I read the home page from the Mayo Clinic on Gastroparesis and extracted this:
The cause of gastroparesis is usually unknown. Sometimes it’s a complication of … Although there’s no cure for gastroparesis, changes to your diet, along with medication, can offer some relief.
I have a lot of thoughts on this and some actions that may reduce or remove this condition.
Nerve impingement. If the nerves leaving the thoracic spine are compressed, reconnecting at ganglia outside, then signals to and from the stomach may be unclear, resulting in a slowed stomach. Subluxation there or tight muscles and fascia in that region would respond to massage. Scoliosis could lead to this and is amenable to visceral manipulation and fascial work. The nerves have to pass through the abdominal wall, through the peritoneum which can also be released through visceral manipulation. There’s also the Vagus Nerve, with a pinch point under the skull, this Nerve always has a part to play in organ functioning.
The Phrenic nerve controls diaphragmatic movement, if similarly impeded, this component of stomach motion, each breath causes the diaphragm to push down and squeeze the stomach, assisting in its activity, this can be released through Nerve Work.
Fascial tightness within the walls of the stomach, maybe from prior injuries, contact sports, motor vehicle crashes etc. will make it harder for the muscles to work, they will get exhausted quickly, slowing stomach activity. Such tightness will also squeeze all the blood supply and digestive glands, reducing their effectiveness. This can be released by visceral manipulation and fascial release.
If the digestive glands are not getting the nutrients they need, that might be diet, or problems further down the digestive tract in the intestines, visceral manipulation may help here, and can improve blood supply if restricted to the intestines, restoring functions, better transportation of nutrients.
Meridians work may help, whether Acupuncture or Acupressure which can be done by a medical massage therapist. Thai massage works on Sen lines such as Itha and Pingkala, Nantakawat. Working these via Thai massage may help.
Maybe it’s the brain that has an issue, fine motor control in the cerebellum, or the body image areas, compression by the supporting fascial structures of Falx and Tentoriums could reduce activity in the matching body part, relieved by Craniosacral work with enhancements learned by focusing on whiplash injuries. Maybe you had a mini-stroke affecting that part of the brain, the brain is capable of getting another area to take on the missing function, but that takes years and is outside of massage treatment.
If the blood supply to the stomach is impeded then the muscles will struggle to do their work, this restriction can be reduced through visceral manipulation.
If GERD is present, over time the brain may learn to reduce stomach activity to reduce acid reflux pains, removing the main cause of acid reflux, that of a tight and shortened esophagus is standard visceral manipulation technique. Over time the brain may then relearn to speed up stomach activity.
The abdomen has two neural nets, mini-brains that control peristalsis, movement of food through the abdominal GI area. Communicating with these brains may lead to understanding, possibly speeding up this motion. If the GI tract is slowed, the stomach may ‘learn’ to slow up too, the discomfort from forcing food into the duodenum at a normal pace teaching the brain to slow things down. Visceral manipulation works on the Duodenum too.
One question to ask is about vomitus. Maybe there’s some information to be gained by that. Stool properties also can reveal information about the GI tract functioning.
Cupping can reveal underlying congestion; if strong darker tissues result then further treatment by cupping is indicated to release this congestion.
Shamanic or energy work could lead to some answers and treatments.