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Allie describes how often she eats per day to control her gastroparesis, stomach paralysis, symptoms.
Allie:
The most important thing for me that I have found as far as frequency of eating is to spread out really small meals throughout the day and that’s what a doctor will recommend as well.
I usually try and have something no bigger than I would say two fists, one fist at a time and that way your stomach won’t completely fill up. If you put in a little bit at a time it will go through more slowly and doctors will also mention that if you are having trouble with digestion one of the best things to avoid, you really don’t want to have nuts, seeds, oats. You can actually get a bezoar in your stomach, which is food that builds together and then have to go in and break it down with a needle. So it’s best if you are having digesting problems to stick to those liquids but always stick to small meals.
I try and always have six small meals a day. It really helps as opposed to having three large meals because a small amount of food that’s roughly the size of a fist or maybe two, can go through your body a lot easier. The more you pile in there, the more upset your stomach is going to be, the more acid that’s going to go in and the harder it’s going to be for the food to push through.
So I usually do a lot better if I just have small amounts of meals, but there are those days where even having all liquids or barely any food, you do have build up and then you feel sick anyways. So it’s really about just watching yourself and knowing that you are doing the right thing for your body even though your body might not respond with the correct symptoms every day of the week. It can vary greatly.
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Allie, my niece was diagnosed with gastroperisis a little under a year ago. She can not eat anything at all. She is completely dependant on a feeding tube. She is currently waiting on a surgery date to have a pacemaker implanted into her abdomen to stimulate her stomach so that some day she might be able to eat again. She has lost so much weight due to this disease and has been in and out of the hospital many times within the past year. Emily is 16 years old and has been unable to live a normal teenage life. What kind of advice can you give her? Do you know of anyone who has the gastric pacemaker? If so, are they able to live somewhat of a normal life?
Thank you,
July 18, 2011 - 2:02pmFrances
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