Nervous System Dysregulation and Its Association with Traumatic Events

Background: Medically unexplained symptoms commonly present to pediatricians with no apparent cause following extensive investigations. Such patients frequently present with multiple chronic symptoms including memory problems, insomnia, dizziness, digestive problems and variable somatic complaints such as headache and muscle pain. Objective: This study aims to characterize the symptom profile of children presenting with multiple medically unexplained symptoms. We hypothesize that these symptoms reflect a maladaptive stress response and dysregulated nervous system due to chronic stress following a trauma event. Methods: Study patients were identified from a university-based weekly outpatient Child Neurology clinic between June to September 2015. Patients were included if they were >2 years of age, with >/= 4 medically unexplained symptoms. Children with developmental delay were excluded. Symptoms were grouped under the following categories: 1) executive dysfunction, 2) sleep disturbance, 3) autonomic dysfunction, 4) somatization, 5) digestive problems, and 6) emotional dysregulation. Trauma history was obtained from a...