gastroparisis

[Cinnabon]

What are the symptoms of gastroparsis?

[twistedsummer]

Hello Cinnabon,

Hope this helps.

Gastroparesis

Gastroparesis, also called delayed gastric emptying, is a disorder in which the stomach takes too long to empty its contents. It often occurs in people with type 1 diabetes or type 2 diabetes.

Gastroparesis happens when nerves to the stomach are damaged or stop working. The vagus nerve controls the movement of food through the digestive tract. If the vagus nerve is damaged, the muscles of the stomach and intestines do not work normally, and the movement of food is slowed or stopped.

Diabetes can damage the vagus nerve if blood glucose levels remain high over a long period of time. High blood glucose causes chemical changes in nerves and damages the blood vessels that carry oxygen and nutrients to the nerves.

Signs and Symptoms of Gastroparesis

* heartburn
* nausea
* vomiting of undigested food
* an early feeling of fullness when eating
* weight loss
* abdominal bloating
* erratic blood glucose levels
* lack of appetite
* gastroesophageal reflux
* spasms of the stomach wall

These symptoms may be mild or severe, depending on the person.

Complications of Gastroparesis

If food lingers too long in the stomach, it can cause problems like bacterial overgrowth from the fermentation of food. Also, the food can harden into solid masses called bezoars that may cause nausea, vomiting, and obstruction in the stomach. Bezoars can be dangerous if they block the passage of food into the small intestine.

Gastroparesis can make diabetes worse by adding to the difficulty of controlling blood glucose. When food that has been delayed in the stomach finally enters the small intestine and is absorbed, blood glucose levels rise. Since gastroparesis makes stomach emptying unpredictable, a person's blood glucose levels can be erratic and difficult to control.

Major Causes of Gastroparesis

Gastroparesis is most often caused by

* diabetes

* postviral syndromes

* anorexia nervosa

* surgery on the stomach or vagus nerve

* medications, particularly anticholinergics and narcotics (drugs that slow contractions in the intestine)

* gastroesophageal reflux disease (rarely)

* smooth muscle disorders such as amyloidosis and scleroderma

* nervous system diseases, including abdominal migraine and Parkinson's disease

* metabolic disorders, including hypothyroidism

Ref. About.com

twistedsummer :)

[Starlight]

God, why is everything associated with diabetes? Can i not look at one disease and see that i dont have a risk of it? Before coming to these forums i was oblivious to the fatal dangers of lows and highs. Now that i do know, i am very paranoid of whats to come. :(

[mark-TN]

Twisted Summer-

Great post on gastroparesis information. One thing I wanted to point out is that the most common symptom of gastroparesis in diabetics is erratic blood sugars after meals and upon waking. Meaning blood sugars can go low 1-2 hours after eating and than shoot up for no apparent reason 5 or more hours(as in 6 to 12 or more hours) later. Also, blood sugars will be very unpredictably, because gastroparesis will cause the stomach to empty at different times after a meal. On one day emptying may be normal and the next day it may be delayed for hours, and it will very at each meal. Physical symptoms will very greatly from individual to individual and depend greatly upon the severity. But even mild gastroparisis (which normally will come with no physical symptoms) can play havoc on blood sugar control for those that must use insulin at meals.

Mark

[Eri's mom]

I have dealt with gp myself...REALLY bad...lost a TON of weight, vomitted ALL the time, and the food was NEVER digested. Quite gross. I was sick w/ that for a year and a half...and then, after I had my gall bladder removed, I went on this homeopathic/holistic cleanout and it's been gone since then(with faith as well)...
I experienced all those problems...it was horrible, and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. (I had all the gastric emptying tests, the hidescan and endoscopy)...I only digested 43% of my food, so the other 47% came back up. Always interestingly disgusting.
The only thing is, I'm not diabetic...just hypoglycemic at times.

[mark-TN]

Eri's Mom-

It sounds like you had idiopathic gastroparesis. It is great that this was cured with homeopathic/holistic cleanout. It must have been a horrible experience. Diabetic gastroparisis can not be cured by homeopathic/holistic cleanout, however. The only possible way to reverse gastroparesis caused by damage to the Vagus nerve from high blood sugars is to keep blood sugars as near to normal as possible, and even with this it can take several months to over a decade to fully reverse.

Here is a great site with alot of information about idiopathic gastroparisis: Gastroparesis Info (http://www.monkeygirl.atfreeweb.com/gastroparesis.htm) The site is by a girl that suffers from it who has not found a cure yet. Apparently she is waiting for several transplants to resolve the problem.

Here is another good site with information about a new treatment option: Gastric pacemaker (http://www.gastricpacemaker.com/) This sounds like a great option, however, I do not think it is something that will be widely available for suffers unless the condition is very sever, and even then insurance may not cover it.

Mark

[twistedsummer]

Eri's Mom:

yeah, it is *really* bad. and to think that it is not the only thing that diabetics have to monitor.
it was a puzzle for me until i read about it... i still don't know much about it and i don't barf regularly which makes some of my days good and some days *really, really* bad.

mark-TN:

thanks for the links. the more info, the coping part gets better. :)

Starlight:

you have no idea how it makes me sick--er just thinking about it. :confused:


twistedsummer
type 2 / 2005

[Eri's mom]

They wanted me to consider the pacemaker...but when my aunt went through all that homeopathic/holistic stuff w/ the cancer...along w/ her faith(she was a pastor)...I just believed it would work and it did...thank God....
That cleanout was something else...amazing how healthy you feel during it.

Also, the vomitting DID continue for a while(still sometimes) but not w/ undigested food like before. (high stress levels at certain points...ESPECIALLY last year, which caused me to be almost as thin as I was after the chicken pox at 24 yo(80 lbs)

(Oh, other factors, aside from the diseased gall bladder...the JOY of that...was gastritis and ulcers...they said it wasn't normal for a 33 yo to have such an enflamed stomach as well...oh well...I TOTALLY rearranged my eating habits...and was on erithomycin 3 x's per day and prilosec and now zantac...no more caffeine...no nicotine or alcohol(quit drinking and smoking long b/f that anyway)...cut out fried foods and oily/greasy foods, etc...and ate around 6 tiny meals per day instead of 3 normal size. (would also help explain the weight loss)...Aside from that, I'm never w/o the pepto tabs or rolaids and I drink plenty of water to stay hydrated. (ok, basically lived on crackers, water, sometimes some baked chicken and rice or light mashed potatos or chix noodle soup...and fireballs)

GP is definitely something I pray Eri does NOT have to face...especially w/ being dx'd w/ gastritis this year.

[lgvincent]

I've got symptoms like that. If I don't eat slowly, I feel pressure build and it feels like I'm going to explode. When this happens, I sometimes will drool because I can't swallow. Sometimes, the pressure has become so intense that I vomit. It used to be bread would cause the problem more than anything else but recently I got the intense pressure just by eating 2 baby carrots. Cheese does it too. Heartburn is so bad, I think it could consume a battleship. Can't tell what my blood sugar will do. I can eat the same thing and take the same dose of insulin 2 days in a row and one day it may be high and the next it might be low.