Gastroparesis
Gastroparesis is delayed stomach emptying without a physical blockage. It can cause early fullness, nausea, bloating, upper-abdominal discomfort and vomiting of food eaten hours earlier.
Key takeaways
- Symptoms alone cannot confirm delayed emptying; obstruction and other causes must be excluded.
- Diabetes, previous surgery, neurological disease and medicines that slow the gut can contribute.
- Treatment combines nutrition changes, management of the cause and carefully selected medicines or procedures.
A motility-medicine listing does not establish gastroparesis; testing, current medicines, nutrition and heart or neurological risks shape treatment.
How is gastroparesis assessed?
Assessment reviews diabetes control, operations and medicines, then checks for blockage. A gastric-emptying test may document delayed movement. In diabetes, unpredictable nutrient absorption can make glucose management more difficult.
What can treatment improve?
Smaller, more frequent meals and changes to food texture can support intake. Metoclopramide may improve emptying and nausea in selected patients, but neurological adverse effects limit how it is used. Persistent disease may need specialist nutrition or procedural options through digestive health care.
When to seek urgent care
Seek urgent help for repeated vomiting with inability to keep fluids down, very little urine, fainting, severe abdominal pain or swelling, vomit containing blood or green bile, or dangerously high or low blood glucose.