Understanding GP

What is Gastroparesis? What are Dysmotilities?

Intro / Digestion / Who gets GP / What happens / Symptoms / Dx / Mild forms / Tx

Introduction:

Welcome! We are the Gastroparesis and Dysmotilities Association (GPDA). GPDA has compiled this research—reviewed by medical specialists—to provide information to sufferers and their families about a little-known illness called gastroparesis, as well as about related dysmotilities.

If you think you may have gastroparesis or a related disorder, we invite you to read on. If you have been diagnosed with gastroparesis, we hope this site provides you with comprehensive information.

"With as many as 50% of gastrointestinal complaints traceable to motility disorders, gastroparesis is a substantial and under-recognized problem in clinical practice. Patients whose gastroparesis is untreated often have a substantial impairment of their quality of life..."
Marvin M. Schuster, M.D., Professor of Medicine (Retired), The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore MD; Practical Gastroenterology, Oct. 1997

"Disordered gastric motility, particularly delayed gastric emptying (gastroparesis), is thought to be a component of many upper gastrointestinal disorders. Not only is gastroparesis an important entity on its own, it also contributes to symptoms in patients with gastroesophageal reflux, non-ulcer dyspepsia, and intestinal pseudo-obstruction."
Malcolm C Champion MD, Associate Professor of Medicine University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; Medicine North America, April 1991

Gastroparesis affects children and adults.

Gastroparesis and Dysmotilities: What do they mean?

Gastroparesis is a severe neuromuscular disorder of the stomach that results in a partially or completely paralyzed stomach. Individuals suffer with a spectrum of symptoms collectively known as dyspepsia. These symptoms range from nausea, vomiting, belching, reflux (stomach acid washing into the mouth), early satiety (a feeling of fullness after a few bites of food), abdominal pain or bloating, a change in bowel habits, and weight loss. People with gastroparesis may experience a substantial loss in quality of life to the point of being housebound for months at a time.

Gastroparesis is also known as delayed gastric emptying. Delayed gastric emptying can be a component of numerous other gastrointestinal disorders such as:

• non-ulcer dyspepsia,
• gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD),
• functional dyspepsia,
• cyclic vomiting syndrome,
• functional abdominal pain,
• irritable bowel syndrome (IBS);

It is also found in a subset of individuals with chronic fatigue syndrome.

Break down the words; it helps to understand the meaning. “Gastro” means “stomach” and “paresis” means “weakness”. Gastroparesis, then, refers to a weakened stomach, which in this case, allows food and secretions to pool in the stomach. The term “delayed gastric emptying” is often used interchangeably with gastroparesis.

Breaking apart the meaning of the word “dysmotilites”, we get the prefix “dys”, meaning "abnormal", and "motility", a biological term meaning “contractions”. Its use in gastroentreology refers to abnormal contractions in the gut. A dysmotility may affect an isolated problem in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract (as in gastroparesis) or it may encompass several regions of the GI tract, each region having its own diagnostic term.

Sometimes people start out with one isolated dysmotility (such as gastroparesis); then over time the motility problem can affect a region farther downstream—the duodenum— and even farther along the small intestine. One very severe dysmotility is chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction, which can afflict both children and adults.

Dysmotilities of the colon cause diseases such as: Hirschsprung's disease, colonic inertia, slow-transit constipation, and functional outlet obstruction.

Some subsets of irritable bowel syndrome may also have a motility component to their problem Two examples of dysmotilities of the esophagus are achalasia and nutcracker esophagus.

All of these disorders illustrate a spectrum of illness that may have an underlying problem of motility.

Examples of severe neuromuscular motility disorders are

achalasia (esophageal motility disorder), gastroparesis (stomach motility disorder), and

chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction (small intestine motility disorder). Such malfunctions in the various segments of the GI tract result in stasis, which is a pooling of food and secretions due to a failure to move food along.

Yet, motility science is starting to gain momentum with the advent of subspecialties. Some patients suffering with motility disorders may be fortunate enough to live in close proximity to motility specialists (gastroenterologists who subspecialize in motility disorders).

Professional interest groups—the American Motility Society and the European Society for Neurogastroenterology and Motility—are also establishing themselves.

A new medical journal, Neurogastroenterology and Motility, the official journal of the European Society of Neurogastroenterology and Motility and the American Motility Society, is devoted specifically to motility disorders. This is good news for people suffering with dysmotilities!
 

In Canada, the Centre for Digestive Motility has been established in Calgary, Alberta. The Centre for Digestive Motility is affiliated with the University of Calgary Faculty of Medicine.  Learn more about the Centre for Digestive Motility here.

Reference:

Burnet R B, Chatterton B: Gastro-Intestinal Symptoms and Gastric Emptying Studies in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome; AHMF Conference 2001.