1. Control Your Blood-Sugar Levels
f you are diabetic, learning about diabetes management and how to control your blood-sugar levels can play an important role in preventing gastroparesis. Gastroparesis, also known as delayed gastric emptying, is a condition in which undigested food sits too long in your stomach, causing nausea, vomiting and potential malnutrition. Many people who have this condition also have diabetes. Go to a diabetes-management class to learn how to take and interpret your blood-sugar readings. Hire a nutritionist to teach you what a healthy diabetic diet looks like. Be sure to take any medications as directed by your doctor.
2. Get Out and Exercise
Exercise is a healthy addition to most people's lives, and while it may not always prevent delayed gastric emptying, it can minimize the effects you're feeling. Daily exercise helps normalize your digestive system, and can prevent uncomfortable bouts of constipation that can add to your digestive issues. This doesn't mean you have to spend a lot of money on a fancy gym. Even a short walk around your neighborhood can be beneficial to your health.
3. Avoid Taking Certain Medications
Prevent gastroparesis by avoiding a certain class of drugs called anticholinergic drugs, if at all possible. Anticholinergic medications, used to treat many different kinds of medical conditions, block acetylcholine in your nervous system. As such, they have the potential to alter nerve signals in your body so that the stomach muscles don't receive the message to contract strongly enough to digest food in a timely fashion. Medications to treat Parkinson's disease fall into the anticholingeric class, as do some muscle relaxants. Make sure your doctor has a complete list of all medications you take, as well as your full medical history, so he can make adjustments to your prescriptions if needed.
