Gastroparesis Myth #1: "You Look Good, So You Must Feel Good"

If you are a Gastroparesis sufferer, you have probably heard it many times:  "You look fine".  "You look really good!"   "I thought you would look thinner!"     That is a part of the craziness of this illness:  Looking normal is, in its own way, a symptom of the disease.  If someone breaks their arm, they are probably walking around with a cast.   Hence, everyone knows that they broke their arm.     If someone is sneezing and coughing, you can make a safe assumption that they probably have a cold.       People with serious diseases like Parkinson's have obvious outward symptoms of the disease.

This doesn't work for Gastroparesis.  If you walk by a sufferer on the street, you wouldn't think there was a thing wrong with them.   If you visit them at their residence, they can usually muster the strength to get out of bed to greet you and talk to you.   People with Gastroparesis may be out taking a walk, as exercise actually helps with some of the symptoms for some people.

On top of that, one of the symptoms of the disease can actually be weight gain.  Whoa!  Wait a minute!  A person is sick, they can barely eat, they may have malnutrition - and yet they can gain weight?  The answer to that is YES.     The human body works in mysterious ways sometimes - but it also knows what it is doing.  If your body feels as if it is not getting enough calories or nutrition, it will tend to store what it does have.  There are other theories as well - some people with Gastroparesis try to get whatever calories they can get through any means necessary - and that could mean a higher carb/higher sugar kind of diet which tends to lead to weight gain as well.    Also, many Gastroparesis sufferers have a hard time staying active - the disease rips away their energy, and they tend to sleep and rest more.   So even though you are taking in less calories, you are not burning them off as easily.

I have read posts online from people who claim that their doctors refused to diagnose them with Gastroparesis for this very reason:  They gained weight, or they show no obvious signs of being underweight.  Hopefully, those doctors have become more educated through the years - Gastroparesis is not a weight-loss disease.  Never has been, never will be.

As a loved one, you should never fall into this trap; thinking that the patient looks healthy, so they must be healthy.  Looks can be, and often are, very deceiving.  Don't judge by how the person looks - judge by how the feel.  Remember one of the basic mantras:  No healthy person wants to stay in bed and be unproductive most of the time.  They want to live the one life they have been given.