Abdominal Binders And Gastric Motility?

[peregrine]

After trying two different abdominal binder-type things, I finally went with suggestions from other folks here and got myself some Spanx. It is working well for me, though it's a pain to get on/off (I keep hyperextending my fingers if I'm not careful). Sometimes nausea is worse with it on - which is not too surprising. Hard to tell so far if it has an effect on my symptoms - not too surprising as it's only been about 5 days. I'm also a bit nervous that any effect it has on presyncope, etc will be countered by the lack of air flow around my torso.

(poop warning!) The weird thing is that it seems to be increasing? my gastric motility. Normally I (for lack of a better word) defecate 3-4x per day, and it varies from hard to soft. Since wearing it the last few days it's probably 9 times out of 10, and always really soft. I have some occasional gastroparesis-type symptoms (overly full suddenly, stomach cramps after eating, etc), but it's pretty rare so I haven't noticed any changes yet. Is this normal? Do other folks have this happen with abdominal binding?

[Chaos]

I notice the same effect as far as "gastric motility" when I do more core strengthening ex and/or yoga. Wore the "shapewear" stuff in the spring so can't remember if that effected the bowel frequency or not. Too hot here to wear it now. I did notice my BPs were significantly higher wearing the shapewear (spanx type stuff) which is good in my situation.

[Kellysavedbygrace]

I live in Spanx.

I have been wearing them daily since December even through the heat here in Florida. I try not to

leave the house w/o them on because I am much more symptomatic without them. (especially faint). I do not wear them when in bed.

I tried stockings but found that my feet/legs kept falling to sleep in them. I understand we actually have more capillaries in our splancnic bed (abdominal area) than in our legs and blood pooling is really bad for me. (At Cleveland Clinic they said I pool 37% of my total blood volume going from supine to sitting- creating a 42% reduction in cardiac output- no wonder I'm faint.)

I was initially worried too about breathing because shortness of breath is a big issue for me but I have not noticed a change. I do have a lot of the gastric motility too but didn't connect it to Spanx- you may be right. Seems it was bad for me before. I definitely spend more time in the bathroom dealing w either constipation or loose stools multiple times a day. Gastroparesis is also an issue for me. But I've found the digestive issues to be less problematic than the faint, fatigue, hypersensitivity and near deficit issues. I too have to be careful putting them on/off as I've pulled muscles in my thumb and fingers.

[Debbie Rose]

I have a hiatal hernia that slips back and forth so I have to avoid large width of spandex but my pants have been rather tight on me when I am at work-I think that is one reason I don't have too many symptoms-is that possible??

I too have some bowel issues but since I have not been diagnosed or tested I'm not sure how bad but I never had a problem with constipation as I have been recently...just another symptom to add to the othersw

[peregrine]

Many folks who pool do seem to pool in their abdomen - unfortunate because it's a lot harder to look for than pooling in the legs! The binder theoretically should reduce some abdominal pooling too. Thus far I find it doesn't seem to help with most of my symptoms other than gastric issues, but it's only been about 1.5 weeks... we'll see!

[Kellysavedbygrace]

Pere, your descriptions of diagnosis, symbols and helps/hurts is so similar to mine. I'd be surprised if you found the SPAnx not to work as well as compression stockings. Would love to know your final assessment.