Having diabetes alone is not a big problem but along with it, there come several other complications. Although it is said that the type I diabetes has more problems than type II, type II is also not risk free.
When a person gets diabetic and his glucose levels are not in control, it can lead to nerve damage of the stomach known as the Vagus nerve. The function of this nerve is to digest the food and send it to the small intestine. But when the nerve gets damaged, the food takes more than normal time to digest, or the stomach takes time to get empty and under serious conditions it could also stop digesting the food. The high glucose level during diabetes creates some chemical reactions due to which the nerve gets damaged and hence slows down the process of emptying the stomach.
Some common signs and symptoms of gastroparesis are; heartburn, abdominal bloating, vomiting of the undigested food, nausea, weight loss, feeling of stomach fullness every time and weight loss.
Although this is a chronic disease, there are some ways through which, it could be kept under control if not eradicated totally. The disease can be contained by keeping a very tight control on glucose levels, medications that would lighten the nerve contractions of the stomach, surgical implantation of a device through which stomach contractions can be improved and also by giving botox injections in the outlet of the stomach.
Keeping a check on food habits is also important factor. One should go for six small meals rather than three big ones for giving lesser burden on the stomach to digest the food. High fat and high fiber food should be avoided as they take even longer time than normal food to get digested.
Almost 20%percent of type I diabetic patients develop this condition. Like diabetes one cannot get rid of this problem but can just keep it under control to avoid further complications.
http://www.diabitieslife.com/diabetes
 |
Erika says: | 2009-02-11 15:31:21 |
| This is poorly written and researched. The function of the vagus nerve is NOT to move undigested food. | ||
Comments: 1