How do you treat Gastroparesis?
Well, today I am going to discuss all of the different treatments currently offered, how effective they are and my thoughts on them.
Spoiler alert: I’m not fond of most of these
Treatments for Gastroparesis
Diet Changes
While normally I would be all down for this one, the diet recommended is AWFUL. And I mean AWFUL. The mainstays of this “diet” are to remove fiber, fat and cook your fruit and veggies down to mush. If you have read any of my other blogs, then you know I like to go against this, because it only makes you more sick. There are ways to build back up.
Medications
Reglan, Erythromycin and Domperidone are the main ones that come to mind. While these work for some, they come with very scary side effects and they are not a cure nor are they even a long-term solution, because you cannot be on them for long periods of time. They don’t do anything to get to the root cause of your Gastroparesis, but they can help with some of the symptoms. They are meant to help with contractions in the stomach and bowel to help move food along. I tried a few of these and my side effects were incredibly scary after only 2-4 doses of each.
Surgery
There are a few surgical options that help widen the pyloric sphincter to make food pass through easier and feeding tubes. While I am not a huge fan of these options, sometimes the feeding tube is 100% necessary to reverse or prevent malnutrition until you get to the point of being able to tolerate food orally again. There are some much riskier surgeries like gastric bypass or a sleeve and these make zero sense but they are still offered to those who are just desperate for any help.
Gastric Stimulator
This is about the only actual option that makes sense. It sends electrical pulses to the stomach muscles, like your vagus nerve would, to make it contract like it normally would, but there isn’t concrete studies that show its effectiveness. It’s also a surgery and that’s a scary option for a lot of people. This was the final option for me and I just did not want that for myself, so I found other ways.
That’s it, y’all. Those are your current options. In my opinion, none of those are all that great, but until there is more research on how to help with Gastroparesis, that’s what it is.
So, what else can you do?
Well, my route was to change my diet, tone my nerve and create habits that support my healing over any of those options. And I did just that.
If you are need a place to start, check out my FREE 3-Day Healing Guide. It is based off of the current 3-day diet that is often handed out by doctors, but it actually has nourishing foods instead of coke, crackers and bouillon.
Until next time,
Keep it Fresh. Keep it Simple. Keep it Real.
Aubrey