Delayed Gastric Emptying

[Guest guest]

Hi Everyone

A few of you have suggested my daughter Bobbi may be suffering with

delayed gastric emptying, and at our next appointment I am going to

ask if they can test for this, are there any treatments for this or

is it something she just has to live with, I'm sure this is the

reason she prefers her milk (liquids) to solids as surely these take

longer to move through! Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Brigitte ( mum to Bobbi RSS 10 months)

[Guest guest]

A good pediatric GI doctor should be able to help figure out

solutions for your daughter, depending on the test results. One

thing to mention to the doctor, if he agrees to the test, is to

ensure that the test is done with milk, and not some other random

liquid. The reason is that our division has found that the most

accurate test results come from using a liquid that is commonly

drank by children. Using, for example, a barium liquid -- well, no

kid is going to drink that under normal conditions.

There are some medications, but I know our doctors have advised us

not to use them. Instead, we have worked out solutions behaviorally

for . y has bad reflux (controlled by meds) and severe

DGE. Instead of doing surgery, which we were trying to avoid, she

now eats small frequent amounts literally every hour or so. This

way she isn't ever " full. " DGE makes the hypoglycemia risk very

dangerous, though, as if the blood sugars fall, giving the child

juice or food can not be trusted to get into the body (it could sit

in the stomach). When this type of situation occurs, your best bet

with a child with DGE is to use glucogel or gel icing in the tube

and put it in their cheek and let it absorb. We keep tubes of both

products in her backpack, her soccer and softball bags, in the car,

and in the nurse's office at school.

DGE is notorious for causing constipation, though, which can be very

problematic for a child trying to gain weight. Solutions for that,

we have found, are almost more instrumental in getting weight on

than fixing the DGE. Good luck!

Salem

>

> Hi Everyone

>

> A few of you have suggested my daughter Bobbi may be suffering

with

> delayed gastric emptying, and at our next appointment I am going

to

> ask if they can test for this, are there any treatments for this

or

> is it something she just has to live with, I'm sure this is the

> reason she prefers her milk (liquids) to solids as surely these

take

> longer to move through! Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

>

> Brigitte ( mum to Bobbi RSS 10 months)