Weak Stomach by Dr. Tom Cowan

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Weak Stomach

Ask the Doctor About Gastroparesis (weak stomach)

By Tom Cowan, MD

Weston A. Price Foundation (www.westonaprice.org)

Question: I have been diagnosed with a condition called

gastroparesis. The doctor has given me a drug called Reglan which I

find very unpleasant. Is there any other way to treat this condition?

Answer: Gastroparesis literally means weak (paresis) stomach

(gastro). The most modern theory about the cause of gastroparesis is

that the coordination of the electrical activity of the top portion

of the stomach, with the grinding activity of the lower portion, is

faulty. As a result, a number of things begin to happen. First, the

stomach sends out fewer electrical signals to contract and therefore

less grinding occurs than is needed. Second, the muscular walls of

the stomach itself can become weak and this in itself reduces the

effectiveness of the action of the stomach.

The ultimate result is the loss of function of the stomach, which

means the stomach does not churn the food or empty properly. The

patient feels like there is a lead ball sitting in the stomach during

eating or soon thereafter. This leads the person to eat less food in

order to cope with this heavy, uncomfortable feeling. Sophisticated

testing will often show delayed " gastric emptying " which confirms

that this lead ball in fact does take longer than is healthy to exit

from the stomach. The scenario can go on for years, often worsening

over time as a result of the consequent subtle malnutrition that

occurs as the patient reduces his food intake to avoid this

unpleasant feeling. Reglan, which you find very unpleasant, " makes "

the stomach contract more vigorously thereby partially alleviating

the symptom. Is there any other way to approach this dilemma?

One of the clues to healing gastroparesis is the fact that it most

commonly occurs in those who are either diabetic or who have

hypothyroidism. Blood sugar regulation is intimately tied to the

functioning of the stomach and the health of the nerves. Very low-

carbohydrate diets have been successfully used in virtually all

stomach disorders because it has been found that insulin is

intimately tied up with acid production, the pressure at the

esophageal-gastric sphincter and the hormonal control of other

stomach functions. Lowering insulin levels through a low carbohydrate

diet (less than 40 grams per day for the first week, then 75 grams

per day thereafter) is the first step in resolving this disorder.

NOTE: This inevitably means increasing the fat intake, which is

supposedly contra-indicated for gastroparesis, but it must be done. I

suggest slowly increasing the fat intake as your symptoms allow.

This first step, lowering the carbohydrate intake, addresses the

diabetic connection to gastroparesis; the next step is to address the

thyroid connection. As we know, low thyroid function slows all

metabolic processes including digestion and stomach functioning. I

usually treat hypothyroidism with the Standard Process Thytrophin, 1

tablet three times per day, combined with Paraplex, the

protomorphogen combination of pituitary, pancreas, thyroid and

adrenal. The dose is also 1 tablet three times per day. This is used

for extra thyroid support and to increase the production of growth

hormone. Growth hormone, which is an antagonist of insulin, increases

the muscular thickness of the entire GI tract.

I had a gastroenterologist friend who combated the problem of

sticking his colonoscopy scope through his patients' overly thin

intestines by putting them on a low carbohydrate diet and

pituitrophin (in Paraplex) to decrease insulin, thereby increasing

growth hormone and resulting in thicker GI tracts less prone to

puncture. With gastroparesis the walls of the stomach are too thin

and too weak; stimulating growth hormone will counteract this.

Bee's Note: Some of these foods are not acceptable for candida

sufferers.

Finally, you must take advantage of all the techniques in Nourishing

Traditions to help you digest your food before it even hits your

mouth. As I tell my patients, use the bowl as your first stomach so

your real stomach has less to do. This means soaking or sprouting all

grains, using fats and dairy products with their full complement of

enzymes intact (this means raw or cultured or both), using lacto-

fermented beverages and vegetables, and most importantly using soup

broth with extra gelatin at each meal. (I suggest Bernard Jensen's

from Radiant Life, 1 teaspoon in broth at each meal.) Pottenger, of

cat study fame, found that the only way mammals can eat cooked foods

is if they consume gelatin along with the cooked food. The gelatin

particularly helps with digestion, making our stomach enzymes and

acids more effective.

Bee's Note: Candida sufferers do not tolerate beet kvass, however

they do fine on Betaine HCl.

The best drink for the stomach is beet kvass which supplies Betaine,

a neccessary component of healthy digestion. A final medicine I would

add is Betaine Hydrochloride, a beet-derived source of Betaine which

will help with the digestion of your food. I use Standard Process,

anywhere from 1 to 4 tablets with each meal. These changes should

result in a fairly prompt increase in your digestive effectiveness

and allow you to get off the Reglan.

About the Author - Tom Cowan, MD is a physician in private practice

in San Francisco, California. He is the author of The Fourfold Path

to Healing. Visit his website at http://www.fourfoldhealing.com.

Bee