Gastroparesis

by

Sarah Zambrano 

     Gastroparesis is a digestive disease where the stomach cannot empty itself of the food a person eats in a relatively normal or healthy way or period of time. In the picture above, the left image is of a properly functioning stomach. The image on the right is what an abnormally functioning stomach can look like if a person has gastroparesis. In a normally functioning stomach, our stomach muscles move and contract to essentially crush up our food and also to push it down towards our small intestine. The stomach of someone suffering from gastroparesis may have stomach muscles that aren't contracting or functioning at all, or that aren't functioning sufficiently enough to ensure proper digestion. It can be caused by injury to the nerve leading to the stomach, the vagus nerve, where the stomach muscles then do not get the signal from the brain to do their job. This injury can be caused by surgery. Certain medications can put a person at higher risk for developing gastroparesis, as well as diabetes and hypothyroidism.

     Symptoms may include nausea, vomiting, bloating, reflux, feeling full right away, dehydration, or malnutrition. If the food in the stomach sits undigested long enough, it can ferment and cause bacteria to grow, leading to infection. If a person can't digest food or continually throws up after eating or drinking, they can become very dehydrated or malnurished. Gastroparesis is not considered to be curable, but symptoms can be managed. Generally gastroparesis is diagnosed through a gastric emptying study, ultrasound, upper GI endoscopy and/or a series of x-rays. Treatment may consist of certain medications that help treat gastroparesis by helping to stimulate the stomach muscles and/or treat nausea and vomiting, changing the person's diet, or surgery which could include a feeding tube that goes directly to a person's small intestine if the person is absolutely unable to get nourishment by eating.

     Doctor's and researchers don't yet have a clear idea of who will develop gastroparesis and who will not, although as stated, certain medications that can damage the stomach can contribute to it, as well as nerve damage from such diseases as diabetes or Parkinson's disease. Women are more likely than men to develop gastroparesis. The disease is considered rare, with less than 200,000 cases a year in the United States.

Sources:

https://badgut.org/information-centre/a-z-digestive-topics/gastroparesis/

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/gastroparesis/symptoms-causes/syc-20355787

https://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/digestive-disorders-gastroparesis#1