Gastroparesis is a disease that affects nerves that control the muscles in the stomach. This disease is usually caused by irreversible damage to the Vagus nerve and is not curable. In this essay, I will discuss Gastroparesis itself, and one of the very few treatments for this disease.
I have chosen to discuss this disease for two reasons. One, because I watch a reality television show and last season they had a contestant that shared her disease with the world, and I had never heard of it, and two, because people are not very aware of the complications, and difficulty of this disease. I, for one, had never heard of gastroparesis before that show, and I immediately wanted to learn more, this paper allows me to further educate myself on this topic.
The Vagus nerve plays a major role in regulating the heart rate, and keeping the gastrointestinal tract in working order, if you damage this nerve it will not regenerate, making all side effects permanent. Damage to the Vagus nerve causes the stomach and intestines to work irregularly. Gastroparesis is the issue of the stomach poorly depositing food into the small intestine, or the issue of the intestinal tract completely stop digesting food. This disease severely impacts people's lives because of all the complications that the disease brings with it, such as, if you do not treat it properly you can grow bacteria in your stomach and become very ill.
Raven Walton, Big Brother contestant, spoke out about her having Gastroparesis last season, in hopes to bring more awareness to this disease. She spoke about how close to the end of her life she was because the treatments are only temporary fulfilments to expand your life by a small amount. Raven's treatment that she currently has for Gastroparesis is a pacemaker that controls the regular movements of her small intestine. Although this treatment sounds like it could be a treatment that can forever solve this problem, there are only so many le...