People break out in a cold sweat. Fatigue and often drowsiness occur in minutes. Attention, reflexes, and concentration wane. While all this is going on, the stomach develops abnormal electrical activity, which prevents it from emptying and causes it to relax. The esophagus contracts, pulling the upper portion of the stomach from the abdomen, through the diaphragm, and into the chest, forming a kind of funnel from stomach to esophagus. Then, in a single movement, known as the “retrograde giant contraction,” the upper small intestine evacuates its contents backward into the stomach in
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