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Stomach problems in CFS

Messages
3
I have severe ME/CFS so I spend a lot of time in bed. One of my worst problems is that when I drink liquids they seem to just sit in my stomach and intestines all day without being absorbed properly. When i press my stomach area you can hear the water swishing about. Does anyone else have this problem or any advice on how to deal with it. It's really uncomfortable and it means I can't drink much fluid because it just sits in my stomach without my stomach emptying. I tried some motility stimulants like Domperidone but they don't help.

David
 

TigerLilea

Senior Member
Messages
1,147
Location
Vancouver, British Columbia
Has your doctor tested you for gastritis or any other possible stomach issues? It could be that you have the sensation of the stomach not emptying when in fact it is. Have you measured how much urine output you have in comparison to how much fluid you take in?
 
Messages
3
Thanks for replying. No I haven't got gastritis or any blockage. I am limited in the amount of liquid I can drink because it's not emptying properly or being absorbed so I pass much less urine than normal.
 

kangaSue

Senior Member
Messages
1,851
Location
Brisbane, Australia
GI motility is a fairly complicated area and can have a wide variety of causing delay. You really need to get a Gastric Emptying Study done to determine if it could be because of gastroparesis and an Endoscopy exam to see if there is just a stomach related cause.

It can take a lot of investigations, and sometimes years, to get to the bottom of things as it can be the result of things such as enterovirus, autoimmune antibody related, muscle or nerve signalling dysfunction, gut bacterial imbalance, connective tissue disorders, impaired blood flow to the bowel, autonomic neuropathy etc etc etc

Is it only liquids that present a problem or foods too? There was a small Australian study into motility dysfunction in CFS that found liquids were delayed but solids emptied at a normal rate.

A quick test your G.P. can do that can indicate if the problem is one of impaired blood flow to the bowel (which may be more prevalent than alluded to in the medical literature because it rarely gets tested for) is to listen to your bowel sounds for an epigastric bruit. If you have one of these, it's likely that eating and/or drinking will result in abdominal pain too about half an hour later.