stomach not emptying

Evo

I've been sure of this before, but now I have proof, so to speak. I ate a small mint yesterday afternoon. As always, I have stomach pain and abnormal distension. I ate the mint over 30 hours ago and I'm now burping up mint. I wondered before about my vagus nerve being damaged by my previous stomach surgery that set off the extreme pain and distension. I guess I need to call my gastroenterologist.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ5ob9B9yD4

I'm just venting.

lisab

That sounds horrible...I feel so bad for you!

Yes it sounds like a trip to the GE doc is in order.

micromass

Greg Bernhardt

Not good! I remember I once had a case of my stomach not emptying, but ended up being food poisoning... it did empty eventually...

Evo

Yeah, it's called gastroparesis. Gah.

Evo

I spoke to the doctor's nurse today and she told me that it's not possible for food like mint to remain in the stomach more than a few hours. Ok, that means I'm delusional (not contesting that). (I also corrected dysphagia, which I also have, with gastroparesis, don't know what I was thinking).

Any opinions on how long food can stay in the stomach (aside from a bezoar). I know if food remains in the stomach for at least 12 hours it can indicate gastroparesis.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/48...od-in-stomach/

http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddise...gastroparesis/

Astronuc

Definitely see a GE. Not being able to empty the stomach is not good.

Tell the nurse you'd be happy to come over and throw up on her.

I think food should be out after a few hours, certainly by 8 hrs.

Monique

I agree about the candy not staying in the stomach long: the stomach could probably absorb most of it. I do wonder about the oils, it's not unimaginable that those stay in the stomach much longer.

turbo

Stuff generally gets out of my upper GI tract in short order. Perhaps a good thing, given my tendency to eat really hot chilies. Everything else seems to be on an 8-10 hour schedule, though. YMMV. Given your medical history, it would be a really good idea for you to get in to see a doctor ASAP

Evo

I ws thinking that the mint could have flavored the other food trapped in my stomach.

lisab

Is it possible you eat while sleepwalking? It's not unheard of. Perhaps you ate a mint while sleeping?

Evo

Nope there were three of them, 2 are left.

alan2

I am not a doctor, in fact biology makes me queasy. I had a problem for several months and they couldn't figure it out. My stomach wouldn't empty, I looked pregnant. Then my blood pressure started going through the roof. My physician told me there was nothing wrong except that I had high blood pressure. I argued that one doesn't just wake up one day with high blood pressure. 6 doctors later it turned out that I had a pyloric ulcer. The pylorus is the sphincter between the stomach and whatever comes after it. The sphincter was inflamed and not working properly so food couldn't pass out of the stomach into the intestines. 3 weeks of amoxycillin and prilosec and I was as good as new. Hope you feel better, it can be awful, even worse when the doctor thinks you're nuts.

Evo

Thanks alan, I'm going to insist that they run some tests, this has been going on way too long.

Moonbear

It may not be vagus nerve damage, though it's one consideration. Another is constriction of the pyloris or duodenum...you will have gastric emptying, but much slower than normal. If it's not emptying, they should be able to see where things are stoppering up with upper GI radiographs after swallowing barium (ooh, yummy!). It does seem odd that a mint would linger. It's mostly sugar and would dissolve easily.

Evo

Can the taste linger? It was clearly mint. It wasn't until the second burp that I wondered where it came from, then remembered I ate a chocolate mint the day before. I'm taking a proton pump inhibitor, twice the recommended amount (per doctor's orders).

Moonbear

Maybe it mixed with other solids still in there. If you're not even getting liquids with dissolved sugars through, I'm surprised you didn't just vomit it up after sitting there so long.