Question: How do doctors treat gastroparesis?
Answer: How doctors treat gastroparesis depends on the  cause, how severe your symptoms and complications are,  and how well you respond to different treatments. Sometimes, treating the cause may  stop gastroparesis. If diabetes is  causing your gastroparesis, your health care professional will work with you to  help control your blood glucose levels.  When the cause of your gastroparesis is not known, your doctor will provide  treatments to help relieve your symptoms and treat complications.

Changing eating habits

Changing your eating habits can help control  gastroparesis and make sure you get the right amount of nutrients, calories,  and liquids. Getting the right amount of nutrients, calories, and liquids can also  treat the disorder’s two main complications: malnutrition and dehydration.

Your doctor may recommend that you

eat foods low infatandfiber
eat five or six small, nutritious meals a day  instead of two or three large meals
chew your food thoroughly
eat soft, well-cooked foods
avoid carbonated, or fizzy, beverages
avoid alcohol
drink plenty of water or liquids that containglucoseandelectrolytes,  such aslow-fat broths or clear soupsnaturally sweetened, low-fiber fruit and  vegetable juicessports drinksoral rehydration solutions
low-fat broths or clear soups
naturally sweetened, low-fiber fruit and  vegetable juices
sports drinks
oral rehydration solutions
do some gentle physical activity after a meal,  such as taking a walk
avoid lying down for 2 hours after a meal
take a multivitamin each day

If your symptoms are moderate to severe, your doctor may recommend drinking only liquids or eating well-cooked solid foods that have been processed into very small pieces or paste in a blender.

Controlling blood glucose levels

If you have gastroparesis and diabetes, you will need to control  your blood glucose levels, especially hyperglycemia.  Hyperglycemia may further delay the emptying of food from your stomach. Your doctor  will work with you to make sure your blood glucose levels are not too high or too low and don’t keep going up or down. Your doctor may  recommend

taking insulin more often, or changing the type of insulin you take
taking insulin after, instead of before, meals
checking your blood glucose levels often after you eat, and taking insulin when you need it

Your doctor will give you specific instructions for taking insulin based on your needs and the severity of your gastroparesis.

Medicines

Your doctor may prescribe medicines that help the muscles in the wall of your stomach work better. He or she may also prescribe medicines to control nausea and vomiting and reduce pain.

Your doctor may prescribe one or more of the following medicines:

Metoclopramide. This medicine increases the tightening, or contraction, of the muscles in the wall of your stomach and may improvegastricemptying. Metoclopramide may also help relieve nausea and vomiting.
Domperidone. This medicine also increases the contraction of the muscles in the wall of your stomach and may improve gastric emptying. However, this medicine is available for use only under aspecial programadministered by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Erythromycin. This medicine also increases stomach muscle contraction and may improve gastric emptying.
Antiemetics. Antiemetics are medicines that help relieve nausea and vomiting. Prescription antiemetics includeondansetron,prochlorperazine, andpromethazine.  Over-the-counter antiemetics includebismuth subsalicylateanddiphenhydramine. Antiemetics do not improve gastric emptying.
Antidepressants. Certain antidepressants, such asmirtazapine, may help relieve nausea and vomiting. These medicines may not improve gastric emptying.
Pain medicines.  Pain medicines that are notnarcotic pain medicinesmay reduce pain in yourabdomendue to gastroparesis.

Oral or nasal tube feeding

In some cases, your doctor may recommend oral or nasal tube feeding to make sure you’re getting the right amount of nutrients and calories. A health care professional will put a tube either into your mouth or nose, through your esophagus and stomach, to your small intestine. Oral and nasal tube feeding bypass your stomach and deliver a special liquid food directly into your small intestine.

Jejunostomy tube feeding

If you aren’t getting enough nutrients and calories from other treatments, your doctor may recommend jejunostomy tube feeding. Jejunostomy feedings are a longer term method of feeding, compared to oral or nasal tube feeding.

Jejunostomy tube feeding is a way to feed you through a tube placed into part of your small intestine called the jejunum. To place the tube into the jejunum, a doctor creates an opening, called a jejunostomy, in your abdominal wall that goes into your jejunum. The feeding tube bypasses your stomach and delivers a liquid food directly into your jejunum.

Parenteral nutrition

Your doctor may recommend parenteral, or intravenous (IV), nutrition if your gastroparesis is so severe that other treatments are not helping. Parenteral nutrition delivers liquid nutrients directly into your bloodstream. Parenteral nutrition may be short term, until you can eat again. Parenteral nutrition may also be used until a tube can be placed for oral, nasal, or jejunostomy tube feeding. In some cases, parental nutrition may be long term.

Venting gastrostomy

Your doctor may recommend a venting gastrostomy to relieve pressure inside your stomach. A doctor creates an opening, called a gastrostomy, in your abdominal wall and into your stomach. The doctor then places a tube through the gastrostomy into your stomach. Stomach contents can then flow out of the tube and relieve pressure inside your stomach.

Gastric electrical stimulation

Gastric electrical stimulation (GES) uses a small, battery-powered device to send mild electrical pulses to the nerves and muscles in the lower stomach. A surgeon puts the device under the skin in your lower abdomen and attaches wires from the device to the muscles in the wall of your stomach. GES can help decrease long-term nausea and vomiting.

GES is used to treat people with gastroparesis due to diabetes or unknown causes only, and only in people whose symptoms can’t be controlled with medicines.
Question: How can I prevent gastroparesis?
Answer: Gastroparesis without a known cause, called idiopathic  gastroparesis, cannot be prevented.

If  you have diabetes, you can prevent or delay nerve damage that can cause gastroparesis by keeping your blood glucose levels within the target  range that your doctor thinks is best for you. Meal planning, physical activity,  and medicines, if needed, can help you keep your blood glucose levels within  your target range.