Gastric Bezoar/Gastroparesis
Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2015 4:55 am
Update!
I had my appointment with a gastroenterologist today and had a Esophagogastroduodenescopy done and for the first time since this has happened I've actually received somewhat of an answer.
For anyone who has had one of these, you know you must fast with no food after midnight usually for the procedure the next morning. I didn't eat after 8pm last night but this morning, the doctor was very surprised to see undigested food still in my stomach. In a span of 12 hours, my dinner was just...fermenting?... in my stomach and not moving. Apparently my stomach is unable to pass food normally. He said i have a gastric bezoar which implies i have a condition called Gastroparesis.. "A gastric bezoar is defined as a foreign body resulting from accumulation of ingested material, most commonly found as a hard mass or concretion in the stomach". The photo is pretty disgusting, i wish i could figure out how to post photos here, so i can only assume, and he said it was possible, that this might be causing my bad breath.
He said my esophagus and vocal cords were normal, but he saw benign fundic gland polyps in my stomach-- apparently there is pretty solid correlation between the over use of PPIS and these types of polyps (which makes sense, cause thats all doctors were prescribing me right off the bat).
With that being said, i have to undergo another test called a "Gastric Emptying Study" which google says is...
"In patients with gastroparesis, the food and the attached radioactive material remain in the stomach longer than normal (usually hours) before emptying into the small intestine. As a result, the scanner continues to show radioactivity in the area of the stomach for hours after the test meal. If abnormally slow emptying is demonstrated, medications such as metoclopramide (Reglan) may be given to speed up the emptying and improve symptoms".
He has prescribed me Motilium to take after the study and that is suppose to speed up the emptying of my stomach, but i can't take it till after the study is done. So i will update you all with how this journey goes. Im not getting my hopes up but staying positive!
I had my appointment with a gastroenterologist today and had a Esophagogastroduodenescopy done and for the first time since this has happened I've actually received somewhat of an answer.
For anyone who has had one of these, you know you must fast with no food after midnight usually for the procedure the next morning. I didn't eat after 8pm last night but this morning, the doctor was very surprised to see undigested food still in my stomach. In a span of 12 hours, my dinner was just...fermenting?... in my stomach and not moving. Apparently my stomach is unable to pass food normally. He said i have a gastric bezoar which implies i have a condition called Gastroparesis.. "A gastric bezoar is defined as a foreign body resulting from accumulation of ingested material, most commonly found as a hard mass or concretion in the stomach". The photo is pretty disgusting, i wish i could figure out how to post photos here, so i can only assume, and he said it was possible, that this might be causing my bad breath.
He said my esophagus and vocal cords were normal, but he saw benign fundic gland polyps in my stomach-- apparently there is pretty solid correlation between the over use of PPIS and these types of polyps (which makes sense, cause thats all doctors were prescribing me right off the bat).
With that being said, i have to undergo another test called a "Gastric Emptying Study" which google says is...
"In patients with gastroparesis, the food and the attached radioactive material remain in the stomach longer than normal (usually hours) before emptying into the small intestine. As a result, the scanner continues to show radioactivity in the area of the stomach for hours after the test meal. If abnormally slow emptying is demonstrated, medications such as metoclopramide (Reglan) may be given to speed up the emptying and improve symptoms".
He has prescribed me Motilium to take after the study and that is suppose to speed up the emptying of my stomach, but i can't take it till after the study is done. So i will update you all with how this journey goes. Im not getting my hopes up but staying positive!