Is your Parkinson's medication being absorbed? Heard of a gastric emptying study?
Adapted image from Kenneth Koch’s work in iKnowledge showing an example of delayed gastric emptying on a nuclear medicine scan. The picture from Ken’s work shows the food hanging around in the stomach too long!
We encounter folks in the Parkinson’s clinic who have shared with us uncertainty if the Parkinson’s disease medication is “working.” This could be timing or the dose, but it could be something else. This could be “code” for a problem with medication absorption. If your Parkinson’s medication does not absorb into your gut, blood and brain it may provide an explanation for why things are “not working.” Here is a tip. Ask your doctor to order a gastric emptying study through a radiology practice (a nuclear medicine scan).
Watch our Facebook video on gastric emptying tips study tips and Parkinson’s.
How does it work?
You eat a meal
The meal contains a small amount of radioactive material
A scanner monitors how long it takes for the material to empty from your stomach
Long emptying times are common with diabetes— and some medications or other diseases. Long emptying times can occur in Parkinson’s disease and can affect medication absorption and Parkinson’s symptoms.
If a problem is identified a gastroenterologist can recommend treatment to speed the emptying and to improve the absorption of the Parkinson’s medications.
