by Walter Little

Created on: October 19, 2010

What is Gastroparesis?

Gastroparesis (also known as Delayed Gastric Emptying or DGE) is a condition that occurs when the stomach takes too long to empty its contents. Under normal conditions, the stomach contracts to move the food down into the small intestines for digestion. In a person suffering from Gastroparesis the vagus nerve, which controls the movement of food from the stomach into the digestive tract, has been damaged causing the muscles of the stomach and the intestines not to function properly. One reference describes the condition as a partial paralysis of the stomach which causes food to move slowly through the digestive or, possibly, stop moving completely

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What causes Gastroparesis?

Gastroparesis can be either chronic or transient in nature. Transient Gastroparesis – meaning the condition will heal in time – may occur as the result of any acute illness, when using certain cancer treatment drugs, or other drugs which can affect the body's digestive action. It can also be caused by anorexia nervosa, bulimia, and other abnormal eating patterns.

In the case of chronic Gastroparesis, it is frequently caused by autonomic neuropathy2 – especially in persons with Type I and Type II diabetes. When this occurs, the vagus nerve has become damaged as a result of repeated high blood-glucose (“blood-sugar”) levels. Although not as common, chronic Gastroparesis has also been associated with various auto-immune diseases and syndromes such as FIbromyalgia3 and Parkinson's Disease. It may also occur as part of a mitochondrial disorder.

Idiopathic Gastroparesis (meaning it has no known cause) accounts for approximately one-third of all chronic cases. It is thought that many of these cases are due to an auto-immune response triggered by an acute viral infection. Conditions such as “Stomach flu” and Mononucleosis have at least anecdotally linked to the onset of the condition, although no systematic study has confirmed this link.

The occurrence of Gastroparesis seems to be disproportionately high in females. One possible explanation for this is that women have been found to have an inherently slower stomach emptying time than men. In addition, a hormonal link has also been suggested, since Gastroparesis symptoms tend to worsen the week before menstruation when progesterone levels are at their highest.

What are the signs and symptoms of Gastroparesis?

Common symptoms of Gastroparesis include: 1) chronic nausea, 2) vomiting

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