When we think about illnesses that children suffer from there is actually a huge number of them that instantly come to mind. Of course there is the chicken pox which blights the young lives of many children (although is actually more a serious conditions if contracted later on in life). Asthma is another problem that we mostly only think of as one of that children tend to suffer with but one that they often shrug off later in life. Other issues that children have include skin rashes and obesity. But perhaps there is another problem that we don’t think about but should be more in our thoughts than some of the others. This is chronic stomach pain.
Chromic stomach pain has brought more closely to public attention recently by a report by German researchers that suggests children to dwell on and fret about chronic stomach pain are likely to have a lower quality of life than those children who have a better attitude about the condition. The report also noted that parents can play a very key role in the way that their child copes with the problem itself. This clearly shows that we should be thinking more about the problem of chronic stomach pain and parents should be equipping their children with strategies on how to deal with it.
Another of the more surprising aspects of study was that children with chronic stomach pain were found to report a lower quality of life than those kids who have to deal with asthma, skin rashes and obesity. This is a very worrying trend that appears to suggest that chronic stomach pain is one of the worst conditions for children to have, as it can affect their life for a long time and do a lot of damage to their overall wellness and wellbeing.
“If the children [with the condition] think, ‘My pain will not stop,’ then this can lead to further impairment and increase psychological strain,” said Claudia Calvano of the University of Potsdam in Germany who is a co-author of the study. Given the fact that it is estimated that between 8 and 25 per cent of young people suffer from chronic stomach pain and bring it with them into adulthood this is certainly something that we have to look at in terms of sorting out the problem and improving the wellness of many people around the UK and the globe in general.
The researchers looked at two different forms of stomach pain – firstly, the kind which doctors can identify a medical reason for the pain, which is referred to as organic pain, and secondly, another type where doctors can find no clear source, which known as functional pain. The more obscure of the two, functional stomach pain may come as a result of interactions between stress, diet, exercise or psychological challenges for child. This can much so much be harder to identify that specific problems and find a solution for them. Organic stomach pain may be present alongside obvious symptoms like vomiting or fever, although it can also simply be a standard pain in the stomach that does not go away.
When Calvano’s team of researchers examined data on 170 children and teenagers from the ages 8 to 18, the team found that it was poor coping skills, rather than gender, economic status or type of abdominal pain, was directly linked with the child having a lower quality of life. We must find ways to give children better coping strategies to deal with the pain so that they can lead a normal life more easily.