How to Treat Gastroparesis
Gastroparesis is a serious condition where your stomach can't digest food properly. The muscles in the wall of your stomach don't work well enough to move food through the digestive system. This can cause nausea, vomiting, bloating, reflux and uncontrolled blood sugar levels. There's no known cure for this problem, but you can control symptoms by following these steps.
Instructions
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Control your diabetes. Uncontrolled blood sugar levels damage the vagus nerve, which is crucial for proper digestion. Blood sugar control after gastroparesis has set is a major factor in the condition's treatment.
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2
Eat 6 to 8 meals a day. This prevents your stomach from having to digest a large amount of food at one time.
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3
Choose foods low in fiber but still nutritious like cooked fruit and vegetables, fish, chicken and yogurt. Fiber is a challenge for the stomach to digest in people with gastroparesis.
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4
Check the fat content of anything you eat. You want to avoid food that stays in your digestive system for a long time because it can cause complications. Your doctor might allow you high-fat liquids if you're suffering from malnutrition.
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Add a liquid nutritional supplement to your day. Discuss with your doctor or a nutritionist what vitamins and minerals you're missing. It's always better to get them from the food you eat, but every gastroparesis patient has different food sensitivities.
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Ask your doctor about medications. An antiemetic can ease your vomiting and nausea. Some drugs help the muscles of your stomach move food along, but they may cause serious side effects so work on dietary changes first.
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Consider surgery only as a last resort. It may make sense if you're constantly vomiting, can't eat because you're feeling nauseous all the time and/or are suffering from malnutrition. Check with your doctor for new treatments for gastroparesis before committing to surgery.
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Tips & Warnings
Try lying on your right side after you eat to take advantage of gravity in relieving gastroparesis symptoms.
Don't depend on medications to control your blood sugar. You may even be able to get off them if you stick to healthy lifestyle changes.
Avoid figs, berries, coconut, corn, tomatoes and other foods with seeds or swallowed in large pieces.
