Your physician will follow up with other test if it is determined that your emptying is too fast or too slow. Yet, this very vital scan gives a lot of information and is a baseline in getting the proper diagnosis so that you can receive the best care.
Now why I call it The Nasty Egg Test. I have a hard time with eggs no matter when I try to eat them. They make me quite nauseous and I do my best to avoid them. The test has very strict guidelines to ensure that every test is exactly the same. So making sure to keep the egg down is essential so that the physician can gain as much information as they can.
The test gets a little more difficult for me to handle because not only is there eggs involved but also toast. Even though I do not have an allergy to gluten. Bread makes me quite ill. I have my own theory that it expands in your tummy and takes more room, that is what I tell people when it comes to bread.
You also get the joy of a very controlled amount of water that is usually not iced due to the fact that they need to control the temperature. Again my own opinion is that the water fills any holes left behind.
Here is another way of explaining how I see things. You may have actually seen or heard someone describe this before. Take a large bowl and fill with large rocks looks like it is completely full right. Now take some small pebbles and sprinkle over top the bowl. They will move down among the larger rocks. Now you think that it is full but guess again. If you now take sand and pour in the bowl you will see that there are more gaps filled in. Lastly take water and fill the bowl until you cannot get anything else any it. Then you will see how I picture the adding of the above ingredients to my stomach.
Yet, there is one more twist in the example above the bowl cannot expand. Yet, with your tummy you can pump it up until that it is more than full. The bloat which if you suffer from Gastroparesis you know all about it.
So now other than eating the above ingredients there is one more part to the study. That is the small amount of radioactive material added to both the food and the water. This ensures that the pictures that are taking can completely monitor how fast your tummy empties.
After eating and drinking the study involves a series of a few scans. They really do not hurt and only last for a very short amount of time. Here is where things kind of get a little crazy. You must keep everything down or you will have to repeat the test on another day. To help with this make sure to take something like a book or game to keep your mind off what is going on. You will be sitting for several hours and there is nothing like worrying about a test to wear you out. The part that I have the hardest part with is the nausea during the waiting game. Yet, this is one of my worse symptoms so it isn't really shocking that it is going to bother me during a test like this.
So there you have it the study itself isn't bad, but if you are like most people with gastroparesis it is the eating that is bad. Which is probably why you are going to have the test to start with. So be patient and it doesn't help to pray to help keep the nausea away.
Little footnote if you do have a slow study or fast one be prepared this will not be your last emptying study. Over time you tummy will make more decisions on how it wants to act so the physician will need other studies as time goes by.
Well there you have my explanation of a gastric emptying study. If you have the pleasure of having one of this lovely test and you agree with the new title please let me know. I think it would make a good definition change in the MD books. Until next time. I see a long nap ahead for me.
For my fellow fighters keep on fighting and remember one day they will figure this out and we will have won. Until then don't give up hope. It is okay to rest on bad days, but on the good days enjoy life to your fullest because you deserve it.
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