- Identify pathophysiology changes related to the age range and topic/disease.
The etiology of recurrent abdominal pain (RAP) in children is unclear. The diagnosis is established by presenting clinical features based on the Rome III criteria. Many pathophysiologic pathways have been suggested including altered gastrointestinal microbiota, mucosa or motility, altered immune system or central nervous system function, or visceral hypersensitivity (Newlove-Delgado et al., 2017). Psychosocial factors have also been implicated in the symptom cluster. The criteria for RAP is abdominal pain that occurs at least once per week for the last two months without indication of another condition which would explain the symptoms. Other symptoms are also associated with RAP in children including headache, anxiety and emotional disorders, trouble sleeping and limb pain. The abdominal pain may cause “some loss of daily functioning” and many children loose time spent in schooling or other activities (Rasquin et al., 2006).
- Identify how the changes might be affected using naturopathic medicine (research article)
Hypnotherapy including guided imagery has shown some success for pain reduction in children with RAP (Abbott et al., 2017). Facilitating the child to focus their mind allows the suggestion away from pain. It seems that the intervention may help with both the frequency and intensity of the abdominal pain and one study shows improvement long-term. The quality of evidence for pain relief in children with RAP is low and requires further studies to support the finding. Guided imagery activates portions of the brain and can create a response that may facilitate pain reduction through relaxation and pain relief suggestion (Rakel, 2017).
Abbott, R. A., Martin, A. E., Newlove-Delgado, T. V., Bethel, A., Thompson-Coon, J., Whear, R., & Logan, S. (2017). Psychosocial interventions for recurrent abdominal pain in childhood. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 1, CD010971. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD010971.pub2
Newlove-Delgado, T. V., Martin, A. E., Abbott, R. A., Bethel, A., Thompson-Coon, J., Whear, R., & Logan, S. (2017). Dietary interventions for recurrent abdominal pain in childhood. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 3, CD010972. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD010972.pub2
Rakel, D. (2017). Integrative Medicine. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Rasquin, A., Di Lorenzo, C., Forbes, D., Guiraldes, E., Hyams, J. S., Staiano, A., & Walker, L. S. (2006). Childhood functional gastrointestinal disorders: child/adolescent. Gastroenterology, 130(5), 1527–1537. https://doi.org/10.1053/j.gastro.2005.08.063