I was hoping someone might be able to help and give me some advice on the fact that i feel sick all the time, especailly after i've eaten. The sickness is always there. My local GP isn't all that good, all they can say is take a zantac because it seems like they just can't be bothered to investigate any further. I have had countless blood tests and blood gasses done incase it has anything cardiac. Also i have had things like abdo and pelvic CT done and several abdo ultra sounds carried out. These tests have shown nothing. Feeling sick all the time is making my life miserable. Does anyone think this could be a sign of gasroparesis?. I have been type 1 for eleven years now and i hate it more as each year passess. I'm sorry to sound melodramatic but things are just really getting me down. Has anyone got any advice on the sickness thing?
Hi Pete, (insert standard i am not a doctor disclaimer) well, it is hard to say from info given. What kind of sickness? General lethargy and fatigue type of sick? Or flu, queasy stomach type of sick? What kinds of meds are you on that might cause it? Have you tried eliminating or changing any of them? Does it only occur after certain foods or events, or always present? Are there any times you don't feel sick? Is that 8% current a1c? That could be part of it, if you can bring that down to even 7's, over time you may start to feel better. When I was dx'd i was around 15% and felt like crap until just this last year when i finally hit 7% and am keeping it down, last check was 6.3. If you are rollercoastering blood glucose levels, that can cause sickness feeling too. Might be good to hit the books and do basal testing, make sure you have that correct, then carb count and pre-bolus to prevent spiking. If you haven't seen or read Using Insulin yet its a highly recommended book. You have definitely comes to a great place to get info though, stick with us, we'll get it figured out eventualy!
Two things come to mind - gastroperisis OR celiac's disease. As you know, gastroperisis is a consequence of diabetes and I believe the symptoms are a general feeling of fullness or nausea after eating. Celiac's disease is an autoimmune disorder that is commonly seen in people with type 1 diabetes. Have you tried eliminating gluten from your diet to see if that's causing the problem? From what I understand, the symptoms of Celiac's can really vary from person to person.
Incidentally, I did have some serious stomach issues these past few years. While my Celiac's test came back normal and the problem didn't seem to be gastroperisis, my symptoms did improve when I went "low carb" and removed a substantial amount of gluten from my diet (I was eating a lot of bread, rice, and pasta). Also, I had a blood allergy test done that came back strongly responsive for wheat.
It does sound like gastroparesis, also known as delayed gastric emptying. Your stomach isn't able to digest the food as the result of nerve damage so it just sits in your stomach and ferments. It can cause horrible tasting and smelling gas, pains, bloating, etc. The best treatment for that is keeping blood sugars down, under 7, and eating smaller meals. Easier said than done, I know. Don't stuff yourself, and stay away from anything too heavy for a while--such as pasta, or a giant steak dinner. If you can get your blood sugar under control and your eating under control, I promise you will feel better.
Hi Pete. I have slow digestion (mild gastroparesis) and Celiac Disease. You might find probiotics to be helpful. For gastroparesis liquids can be helpful -- soups and so on. I like DanActiv (yogurt drink), helpful for digestion which is hurt by both conditions. If you decide the problem could be Celiac, you probably already know you have to avoid gluten, which is found in wheat, barley and rye. If you eat oats, look for either McCanns or packages that say "gluten free". Just know that if you stop eating gluten, any test that you take later will register as negative, whether or not you have the problem. Good luck.
Thanks so much for your help guys. Funny that you should mention celiac disease because i had a test carried out for that not so long ago which came back as negative. So i suppose it could be gastroparises, i'm due to have an OGD done soon so hopefully that will reveal something, all i know at the moment is that it's making me miserable. Thanks once again.
Re your negative test for Celiac. I have read that sometimes the test comes back negative when there really is a problem, perhaps just a sensitivity rather than actual Celiac Disease. If all else fails, you might try going off gluten to see if it helps, but it does take time for your gut to heal and for you to feel better after changing your diet.
You're right it could be my bm's but after eating i normally test about two hours after eating and there normally the 7.5-8.5 range. I say normally but somtimes they can be in the twenties. I'm really not sure what it could be. The investigating continues...........
Hi. I read what was going on with you and unfortunatly I'm seeing the same issue with my son since he was in the hospital with DKA. Its been a uphill battle for over two month now. My son has been found to still be Dehydrated and we are trying hard to fix that and he hasnt been able to eat much without sickness feeling or not able to keep food down. The doctor said yesterday that it could be the same thing you mentioned above in your post. They said if my sons insides were damaged when he had kidney failure and there was nerve damage it could cause a issue with stimualting the intestions I believe. Causing the issue with eating. He's lost 33 lbs since Sept. I'm still a baby at this so sorry if my terms are off. There's so many things to figure out and learn. The doctor put him on a new medicine called Metoclopramide. Read after we got it that it could cause another disease that sounds like it could be bad news. He was gonna start it today. Almost dont want him to after reading the paper on possible issues with this med. Anyway. Not sure if this helps but hope you figure it out soon and start feeling better.
Hi Pete. Just wanted to tell you my story: I've been Type 1 for 18+ years. I was feeling sick after eating, and very bloated all the the time. I thought I had gastroparesis, but my endo suggested that it could be celiac disease or a gluten intolerance. I got the blood work done for celiac, and it came back negative, but my doctor had me try out eating gluten free for a month anyway, to see if it helped. I tried it, and now I feel amazing. I don't have any of the symptoms I was having before, unless I eat gluten. Just FYI, the blood test for celiac disease apparently can give a lot of false negatives, the only way to know for sure is to have an intestinal biopsy to see if there is any damage to your celia. I didn't end up getting one, because it seems really invasive, and I'm just happy to not eat gluten any more because I feel so much better! It might be worth trying to go gluten free for a while to see if that helps. Good luck on your quest to feel better, where ever it takes you.
Hey bob, i'd say it's a quesy feeling more than anything, also it's sapping a lot of my energy as you can imagine. My A1c was 8.5 but my las tone before that was 10.0 so tis an improvement i guess. I've had my diabetes now for eleven years so i suppose it's innevatible thats it's going to step up a gear. Which it has, and new things are being thrown at me all the time. Like i say i dont want to sound like a drama queen but things are really getting me down at the moment. I realise this isnt a councilling service but it's a relief to able to tell people how i'm feeling whom might understand. Anyway thats enough of my violin playing. Chat soon.
