is there any help?

I am a 38 yr old female that has Gastroparesis for the past 4 years. I am attempting to find releif for thiss. Will anything help?

[JulesA]

Hi I know that must be frustrating.  What are your symptoms?  As I have gastritis the doctors have thought that I have the gastroparesis too.  They prescribe Domperidone or Metaclopramide to make the food digest better and quicker.  Im not sure there is anything else.  Id eat small meals and give it time before you go to bed.  Drink a lot of water.  Id look up natural remedies too to see if they would help.  Maybe Aloe vera would help it as it can help digestive problems.  I haven,t found it much help but you may do you never know.

[patient915]

Welcome to the gastroenterology community!  Usually there are 3 stages to gastroparesis treatment.  The first step is dietary changes.  This includes a low-fiber, low-fat diet, with many small meals throughout the day.  Also you can try a all-liquid or an all-purreed diet.  If that doesn't help enough, then you can go onto stage 2 which is medication changes.  This includes domperidone (which is not FDA approved in the US, but it can still be obtained), reglan, erythromycin, etc.  If this doesn't work, then there are surgical options.  This includes feeding tubes (NJ, GJ, or J tubes), gastric pacemaker, botox injections, or surgery to remove part of the stomach.

[drpittsburgh]

Dr. Sheri wants you to know that help is on the horizon.  For the member who said that her doctor recommended pyloroplasty, your doctor is way ahead of the times.  This is brand new and we've only known that is has worked since 2011.  My study is about to be written up and published and we found the same thing that the Oregon Clinic found:  laparoscopic pyloroplasty was by far the most effective treatment for gastroparesis.  The quality of life improved by all measures.  The gastric emptying studies improved.  We are furiously working on bringing this information forward to the public.  

[patient915]

I'm surprised you say this because laparoscopic pyloroplasty has been around for a long time as a treatment for gastroparesis.  However, the big problem with this is that it is permanent and has many risks (such as dumping syndrome and worsening in symptoms if there is also small bowel dysmotility).  Diet and medications should definitely be tried first.  Botox injections are also a very good thing to try before a pyloroplasty and they are a good indicator if the pyloroplasty will be helpful.