Since 2018, I have been experiencing symptoms of gastroparesis. It wasn’t diagnosed until January 2023, after seeing a GI motility specialist. Now I’m in another flare up.

This is one of the difficulties of having so many medical conditions.The symptoms are often attributed to other conditions and not evaluated as something new. I had seen my GI specialist and it was assumed the symptoms were related to my mast cell disease.

In 2018, my mast cell medications were adjusted and the symptoms eventually decreased. I now understand, this is how my gastroparesis presents in me. I become symptomatic, unable to eat much, significantly cut down on the amount of food and improve.

My symptoms include:
1. early satiety or feeling full soon after beginning to eat
2. bloating or pressure after eating
3. burping after eating
4. pain just above my navel within 30-60 minutes of eating

If I don’t notice the initial symptoms and continue my “normal” eating pattern, the pain becomes so significant, that it feels like a severe stabbing pain. Then I completely lose my appetite.

I am lucky that I do not vomit like many with gastroparesis. I do have episodes of nausea.

This time around, I didn’t notice until I got the pain. I have so many symptoms from my other medical conditions, I try not to focus on all the discomfort. Apparently, quite successfully.

Once the pain alerted me, I started my gastroparesis protocol. Liquids for several days, followed by pureed foods. I follow a gastroparesis food list. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/-/scassets/files/org/digestive/gastroparesis-clinic/diet-for-gastroparesis.pdf?la=en

Eventually, I’m able to start on solid food, but only the foods on the gastroparesis diet. It is a long journey, even if I had been able to tolerate a different diet previously.

As noted in this article, Ehlers Danlos syndrome patients can experience gastroparesis. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/15522-gastroparesis

Unfortunately, I am allergic to metoclopramide, one of the medications that may be helpful.

I will always need to eat small, frequent meals. This can be most helpful. I would love to hear from others that experience periodic episodes of gastroparesis and how you manage it.