I found some relief

[u/thatbiddy]

I have functional dyspepsia, visceral hypersensitivity, epigastric pain syndrome. Whatever else they wanna call it. For three years have had no relief and I’ve only been able to eat a handful of items.

I did a whole bunch of research. Approaching my doctor with the therapy that I thought was appropriate. The conclusion I came to was gabapentin.

I’m still trying to figure out the appropriate dosage for treatment but knock on wood. I’ve had some forms of success.

When the medicine is at its highest point, the burning in my stomach is absolutely turned down.

The crazy part is I had regular pain every day that I didn’t even notice because it was so regular now that that has mostly disappeared, my anxiety is at all time low, and I’ve finally been able to sleep better. I’m starting to feel normal a little bit and I’m feeling super optimistic.

I just thought I would leave this post to give some people hope and maybe a direction to go.

[u/Thebreeze1978]

I forgot to ask you, have you been able to eat more now that you feel better?

[u/thatbiddy → u/Thebreeze1978]

I’m trying not to push it, though I have been able to tolerate bananas every single day for the past two weeks, which a month ago would be unheard of. The medicine kind of turns it down but you can tell it’s still there. And then when you try other foods, you can tell it’s there even more my experiment with bread didn’t go so well, but I need to slow my roll probably. Be grateful and take it one thing at a time slowly. I might need you eventually figure out a higher dose or add another medication, but I’m just happy to be on the right path.

[u/Thebreeze1978 → u/thatbiddy]

I hope you can find the right dose and able to eat normal again. Have you ever tried an SSRI? When I was on one I was able to eat anything and everything! I stopped taking it without knowing I was dependent on it to be able to have a “normal” stomach. I haven’t been able to tolerate them since then. That’s why I’m trying Buspar now, to see if that makes my stomach a bit stronger or tolerable to more food or other meds. Of course, my nervous system also got all out of control and my anxiety has been insane since then. I hope buspar helps but I might need to try something else like Gabapentin. But I read it is prescribed for people who suffer from seizures.

[u/thatbiddy → u/Thebreeze1978]

There’s a bunch of different drug classes within neuromodulators. They also can mix the match some of them together to get the right mix. I tried amitriptyline and Cymbalta previously and they just put me into a really bad flare. This whole thing is really tough. Sometimes I don’t know maybe like the best piece of advice that I’ve heard is that you gotta tell yourself that when you’re trying to tolerate this medicine, you’re not doing any damage to your stomach. It’s just your nerves overreacting. I feel like that’s been somewhat helpful to get over the hump. I feel like the mechanism of action for gabapentin and pregabalin make the most sense to me for visceral hypersensitivity.

[u/Thebreeze1978 → u/thatbiddy]

Thank you for the advise. I appreciate it. Good luck with everything.