The name “abdominal migraine” can be confusing, since there usually isn’t any usual migraine pain along with this condition. Most of the symptoms are in the abdomen (between your breastbone and your pelvic bone). This is a very painful condition most seen in children from the ages of five to ten. It’s very rare when teenagers or adults get abdominal migraines. There are some medical experts who claim that abdominal migraines should be renamed “cyclical vomiting syndrome”. The most famous person who suffered from this was Charles Darwin.
Symptoms
The first symptoms of an abdominal migraine attack are in the skin of the child’s face. It will either flush as if the child has a fever or turn very pale. Sometimes with pallor, the eyes will develop deep, dark circles. Although the child may appear to have a fever, they usually don’t with an abdominal migraine attack. Then the gut pain, nausea and vomiting begins. An attack can last for a one hour or as long as three days.
The child usually has attacks periodically until he or she is about ten years old. The frequency of the attacks differs from child to child. Often, it seems as if the attacks come from out of the blue.
Treatment
Although attacks usually go away on their own, the child still needs to be seen by a doctor to be sure that the cause for the gut pain and vomiting is actually abdominal migraines and not something more serious such as an internal injury, hernia or a blockage in the gut.
No specific diagnostic test exists for abdominal migraines. Diagnosis is more of a process of elimination. If the child does not have anything more serious, than the doctor will probably conclude that the cause is abdominal migraines.
Treatment for abdominal migraines is similar for treatment of classic migraines and getting the child slowly rehydrated after bouts of vomiting. However, young children can’t take migraine painkillers, such as triptans or topimirate, that adults can. Please don’t give a child adult medication. Anti-nausea medications and over the counter painkillers are usually the medicines given.
Lying down in a dark room with gentle music playing can also help some children with the fear and panic that can come about because of abdominal migraines. Having the child relax as much as possible can help ease the intensity of the pain.
When The Child Is Older
Very often, children with abdominal migraines grow up into adults with one of two problems, either classic migraines (with crippling pain on one side of the head) or cyclical vomiting syndrome. This syndrome only recently was named, but is thought to have plaugued adults for centuries. In 2009, the University of Melbourne speculated that the famed biologist Charles Darwin suffered from it, as he did write of crippling gastrointestinal attacks.
It is currently unknown whether cyclical vomiting syndrome and abdominal migraines are actually the same ailment. Even if the adult knows that they had abdominal migraines as a child, they should still see their doctor for treatment. Please don’t use this article as a substitution for your doctor’s diagnosis.
References:
“Migraines For Dummies.” Diane Stafford & Jennifer Shoquist, MD. Wiley Publishing; 2003.
Aetna Woman’s Health. “Migraine Types.” http://womenshealth.aetna.com/WH/ihtWH/r.WSIHW000/st.48340/t.48425.html
National Headache Foundation. “Abdominal Migraine.” http://www.headaches.org/education/Headache_Topic_Sheets/Abdominal_Migraine
National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse. “Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome (CVS).” http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/cvs/index.htm
CBC. “Darwin had inherited illness: professor.” Dec. 14, 2009. http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/12/14/darwin-illness.html
