Gastroparesis is a medical condition where food stays in the stomach for too long, causing symptoms such as nausea, pain, and malnutrition. It is often caused by diabetes, anorexia, or stomach surgery, and can lead to weight loss and high blood sugar levels.
The medical problem gastroparesis is a condition where food stays in the stomach for an abnormally long time. Most symptoms of gastroparesis are directly related to the stomach, but some reflect the body’s inability to absorb nutrients effectively. Conditions that can cause this problem include diabetes and anorexia, as well as some infections.
In healthy people, the muscular wall of the stomach effectively moves food to the rest of the digestive system for further processing. When a patient suffers from gastroparesis, this action is slowed down. The nerve that signals that it’s time for muscles to contract can become damaged, ultimately causing this to happen. Many different medical problems can cause this nerve to deteriorate and lead to symptoms of gastroparesis.
Most often, diabetes is the culprit when a doctor identifies symptoms of gastroparesis in a patient, as it causes deterioration of the circulatory system in the local area and thus starves the nerve of nutrients. The high blood sugar of diabetics can also directly damage the nerve. Other possible causes include a wide range of conditions such as anorexia, a form of self-imposed hunger, stomach surgery, or a side effect of a medicine.
A slow transit of food can cause many problems, such as temporary pain, nausea and malnutrition. The painful symptoms of gastroparesis can be as vague as a localized abdominal pain or result from burning sensations from stomach acid on the esophageal tube that leads from the mouth to the stomach. The patient may also feel nauseous or have an unusually small appetite.
Because food stays in the stomach for abnormally long periods, even if the person thinks it is time to eat, they get signals of fullness from the stomach after a small amount of food. The affected person may also vomit the swallowed food again. A full stomach can also cause belly bloating. As the stomach attempts to deal with its contents, without a properly functioning vagus nerve, it can also go into muscle spasms.
Normal stomachs can process food and nutrients efficiently, but gastroparesis disrupts the normal pattern. As a result, when the food finally leaves the stomach and reaches the next portion of the digestive tract, the small intestine, abnormally high levels of glucose from the food can enter the bloodstream. A doctor may be able to detect the unusual highs and lows of a patient’s blood glucose.
Sometimes food stays in the stomach for so long that it solidifies into lumps. These lumps can physically block the stomach outlet and cause vomiting. All the unpleasant symptoms of gastroparesis, along with the body’s inability to properly absorb nutrients from food, can cause the patient to lose weight.
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