleasant waiting for it to ease, and bizarre how i can be throwing up food that i ate for breakfast at midnight!

Our experiences sound very similar except

at this point for me it just turns into full fledged vomitting until its all out. I might try harder to hold it down & see if it empties the proper way next time.

 

I used 'retch' because it's the only way I can think of to describe it, but it's a single muscle contraction. It can be strong enough that I look as if I'm about to throw up to anyone with me, but I never have.

If I've been able to fall asleep beforehand (usually when I haven't eaten enough to cause distension) I always jolt up into a sitting position by reflex, but I can lie back down again as soon as I've realised what's happening. It's nothing more than an oddity, really—I only mention it because it makes me aware of the point when my stomach starts to empty.

It's so miserable, and I've never had a doctor believe how long it goes on for. I've been assured I can't possibly know when my stomach's emptying, when the reality is that it's unfeasible I wouldn't know. It's like an 18-stone dance partner stepping off your foot.