Walk the Walk and Talk the Talk

This week (August 22-28th 2010) is the First Annual DTP (Digestive Tract Paralysis) Awareness Week on Facebook, Sponsored by G-PACT.ORG as part of their celebration of their 9th Anniversary in existence (August 23rd) and people across Facebook are changing their profile pictures to G-PACT colors of lime green and yellow in a show of support and posting Awareness messages in their updates.

Those of us with Digestive Tract Paralysis conditions tend to talk in initials when we speak of the conditions involved and the treatments to keep us alive, so I thought that I would share a small 'translation' for those who see these mysterious initials popping up so that they could follow the discussions more easily.

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  DTP- Digestive Tract Paralysis


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  GP- Gastroparesis- delayed gastric or stomach emptying


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  CIP- Chronic Intestinal Pseudo-Obstruction- when the small intestine has nerve paralysis and reacts as if there were a physical obstruction with all the symptoms of a physical obstruction but no obstruction can be found in testing.


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  DS- Dumping Syndrome- accelerated gastric or stomach emptying


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  J-PEG- feeding through a tube placed through the abdominal wall directly into the digestive tract


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  TPN- IV nutrition delivered directly into the peritoneum or abdominal cavity


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  NG- Naso-gastric, a tube fed in through the nostril and down the throat to deliver nutrition to the stomach


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  NJ- a tube fed in through the nostril and down the throat to deliver nutrition to the small intestine, by-passing the stomach


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  GES- Gastric Emptying Scan- a test used to diagnose Gastroparesis and Dumping Syndrome

It is much easier to talk the talk and help those with Digestive Tract Paralysis raise Awareness if you can understand the 'lingo'... now it is up to you to walk the walk.

There are many things you can do to help Raise Awareness, if you have a Facebook account you can go to www.facebook.com/g-pact and see all the wonderful Awareness activities going on. There are videos on youtube made by sufferers telling you in their own words what DTP does to them (including a 4 year old girl), suggestions for status messages that you can use to help raise Awareness, pictures that you can post and use as your profile picture, letters you can send to politicians... the list goes on and on.