I talked to Dr. Williams tonight and Nathan's gastric emptying test showed that Nathan's stomach is emptying 37% in 90 minutes. A normal individual's stomach should empty at the rate of 50% in 90 minutes. So yes, he has gastroparesis. :o(
We have tried so hard to avoid medications treating his EoE and have been fairly successful, avoiding his trigger foods and Prevacid has been working well. I guess EleCare would be considered a medicine too, but without it Nathan wouldn't be here, so maybe we aren't avoiding medicines all that great after all, but I am just happy we are able to keep him off of the steroid treatment for now. Giving him a daily steroid just doesn't sit well with me. We made need to go there one day, but Mark and I aren't ready for it just yet. We are still faithful that we can find Nathan foods he can tolerate without it.
Unfortunately, there aren't many options other than taking medicines to treat gastroparesis. So Nathan will begin taking Erythromycin (a low dose antibiotic, grr!) 3 times a day... forever... or until this magically disappears which, at this point I don't know enough about gastroparesis to know if that is even possible.
So, I'm one disappointed momma tonight finding this out. Trying to look on the bright side, and think about the positives, Nathan getting his appetite back, and for his g-tube to stop leaking all over the place! I am thankful for all of the wonderful medical advances in today's world, but it frustrates me to no end that medicine is required to get Nathan's little body to work like it's supposed to. Eating healthy food should make your body function appropriately, but EoE is a crazy thing. :o/
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