Stomachache often bothers people as it gives abdominal pain and discomfort. However, if you have a crampy and vague pain disrupting your sleep at night and becoming worse during eating, you might probably have gastroparesis. This health issue happens as your stomach delays the cleaning process, making the food stays there longer than usual. It affects the digestion process to perform in a normal state as your stomach muscle contraction cannot force the food into the intestine.
According to zmescience.com, you can treat gastroparesis with a handy device. It might help to relax the important nerve known as the vagus nerve responsible for controlling the intestine’s food movement during the gastrointestinal tract. Although it seems like a common stomachache, it can lead to complications if untreated properly. Consult with your doctor while learning more about the basic knowledge about gastroparesis below.
The Causes
Any disease affecting the vagus nerve can cause a delay in emptying the stomach. Diabetes mellitus might be the most common factor causing gastroparesis as it can damage the blood vessel and vagus nerve. Other aspects causing gastroparesis are injured during surgery, hypothyroidism, Parkinson’s disease, Fibromyalgia, acute illness, and cancer medications that interfere with gastric emptying.
The Symptoms
Gastroparesis may show some signs and indications, but they are commonly different based on their type and seriousness level. Some might get affected only for specific foods, such as high fiber, fatty, solid, or eating in large foods. Other people might feel the symptoms whatever they eat. People with gastroparesis often feel easily full when starting to eat or even long after that. More common symptoms include pain in the upper abdomen, heartburn, appetite loss, nausea, vomiting, or even weight loss.
The Diagnosis
People with the above symptoms should take a medical test in the nearest hospital. Doctors usually perform and order for more investigation after some clinical history check followed by physical examination. Further analysis includes a blood test and an ultrasound test. The blood test is vital to determine diabetes, electrolytic disorders, and signs of illnesses related to gastroparesis. Meanwhile, the ultrasound test evaluates whether it has a relation to gallbladder disease with related symptoms. Several other tests are gastric emptying scintigraphy, breath testing, barium meal, and many more to diagnose gastroparesis.
The Treatment
Dealing with gastroparesis treatment is usually symptomatic. It happens because gastroparesis can lead to chronic disease. Requirements that have a cause or aggravate gastroparesis must also be treated. For example, it may be necessary to adequately control diabetes to decrease or block other vagus nerve lesions. Other medications to cure the gastroparesis symptoms include metoclopramide and domperidone. People can also change their dietary and eating lifestyle with smaller and more frequent meals while avoiding high fat and fiber content. Eating more digestible and softer foods are also recommendable.