Tests show nothing abnormal, but I’m struggling alone with functional dyspepsia Most patients who visit Kyunghee Ryu Korean Medicine Clinic have chronic indigestion, and they say that even though endoscopy or CT scans show no major abnormalities, treatment has not made much difference. Because of this, stress becomes severe, the nerves become sensitive, they cannot eat properly and may lose weight, and they experience a vicious cycle of having no energy throughout the body. In other words, a condition in which chronic indigestion symptoms persist even though no abnormality is found on upper endoscopy is called “functional dyspepsia.”
The real hidden cause of functional dyspepsia is “gastric motility disorder” Because patients with functional dyspepsia do not show a clear cause on tests, they may be told there is a “functional” or “nervous” aspect to the problem and may be prescribed sedative-type medications. However, the Main Causes of functional dyspepsia is “gastric motility disorder” due to reduced motor function of the stomach.
Gastric motility disorder can occur for two main reasons.
1. When stomach function is weak from birth
2. When stomach function becomes weak due to acquired habits and environment
In particular, when stomach function has weakened over time, the main causes may include irregular eating habits, excessive mental stress, lack of exercise, a Western-style diet, misuse or overuse of alcohol and medications, and dysfunction of other organs.
In addition, from a Korean medicine perspective, important causes of this functional dyspepsia may include deficiency of qi and blood (氣血), retained phlegm-fluid in the stomach (痰飮), insufficient stomach fluids (津液), and blood stasis (瘀血).
(In order: low energy, stagnation of digestive contents, insufficient digestive fluids, blocked blood circulation, etc.)
Why functional dyspepsia should be treated promptly The more often it occurs and the longer it lasts, the harder it is to treat and the higher the recurrence rate becomes. Although functional dyspepsia is a common condition, accounting for 50-70% of patients with Digestive Disorders, many people leave it untreated because their immediate symptoms are not severe and only later visit a hospital for treatment. If symptoms caused by “gastric motility disorder,” the biggest cause of functional dyspepsia, are left untreated and time passes while stomach function remains reduced, stomach function may inevitably decline further.
Functional dyspepsia and symptoms that are likely to develop
Gastroparesis Gastroparesis refers to a condition in which food is not emptied smoothly after meals due to a gastric motility disorder. As the stomach’s electrical signals decrease, stomach contractions decrease, food remains in the stomach for a long time, and emptying time is delayed. In fact, 25-60% of patients with functional dyspepsia show symptoms such as delayed gastric emptying time or decreased antral motility after meals. In addition, symptoms of gastroparesis in which gastric arrhythmia is actually observed on Electrogastrography may also be seen. Likewise, gastrointestinal motility needs to be improved.
Gastroptosis Gastroptosis is one of the symptoms observed in patients with functional dyspepsia and refers to a case in which, on X-ray, the gastric angle is lower than the iliac crest.
In Korean medicine, this is called wanwei (胃緩), which appears due to middle qi sinking (中氣下陷: a pattern in which the organs sag downward because the spleen’s qi is weak). Treatment is provided similarly to functional dyspepsia by strengthening and balancing the functions of the spleen and stomach, which govern the ascending and descending of qi mechanism (氣機升降: the normal movement of qi in the human body).