How to Diagnose Gastroparesis

Gastroparesis is delayed stomach emptying. The most common symptoms are heartburn, nauseousness, vomiting, weight loss and bloating. Some of these symptoms could also be symptoms of other conditions, so you need to have certain tests to figure out what is ailing you. The following will help you diagnose gastroparesis.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Take gastric emptying studies. You will be given an egg sandwich to eat and then put on a monitor. They leave you there for an hour so they can see how fast it takes you to digest the egg sandwich. If you have gastroparesis, it should take longer for you to digest the sandwich than the normal person should.
2. Schedule a gastroduodenal manometry. After inserting a tube into your stomach and small intestine, the technician monitors the contractions before and after you eat. The strength and frequency of the contractions is also monitored. This test is to rule out other problems and not available everywhere.
3. Set up an upper gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy. The doctor can scan your stomach and small intestine with a tube that has a tiny camera attached to it for obstructions. You want to have this test in order to discover if there are other problems causing your symptoms.
4. Have an electogastrogram. The electrical signals in your stomach are recorded both before and after you eat. If you don't have gastroparesis, the electrical rhythm should be regular before you eat and should speed up after you eat. If you do have gastroparesis the rhythm before you eat is irregular and after you eat the rhythm is either nonexistent or doesn't increase.
5. Ask your doctor if you should have a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) test. MRIs can diagnose many stomach conditions. Since this test isn't invasive and you have no chance of exposure to radiation, it is the ideal test for diagnosing not only gastroparesis but also any stomach problems you are having. It is currently being explored for the evaluation of stomach mobility.
6. Find out how to treat gastroparesis if you are diagnosed with it.