Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
close window
Housecall Archives
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
close window
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Complications
By Mayo Clinic staffGastroparesis can cause several complications, such as:
- Weight loss and malnutrition. Gastroparesis can make it difficult for your body to properly digest and absorb nutrients, leading to weight loss and malnutrition.
- Bacteria overgrowth in the stomach. Food that stays in the stomach can begin to ferment and disrupt the balance of good and bad bacteria. This can allow harmful microorganisms to grow out of control.
- Undigested food that hardens and remains in your stomach. Undigested food in your stomach can harden into a solid mass called a bezoar. Bezoars can cause nausea and vomiting and may be life-threatening if they prevent food from passing into your small intestine.
- Blood sugar fluctuations. Although gastroparesis doesn't cause diabetes, inconsistent food absorption can cause erratic changes in blood sugar levels, which make diabetes worse. In turn, poor control of blood sugar levels makes gastroparesis worse.
References
- Gastroparesis. National Institute for Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/gastroparesis/index.htm. Accessed Oct. 12, 2009.
- Fox J, et al. Gastroparesis. American College of Gastroenterology. http://www.acg.gi.org/patients/gihealth/gastroparesis.asp. Accessed Oct. 12, 2009.
- Waseem S, et al. Gastroparesis: Current diagnostic challenges and management consideration. World Journal of Gastroenterology. 2009;15:25.
- Quigley EMM. Gastric motor and sensory function and motor disorders of the stomach. In: Feldman M, et al. Sleisenger & Fordtran's Gastrointestinal and Liver Disease: Pathophysiology, Diagnosis, Management. 8th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2006. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/163770013-4/0/1389/0.html. Accessed Oct. 6, 2009.
- Hejazi RA, et al. Treatment of refractory gastroparesis: Gastric and jejunal tubes, Botox, gastric electrical stimulation and surgery. Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Clinics of North America. 2009;19:73.
- Gastroparesis. ADA Nutrition Care Manual. http://nutritioncaremanual.org/index.cfm?Page=Diseases&topic=32689&headingid=32690. Accessed Oct. 14, 2009.
