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Conditions

Gastroparesis (slow stomach emptying)

Gastroparesis means the stomach empties food too slowly, without anything blocking it. It can cause nausea, vomiting and feeling full after a few bites. It's often treatable, and the first step is making sure nothing else is causing the symptoms.

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Symptoms

  • Nausea, sometimes with vomiting of food eaten hours earlier
  • Feeling full after a few bites
  • Bloating and upper belly discomfort
  • Losing weight without trying
  • Blood sugar swings, if you have diabetes

Common causes

  • Diabetes, especially when blood sugar has been high for years
  • After a viral illness (this kind often gets better over months)
  • Surgery on the stomach or esophagus, including reflux and weight-loss surgery
  • Medicines that slow the stomach: opioid pain medicines, GLP-1 medicines like Ozempic, Wegovy and Zepbound, and some older antidepressants
  • Parkinson's disease, scleroderma and some thyroid problems
  • Often no clear cause is found

Testing

  • Upper endoscopy first, to rule out an ulcer or a blockage that can look the same
  • A gastric emptying study: you eat a small egg-based meal with a tiny amount of tracer, and pictures over 4 hours show how fast it leaves your stomach. A breath test is another option.
  • Some medicines need to be stopped a couple of days before the test. Your doctor will tell you which ones, and people with diabetes need their blood sugar in range that morning.

Treatment

  • Eating changes: 5 or 6 small meals a day, food chewed well or soft, less fat and less raw, stringy fiber. Soups and smoothies empty more easily than solid food.
  • Blood sugar control, if you have diabetes. High sugar slows the stomach on its own.
  • A medicine review, to see whether something you take is slowing your stomach. Don't stop a medicine on your own.
  • Medicines: anti-nausea medicine, and sometimes metoclopramide, the one drug approved for gastroparesis. It's used for 12 weeks or less because of a rare risk of movement side effects.
  • For severe cases: a scope procedure that relaxes the stomach's outlet (G-POEM), or a gastric stimulator placed by a surgeon. Very few people need these.

When it may not be gastroparesis

  • Cannabis hyperemesis: bouts of vomiting in people who use cannabis regularly, often eased by hot showers. Stopping cannabis is the cure.
  • Cyclic vomiting: episodes of vomiting with completely well stretches in between, often in people with migraines.
  • Rumination: food comes back up easily soon after eating, without nausea. A breathing technique fixes it for many people.
  • Functional dyspepsia: the same fullness and discomfort, but stomach emptying is normal.
Get care right away if you can't keep liquids down for a day, feel dizzy or are barely urinating, vomit blood, or have severe belly pain.

Common questions

Can gastroparesis go away?

Sometimes. It often improves after a viral illness or when a medicine that slows the stomach is changed. With diabetes, better blood sugar control helps.

Is my Ozempic causing this?

GLP-1 medicines slow the stomach on purpose, and nausea is their most common side effect. It usually fades. If it doesn't, talk to the doctor who prescribes it. See Nausea on Ozempic, Wegovy or Zepbound.

Questions about nausea or gastroparesis? Call (813) 400-0543 or send a message.

Dr. Brian Frank, MD
Written and reviewed by Brian Frank, MD
Board-certified gastroenterologist (ABIM). Last reviewed November 1, 2026.

This page is general information, not medical advice. For a medical emergency, call 911.