Gastroparesis: When Muscles Don't Function

Strong muscle contractions propel food through the digestive tract. When you have gastroparesis, however, the muscles in your stomach wall do not function properly or do not function at all. This prevents your stomach from being emptied properly. This condition interferes with digestion, causing nausea and vomiting. It also brings havoc to your nutrition, especially the sugar level in your body.

There are only three common symptoms of gastroparesis. These are nausea, vomiting and premature fullness or the feeling of fullness after having just a few bites. Usually, vomiting occurs hours after you have eaten. This is when your stomach is still full of food that has not been digested, together with normal stomach secretions. Sometimes, even if you don't eat, you can still vomit because of the accumulated acids and enzymes in the stomach.

Aside from the three major symptoms, other symptoms include:

• gastroesophageal reflux or heartburn

• lack of appetite

• malnutrition

• weight loss

• abdominal bloating

• changes in the levels of blood sugar

Gastroparesis is usually blamed on the damage to the vagus nerve. This nerve stretches from the brain to the colon. It helps in orchestrating the complex microcircuits in the digestive tract, including sending signals that it is time for the smooth muscles in the stomach to contract in peristaltic waved. When the vagus nerve is damaged, contractions stop or slow down, food doesn't move out of the stomach to the intestines as it should.

The vagus nerve can be damaged in many ways. Surgery is one of these. If you have had an operation involving any organ in your digestive tract, the vagus nerve can be injured. Symptoms of gastroparesis can appear immediately after the surgery or years later.

Diabetes is also one of the leading cause of vagus nerve injury. High levels of blood glucose can damage the vagus nerve and disrupt normal functioning. Once you develop gastroparesis, diabetes often turns worse because of poor absorption and erratic stomach emptying.

Other causes include medications, cancer treatments and other disorders and diseases such as anorexia, bulimia, Parkinson's disease and even flu.

The first step in treating gastroparesis is controlling what causes the condition. For example, if the disorder is caused by diabetes, you should control diabetes first in order to successfully treat gastroparesis. However, regardless of the cause, the usual treatment involves dietary changes and medicines that increase stomach contractions.

There are only a few drugs that are approved for this condition and they can have serious side effects. That's why doctors avoid medications for this condition and try less conventional approaches instead.