Rumination Syndrome

Overview

Rumination syndrome is not well known and is often confused with other conditions. As a result, people with rumination syndrome often go years without a correct diagnosis. Receiving an early, accurate diagnosis can spare patients from undergoing unnecessary, costly and invasive procedures and allow physicians to focus immediately on effective treatment.

Mayo Clinic has been a leader in developing criteria to diagnose the disorder and has a high success rate for treatment. A close collaboration among gastroenterologists, pediatricians and psychologists, in addition to education of patients and family members, is important to a successful outcome.

Diagnosis

Diagnosis of rumination syndrome often only requires an accurate history and description of symptoms, and sometimes observation of the patient's behavior. Learn more about rumination syndrome diagnosis.

Treatment

Treatment of rumination syndrome depends on the presence or absence of other disorders and the age and cognitive ability of the patient. Behavioral therapy helps many patients. Learn more about rumination syndrome treatment options.

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• Treatment of Children & Adolescents

About Rumination Syndrome

A syndrome is a group of symptoms that are characteristic of a particular disorder. Rumination syndrome is characterized by effortless and repeated regurgitation of small amounts of food from the stomach. The food is then partially or completely rechewed, reswallowed, or expelled. People with rumination syndrome typically do not experience heartburn, abdominal pain or nausea when the regurgitation occurs. (See symptoms.)

Rumination syndrome is relatively common in infants and mentally handicapped persons, but also occurs in children, adolescents and adults with normal intelligence.

Individuals with rumination syndrome are often not accurately diagnosed, in part because many physicians are not familiar with this disorder and in part because patients are often reticient to describe their symptoms. Rumination syndrome is frequently confused with bulimia nervosa, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) , and upper gastrointestinal motility disorders such as gastroparesis or chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction.

Mayo Clinic doctors, in a review of adolescents and adults of normal intelligence treated for rumination syndrome, found that patients had seen an average of five physicians and had symptoms for two to three years before they were correctly diagnosed and treated. PubMed Reference

Without treatment, rumination syndrome can adversely affect a patient's quality of life and health, causing work or school absences, unhealthy weight loss, malnutrition, dental erosion, halitosis (bad breath), electrolyte abnormalities and significant functional disability.