If your child begins exhibiting a dramatic change in dietary habits, slow stomach digestion could be to blame. Delayed gastric emptying, or gastroparesis, refers to a disorder that causes the stomach to digest too slowly. The disorder could last a few weeks but may turn into a chronic condition. Never attempt to diagnose or treat the condition without first consulting your child's doctor.
Gastroparesis Symptoms
Physicians may have difficulty diagnosing gastroparesis due to the lack of any abnormal, key symptom pointing to the disorder. The most common symptoms of delayed gastric emptying, especially in children, include vomiting, nausea, upper abdominal pain, weight loss and distended abdomen. If your child demonstrates these symptoms over an extended period of time, gastroparesis could be one possible cause. Additional symptoms include heartburn, severe decrease in appetite and gastroesophageal reflux.
Gastroparesis Causes
Delayed gastric emptying occurs most frequently when something causes damage to the vagus nerve, which controls the movement of food out of the stomach and into the intestines. According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, patients with diabetes face the greatest risk of developing gastroparesis. Parents of children with diabetes should be especially cautious if their children exhibit common symptoms associated with gastroparesis. Other potential root causes include surgery on the stomach, viral infections, smooth muscle disorders, nervous system diseases and metabolic disorders.
Gastric Emptying Scan
Diagnosing gastroparesis in children often requires a gastric emptying scan. As the Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters explains, doctors place a radioactive tracer into breakfast food before giving it to the patient. This tracer allows doctors to track the passage of food. After eating, the patient must lie on his or her back on an exam table, where doctors will take pictures using the tracer. The entire test takes roughly three hours from start to finish, with two hour-long breaks during this period. The test results should arrive from the nuclear medicine technologist within a few days.
Possible Complications
When left untreated, your child's gastroparesis can lead to several severe complications. The persistent vomiting sometimes associated with the disorder commonly leads to malnutrition and dehydration. Moreover, when food remains in the stomach for an extended period of time, it begins to ferment, often causing bacterial overgrowth. The food in the stomach may even harden into solid masses that completely block the passage of food into the intestines. The NIDDK also warns that diabetic children may experience unpredictable spikes in blood glucose levels as the small intestines receives food and absorbs sugar at an unpredictable rate.
Treatment
As the Riley Hospital for Children states, the symptoms of delayed gastric emptying often come under control by feeding your child small meals consisting of soft foods. Parents of diabetic children must carefully monitor and control their kids' blood sugar levels once they are diagnosed with the disorder. A doctor may prescribe a medicine such as metoclopramide, erythromycin or domperidone to help improve your child's rate of stomach emptying. Most treatments aim at managing the disorder rather than curing it, because gastroparesis often develops into a chronic condition.
References
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases; Gastroparesis; 2007
- National Center for Biotechnology Information; Relation Between Gastric Emptying Rate and Energy Intake in Children Compared with Adults; B. D. Maes, et al.; 1995
- "Journal of Nuclear Medicine"; Gastric Emptying in Children; Sydney Heyman; 1998
- The Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters; Gastric Emptying Scan; 2007
- Indiana University Health; Delayed Gastric Emptying
