Comprehensive abdominal pain program
Abdominal pain is common in children. Twenty-eight percent of school age children have abdominal pain each week and up to 12 percent have persistent abdominal pain for more than eight weeks. Abdominal pain may occur in an unpredictable pattern and may or may not be consistently related to activities (eating, having a bowel movement, exercising, or lying down).
Abdominal pain in children could be due to several causes:
- Inflammation
- Infection or other organic causes
- An alteration of the normal function of the gastrointestinal system and its connections with the nervous system
The pain can be severe enough to interfere with the child's daily activities and school performance. Pain may be associated with non-gastrointestinal symptoms like headaches or body aches. Children with chronic pain are at risk for anxiety, depression and sleep disorders. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the different aspects of the child's life including daily activities, school performance, feelings, diet and sleep to better understand each case.
Who we are
The comprehensive abdominal pain program is a unique clinical and research-based interdisciplinary program that includes pediatric gastroenterologists, psychologists, social workers, nurses, dieticians and complex pain and sleep specialists. We believe in a biopsychosocial approach to pain management. Within the model each child is an individual with different needs, and specific services will be provided on a case-to-case basis.
The members of the program include:
What to expect at your first appointment
Our office is located in the Outpatient Center in Lake Forest and offers convenient service to families in the northwest suburbs.
At the first visit your child will be seen by a pediatric gastroenterologist. Our nursing staff will assist you as needed to complete questionnaires that will help us better understand the problems your child may be experiencing. Upon completion of these questionnaires you will meet Dr. Saps who will record a medical history and perform a physical exam of your child.
You may also be seen by our psychology staff. Their role is to determine when interventions that do not involve medication might be useful in reducing and managing your child's pain. In addition, when pain is chronic, the best studies show that emotional and behavioral factors (sleep, activity, etc) become important in how the child experiences and copes with pain.
At the end of your appointment you will meet our social worker who will dedicate time to provide individual education on different aspects of pain and how this may affect your child's life. The information obtained from this consultation will be discussed in an interdisciplinary meeting among different specialists and a plan of care will be outlined.
Your family is an important part of our team approach, because we know that a child's health affects the whole family. Family education is a priority, and in addition to the extensive time spent during an appointment, we provide a variety of resources including health information, and links to other existing community resources. Our goal is to support families by building on their strengths. Our staff is ready to partner with you in order to reach a common goal to improve the health and well being of your child.
Research
Along with excellent patient care, our program is engages in clinical research concentrating on chronic pain in children. Our goal is to apply the lessons learned from our investigation to the care of children with chronic pain. The physicians involved in the abdominal pain program have extensively published and lectured on the topic of chronic pain in children.
Contact information
To schedule a first-time appointment please call 1.800.543.7362 and ask for the abdominal pain program in the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition.