Effect of peppermint on pediatric's pain under endoscopic examination of the large bowel

Colonoscopy is a painful and invasive technique for patients especially for pediatrics. Peppermint has analgesic effect. Therefore, we wish to look at the effect of peppermint essence on the patients’ satisfaction and pain after colonoscopy. This clinical trial study was performed on 100 patient’s candidate for colonoscopy. Patients were randomly divided into two groups. Control group received no drug. Case group was administrated supermint essence thirty minutes before colonoscopy. A valid questionnaire was filled during the colonoscopy for patient’s satisfaction and pain evaluation. The mean value of abdominal pain was 0.527±2.500 in control group and 1.625±0.491 in case group after treatment (p<0.05). Degree of satisfaction was 8 and 17.6 percent in control and case groups, respectively. Mean value of satisfaction in control group was 1.833±0.389 that was significantly different from case group (2.607±0.566) (p<0.05). Duration of colonoscopy in control group was significantly higher than the one in case group (p<0.05). Our findings showed that peppermint essence causes an increasing in satisfaction as well as a reduction in pain in patients under the colonoscopy.