My Story...summed up

I am a 31 year old living with gastroparesis and diabetes. I've been a diabetic since 1988 and I've had GP since 2007. In the beginning when I first started to get sick with GP, it was a STRUGGLE. It took a year to finally get a diagnoses. This was done by doing a gastric emptying study, which showed I had a 56% paralysis of the stomach. Two months after knowing what was wrong, I was still struggling and was getting no help from the doctors and they weren't giving any insight into my condition. After two months of knowing what I had and no improvement my family took me to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester MN, USA. I was there for two weeks and they confirmed I had GP. I started to see the only GP specialists in Canada, where I'm from. As soon as I started seeing him there was small improvements. I went 7 1/2 months with no symptoms at one point, which was great because I was able to work during that time. I lived a normal everyday life again. I came to the realization that a regular day for a healthy person is a dream come true for me!

When a bad episode of the GP would start I would go into the hospital with extreme pain and intense nausea and vomiting. I'd average 10 days in hospital for every bad episode. Many things can cause an episode, it could be something you eat or drink, stress, infections, or could be your blood sugars. I'd get home and only be there for 1-2 days then back in the hospital. If I was home for 5 days or a week it was like heaven to me! The longest stay I've had in hospital was 4 1/2 months. I went 2 years with not many improvement. In a 7 1/2 year span I spent almost half that time in the hospital with 100+ admissions and emergency stays. Keep in mind that whenever I'm in the hospital I am not able to eat or drink anything, my stomach rejects anything and everything until the pain, nausea and vomiting subside.

I went through rough times dealing with doctors about believing me about my symptoms because they didn't know what gastroparesis was and therefore didn't know how to treat it. For the first 2 years I'd say about 70% of the time my hospital stays were almost torture and a lot of suffering. I'd lay in bed not able to move because the nausea is so bad. It was very frustrating laying in a hospital bed in severe pain and no one would do anything to help, I just don't understand that especially being in a hospital. The #1 reason they wouldn't give me pain meds was because they didn't believe in giving narcotics (morphine, diludid,or demerol is what I usually got) for abdominal pain. For me, the only way to stop the nausea and vomiting somewhat quickly, is to get rid of the pain, its as simple as that I've learned. The pain starts after vomiting a few times. Giving nausea and pain meds quickly can shorten my hospital stay from an average of 10 days down to only a few hours or an overnight stay in the ER. After a couple years there was more improvement. My endocrinologist stepped up and realized I needed the right meds. So she wrote a care plan for me for when I go into emerge so the docs have an idea of what meds and the dosages to give me. I also have a care plan from my gastroparesis specialist which has helped tremendously when going to the ER.

On January 12, 2011 I got the gastric pacermaker (aka neuro-electric stimulator) implanted in my abdomin. It helps to alleviate the symptoms of nausea and vomiting. Since having it I have been able to go through periods of remission! No nausea, No vomiting, No pain and No hospital stays. My longest remission period was 15 months and the second longest, so far, is 9 months. I can still get sick and go through episodes but they happen further apart then they did before I got the pacer.  

I've learned what works for me as far as diet, and what doesn't work. I've learned that positive thinking is KEY!!, I reduce as much stress as I can. I exercise when I can. Whether its a little walk, stretches, yoga, pilates, anything to help keep my strength up. Rest is also key, if I dont get rest one night the next day could end up being a right off and I'm sick all day not able to eat or drink anything, and the nausea limits my mobility. I take nothing for granted anymore because without your health you have nothing. It doesn't matter who you are, what your age, sex or race is, health conditions and chronic illness don't discriminate. I don't let any opportunity pass me by. I try new things as often as I can and appreciate any and every experience I go through. Having a chronic illness, let alone 2 of them, is life changing. I have learned a new "normal". I will have bad days but the good ones do come, they might not stay long but the bad do eventually come to an end. Good days will hopefully become more frequent.


My #1 rule for living with GP is POSITIVE THINKING!!!!!!. The mind is a powerful tool!!!...and I've learned to take advantage of that and it really does make a difference!!!