| Since you were diagnosed with diabetes, have you | | | | food around in the acidic gastric juices until it is broken |
| noticed that you have a problem with belching, bloating, | | | | up into tiny fragments and ready for release to the |
| and feeling full? A nagging pain you can't quite identify | | | | duodenum, the forward part of the small intestine. |
| in the upper abdomen, or heartburn that antacids can't | | | | A healthy antrum releases food about 3 times a |
| help? If you do, you might be suffering from diabetic | | | | minute, its rate controlled by the vagus nerve, the |
| gastroparesis, the most common complication of | | | | same nerve that controls the speed of the heart. But |
| diabetes that most diabetics don't know anything | | | | when the vagus nerve is damaged by years of high |
| about. | | | | blood sugars, it slows down the stomach. Food |
| A "paresis" is paralysis and "gastro" refers to the | | | | accumulates and the stomach has to rely more on |
| stomach. Gastroparesis (gas-tro-par-EES-is) is a kind | | | | stomach acids to break up food and gravity to push |
| of paralysis of the upper digestive tract that causes a | | | | partially digested food further along. |
| delay in emptying the stomach into the small intestines. | | | | So what can you do about gastroparesis? Number |
| Eventually afflicting up to 50 per cent of diabetics, this | | | | one, keep your blood sugars in check. Number two, |
| overlooked form of nerve damage typically occurs | | | | chew thoroughly and use digestive enzymes, like |
| after a long period of poorly controlled blood sugars, at | | | | bromelain, when you eat your food. |
| least 5 to 10 years. Not every diabetic who has this | | | | High-fat foods slow stomach emptying, and high-fiber |
| problem experiences all its symptoms all the time, but | | | | foods are something you should avoid when |
| about half of bloating, constipation, diarrhea, nausea, | | | | symptoms are severe. Eating smaller meals more |
| and vomiting in diabetics may be related to this | | | | often may help, too, but you need to adjust insulin, if |
| disease. | | | | you take it. Certain South American herbs, like guarana |
| The way diabetes results in diabetic gastroparesis is | | | | and mate, aggravate gastroparesis, so be careful with |
| by injury to the stomach's "pacemaker." The upper | | | | energy drinks. Finally, and ironically, the anti-neuropathy |
| part of the stomach, the fundus, collects food and rink. | | | | drug Elavil (amitriptyline) makes gastroparesis worse. |
| The lower part of the stomach, the antrum, churns the | | | | |