What Is Rumination Syndrome?
7. What Are Possible Dangerous Complications from Rumination Syndrome?
Early treatment is crucial to the successful recovery of rumination syndrome. Without medical and psychological intervention, patients risk several potential complications, the chief among them being malnutrition and death. When patients cannot eat and maintain nutritional minimums because of regurgitation, their bodies soon shows signs of wear. Their immune system weakens, and they physically mature at a slower rate. Weight loss may reach detrimental and irreversible lows resulting in death.
Thankfully, such lethal outcomes are rare. Most patients improve within a few months, with many never returning to the regurgitating habit or compulsion. However, even in the short term, the symptoms can lead to ulcers, dehydration, choking, tooth decay, aspiration pneumonia and other respiratory problems. Therefore, rumination syndrome often requires intervention from physicians and psychiatrists to curb or eliminate the behavior.
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