When you eat a meal, food normally moves out of the stomach and into the intestines in a timely fashion. This movement of food from the stomach into the intestines is controlled by a nerve called the vagus nerve. When this nerve malfunctions or is damaged it can lead to slow gastric motility and emptying – a condition called gastroparesis.
Who Gets Gastroparesis?
Gastroparesis is most commonly seen in people who have diabetes, although it can also occur in people who’ve had a portion of their stomach removed or have other systemic diseases. Gastroparesis is also not uncommon in people who have brain disorders such as Parkinson’s disease as well as people who have eating disorders such as anorexia. In addition, certain medications that affect function of the vagus nerve can slow down gastric motility. In up to forty percent of cases, gastroparesis occurs for no obvious reason – a condition called idiopathic gastroparesis. No matter what the cause, it can be a tough disorder to live with and to treat.
How Do You Know if You Have Slow Gastric Emptying?
Slow gastric motility or emptying can cause a variety of digestive symptoms. The most common ones are a sense of fullness after eating only small amounts of food, abdominal bloating and distension, and vomiting, and weight loss. These symptoms are also common with a variety of other stomach and intestinal problems which need to be ruled out as well.
Once other conditions have been ruled out, there is a test called a gastric emptying study that can be used to diagnose slow gastric emptying or gastroparesis. This test involves adding a tag to food so that the time it takes to leave the stomach can be tracked. If the tagged food moves too slowly, delayed gastric motility or gastroparesis is diagnosed.
How is Slow Gastric Emptying Treated?
This is the challenging part. There is a prescription medication called Metaclopramide that works well for gastroparesis, but it has a serious side effect that limits its usage. Metaclopramide can cause a condition called tardive dyskinesia – a neurological disorder characterized by abnormal, jerky movements that may be irreversible even after stopping the medication.
There is a newer medication called Domperidone that doesn’t carry this risk and is used successfully in Europe, but hasn’t been approved by our FDA. There are two other medications – the antibiotic Erythromycin – and the drug Tegaserod – used to treat irritable bowel syndrome – that also work for some people. Some newer treatments include implantation of a gastric electrical stimulator into the abdominal wall to stimulate gastric motility. The injection of botox into the portion of the stomach known as the pylorus is also being investigated as a possible treatment.
Are There Natural Ways to Treat Gastroparesis?
Eating smaller meals and limiting fiber and fat intake – both of which slow down gastric emptying – helps to some degree. Liquid diets are usually easier to tolerate than solid foods. Keeping a food diary to identify what foods make the symptoms worse may also be helpful. Unfortunately, no herbal or vitamin remedy has been consistently shown to work.
Slow Gastric Emptying: The Bottom Line?
Gastroparesis can be a frustrating condition to deal with, but it’s a condition that’s being heavily researched in hopes of finding new and effective treatments.
References:
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/460632_6
