Gastric/Stomach Emptying Rate

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  • singingflutelady
    singingflutelady Posts: 8,736 Member
    edited April 2019
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    @Susieq_1994 The usual diagnostic test is a 4 hour gastric emptying study (ges). You eat radiated eggs and they scan you at 0h, 1h, 2h, and 4h to see how much of the radiation is still in your stomach. Normal is less than 10% left at 4 hrs so if you have a higher percentage left that's when they usually diagnose you. The test isn't bad just long and boring.
  • Susieq_1994
    Susieq_1994 Posts: 5,361 Member
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    singingflutelady wrote: »
    @Susieq_1994 The usual diagnostic test is a 4 hour gastric emptying study (ges). You eat radiated eggs and they scan you at 0h, 1h, 2h, and 4h to see how much of the radiation is still in your stomach. Normal is less than 10% left at 4 hrs so if you have a higher percentage left that's when they usually diagnose you. The test isn't bad just long and boring.

    Thank you very much! I'll talk to the specialist about options if the gastroscopy doesn't turn anything up (I'm just not sure how it could, when my stomach has to be entirely empty for the test, so I've been worrying about it). Still kinda hoping it will just go away somehow...
  • COGypsy
    COGypsy Posts: 1,165 Member
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    Susieq_1994 wrote: »
    singingflutelady wrote: »
    @Susieq_1994 The usual diagnostic test is a 4 hour gastric emptying study (ges). You eat radiated eggs and they scan you at 0h, 1h, 2h, and 4h to see how much of the radiation is still in your stomach. Normal is less than 10% left at 4 hrs so if you have a higher percentage left that's when they usually diagnose you. The test isn't bad just long and boring.

    Thank you very much! I'll talk to the specialist about options if the gastroscopy doesn't turn anything up (I'm just not sure how it could, when my stomach has to be entirely empty for the test, so I've been worrying about it). Still kinda hoping it will just go away somehow...

    @Susieq_1994 The trick to using the gastroscopy is not that your stomach has to be empty...it's that you can't have eaten for 12 hours (or whatever that time span is, I don't recall offhand). When they were diagnosing my gastroparesis, I went in for the scope and when I woke up, they asked me if I'd really eaten banana on a salad. I had......two days before.

    If you've done the fasting required for the procedure and they find food in your stomach, then they can decide to either make the diagnosis based on that finding or refer you for the GES.
  • Susieq_1994
    Susieq_1994 Posts: 5,361 Member
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    COGypsy wrote: »
    Susieq_1994 wrote: »
    singingflutelady wrote: »
    @Susieq_1994 The usual diagnostic test is a 4 hour gastric emptying study (ges). You eat radiated eggs and they scan you at 0h, 1h, 2h, and 4h to see how much of the radiation is still in your stomach. Normal is less than 10% left at 4 hrs so if you have a higher percentage left that's when they usually diagnose you. The test isn't bad just long and boring.

    Thank you very much! I'll talk to the specialist about options if the gastroscopy doesn't turn anything up (I'm just not sure how it could, when my stomach has to be entirely empty for the test, so I've been worrying about it). Still kinda hoping it will just go away somehow...

    @Susieq_1994 The trick to using the gastroscopy is not that your stomach has to be empty...it's that you can't have eaten for 12 hours (or whatever that time span is, I don't recall offhand). When they were diagnosing my gastroparesis, I went in for the scope and when I woke up, they asked me if I'd really eaten banana on a salad. I had......two days before.

    If you've done the fasting required for the procedure and they find food in your stomach, then they can decide to either make the diagnosis based on that finding or refer you for the GES.

    Thank you, this is helpful too! I've definitely been feeling like I still have food in my stomach 12 hours later lately. :( I've been told to stop eating solid food at midnight the day before the procedure, and it's going to be at 7.30 PM the next day, so I have a very long fast ahead of me before it. This does give me some hope, though!
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
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    ercarta wrote: »
    rheddmobile wrote: »
    I’m type 2 and frequently take my blood after meals. My experience has been that gastric emptying is not a large factor in how high my blood sugar spikes, only when it spikes. Glycemic index is also baloney as far as I’m concerned (and there are some studies which agree) since individual response to different foods varies quite a bit. For example, both white and brown rice might as well be poison to me, while others have little difficulty with them.

    If you’re concerned about insulin resistance as someone who is not diabetic or prediabetic, regular exercise and not being obese are the two things with the largest effect that are under your control. You should not be concerned about gastric emptying - that is seriously majoring in the minors.

    Thanks for the input. Both my mother and grandmother had diabetes and it was rough. The constant management, the incontinence, dizziness, and blackouts, etc.

    I’m a little paranoid I admit but most folks here seem to agree with you. I’m going to put more emphasis on a calorie deficit going forward.

    All the best!

    Eric

    It’s quite reasonable not to want to have a debilitating chronic illness which greatly increases your risk of all kinds of mortality and side effects! But it doesn’t have to be as bad as you have seen - my diabetes is controlled by diet and exercise. After losing weight to a normal BMI and increasing my fitness, with a reasonable amount of care I don’t need glucose lowering medication - so no more than a normal person’s chance of blackouts or dizziness due to low blood sugar - and my glucose stays within a healthy person’s range, which greatly reduces my chance of nerve damage. As far as management, I do count carbs and test my blood sugar frequently, but it’s not that much more trouble than it would be to keep track of any healthy, reasonable diet. Thanks to my poor decisions in the past, I will always be diabetic, and have to work to keep my diabetes at bay. With any luck you can avoid it.

    If you have a familial disposition to diabetes, strength training three times a week and at least half an hour daily of sweat-inducing cardio is your best bet, as far as current medical knowledge goes, to ward it off. Exercise improves your cells’ ability to utilize glucose. And regular activity is a good prescription for anyone, unlike playing about with your digestive system.

  • ercarta
    ercarta Posts: 74 Member
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    rheddmobile wrote: »
    ercarta wrote: »
    rheddmobile wrote: »
    I’m type 2 and frequently take my blood after meals. My experience has been that gastric emptying is not a large factor in how high my blood sugar spikes, only when it spikes. Glycemic index is also baloney as far as I’m concerned (and there are some studies which agree) since individual response to different foods varies quite a bit. For example, both white and brown rice might as well be poison to me, while others have little difficulty with them.

    If you’re concerned about insulin resistance as someone who is not diabetic or prediabetic, regular exercise and not being obese are the two things with the largest effect that are under your control. You should not be concerned about gastric emptying - that is seriously majoring in the minors.

    Thanks for the input. Both my mother and grandmother had diabetes and it was rough. The constant management, the incontinence, dizziness, and blackouts, etc.

    I’m a little paranoid I admit but most folks here seem to agree with you. I’m going to put more emphasis on a calorie deficit going forward.

    All the best!

    Eric

    It’s quite reasonable not to want to have a debilitating chronic illness which greatly increases your risk of all kinds of mortality and side effects! But it doesn’t have to be as bad as you have seen - my diabetes is controlled by diet and exercise. After losing weight to a normal BMI and increasing my fitness, with a reasonable amount of care I don’t need glucose lowering medication - so no more than a normal person’s chance of blackouts or dizziness due to low blood sugar - and my glucose stays within a healthy person’s range, which greatly reduces my chance of nerve damage. As far as management, I do count carbs and test my blood sugar frequently, but it’s not that much more trouble than it would be to keep track of any healthy, reasonable diet. Thanks to my poor decisions in the past, I will always be diabetic, and have to work to keep my diabetes at bay. With any luck you can avoid it.

    If you have a familial disposition to diabetes, strength training three times a week and at least half an hour daily of sweat-inducing cardio is your best bet, as far as current medical knowledge goes, to ward it off. Exercise improves your cells’ ability to utilize glucose. And regular activity is a good prescription for anyone, unlike playing about with your digestive system.

    I appreciate you @rheddmobile. These are great insights. I surely intend to internalize them.

    I can see I’m going to continue taking jabs for my original post until this thread dies off though. 😐

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