National Gastroparesis Awareness Month: My Story
Gastroparesis. The one chronic intestinal condition that you probably haven't heard of, and the one that I have. Having dealt with stomach issues for some years, the decision to go to the doctor was a much-needed one. Unfortunately, I would only find out that what I had would never go away. While my case is certainly not as bad as some peoples' whose only option is to eat through a sac attached to their side, gastroparesis still affects my daily life, and it is certainly not fun.
By this point, you are probably asking, what is gastroparesis? Well, without going into extreme detail and boring you to tears, let me just put it this way: my stomach moves incredibly slow. Therefore, I feel sick a lot. I don't actually get sick often, if at all, but imagine being nauseous for hours on end multiple times a week. It is sad, but it's even more tragic to admit that feeling uneasy is normal for me. It is frustrating that I went to the doctor to feel better, yet after all of the tests, I found out that there is no cure for gastroparesis, only dietary treatments to provide some relief.
I have had to make adjustments in how I eat, but I can promise you that my stomach still isn't perfect. Typically, a perfect diet to aid gastroparesis is low fat, low fiber, low sugar and for those with extreme cases, low solid food. Never before in my life have I spent so much time in the bread aisle of ShopRite comparing the grams of fat and percentages of fiber. My mom and I look like we are searching for gold as we carefully inspect all of the packages before choosing which one to get.
While I have noticed a difference in how well I feel after eating since I began reading product labels more closely, I still have my days where I feel awful. There is no rhyme of reason for why I feel sick sometimes, and there are those days when everything upsets my stomach. There are days that I sit in class feeling so awful after having the same breakfast that I have every day, yet the next day I feel perfectly fine. If I were to down an entire bottle of water right now, I would probably end up curled in a ball on my bed preparing to get sick. I have said goodbye to carbonation, and most tragically, bid farewell to decadent desserts.
Before I ever went to the doctor, I basically lived off of Pepto-Bismol — well, who am I kidding? I still do. I carry that stuff with me everywhere I go, especially if I am going out to eat. While I love eating out just as much as the next person, it can be a nerve-wracking experience for me. I fill up so quickly, and one extra bite could lead me toward a rough few hours, which takes away the fun of the whole experience. My life seemingly revolves around making sure that I take all of the precautions to prevent feeling sick and dealing with it when I do.
For now, I basically live off of water, yogurt, probiotic vitamins and digestive enzymes with my regular meals. There is coffee and chocolate mixed in there too, but those definitely don't help me and my doctor would probably not approve. As much as it might suck some days, I try not to complain. There are people who have it so much worse than me and I do have a fair number of days when I feel perfectly fine. On a typical day, I may look perfectly happy and healthy on the outside, but oftentimes, I am suffering on the inside. That is the struggle of a chronic condition.