Migraines in children

This isn't a conspiracy theory but it is a medical issue. Wasn't sure if I should put this here or in the General Chit Chat forum. But any advice/expertise is extremely welcome.

Recently my five year old daughter has been getting migraines. On average once a month for the past four months at bed time she has started complaining that her head hurts. She will come downstairs and tell us her head hurts. We'll give her some children's tylenol and within minutes she will puke. After puking she will feel fine and will go to bed and sleep through the night. The next day she is absolutely fine.


I did some research on the internet and apparently migraines are not rare even in children of her age. Some of the possible triggers for migraines are things like chocolate and cheese (and she does love cheese). Her yearly check-up is in about a week and a half and we're going to discuss this with her doctor, but I'm also looking for any information I can for the time being.

Has anyone else experienced this with their children over the years?

I have not experienced this with children, and I definitely think it is something you should see a Dr. about. I am a migraine sufferer and I find that Gatorade will keep them away if I drink it right when its coming on. Just what works for me, poor baby

reply to post by ValentineWiggin


Thanks Valentine (awesome name, by the way!! :up

Well the medical websites I've checked online say that it's not rare at all. My main concern is finding out what is causing them. She loves cheese but cheese is a listed trigger for migraines. I don't want to limit it or cut it out of her diet altogether, but I will if I have to.

I guess migraines are the same, no matter what age.

I got my migraines some time after I turned 18.
It came every third week or so, but now its nearly gone. Lucky me.

I really feel for your daughter, as I know how terrible it is.

The doctor can't help you I'm afraid. I Haven't been to the doctor with it, as I know he will tell me to drink water, and do as you said with cheese and chocolate. Just stay away from as much sugar as she can

reply to post by ypperst


What about natural sugars? Those are okay?

Yeah, migraines are no fun at all. Luckily I have only experienced two full-blown migraines in my life. One of which was triggered by Sulfur water, as I was in the country at the time. Do you maybe get your drinking water from a well? I'm not 100% sure it was primarily the Sulfur that caused my headache, but perhaps it was the water in the well. You can look it to this, although I guess it depends on the person, on what may be causing their headaches.

reply to post by CoolerAbdullah786


Oh I actually don't know.

All I know, is if I ate a lot of sugar before going to bed, there was a big chance it could trigger my migraines.

If my friends little brother just ate an snicker before bed, he would have migraine. (he had migraine many times a week)

The precise cause of migraine is unclear, but changes in the size of blood vessels and the levels of neurotransmitter substances (chemical messengers) in the brain are thought to be responsible.

In particular, a drop in the levels of the brain chemical serotonin is believed to be responsible for the dilatation (widening) of the blood vessels that causes the throbbing headache.

Many factors can trigger migraines, including tiredness, stress, dehydration, hormonal changes, missed or delayed meals, and certain food and drinks, such as cheese, chocolate, coffee, tea and alcohol.

Source

Oh, and I can also trigger migraine if I'm stressed,
as I just pointed out in the BBC article.

reply to post by CoolerAbdullah786


Could it possibly be something in the bedroom she is unknowingly allergic to? The stuffing in a stuffed animal? I'm going off you saying she does this at bedtime. Why then? Could this be an allergic reaction to coming into contact with something that she doesn't on a normal day? Something that once in a while she uses or interacts with? A pair of Pajamas or Slippers she rarely wears?
I've had almost paralyzing migraines before and I've never vomited with one. Makes me think her body is trying to reject something.

On a side note: I had an auditory hallucination reaction to Children's Tylenol when I was a Ten. About 20 years later I had regular Tylenol take a headache and make it into a full blown Migraine. I now stay away from the stuff myself.

I have had migraines for years. My trigger seems to be lack of proper sleep.
As far as children what I have understood about that is that it is usually caused by a food allergy.

That was the first thing my doctor checked with me, later we determined it was lack of sleep. I had to keep a log of what I did and ate for several months before we figured out that it was lack of sleep.Now I make sure that I get plenty of sleep and I haven't had one for quite some time.

I wish you the best of luck with your daughter as children suffer much worse with the pain then we aduits do.I hope that you figure out the cause and are able to help her.

I had a ton of migraine when I was around 12-16. From once a week up to multiple times a day. Maby two times a day at most since it usually last to long to actually make three times in one day possible. In the end I more or less got rid of it by reducing triggering situations. Turns out it may have been caused by sensory overload as I was later diagnosed with aspergers.

My point being, although doctors can't always sort it out and goes with the most common causes it may help to do some first hand research. Suggest that she tries to take some mental notes when she feels it coming, may be her that solves it.

reply to post by lonegurkha


Well see I wonder about food allergies also, but the thing is she eats almost the same stuff all the time. She really doesn't like a lot of variety haha. The one thing she constantly eats that is on the list of food triggers is cheese. I don't know if it would be a food allergy, though, because like I said it has only happened once a month for the past few months and she eats cheese constantly.

I'm 27 but when I was less than 12, probably around 8 or 9, I started getting migraines. About twice a month this happened until it developed into a weird weekly sickness. Every Saturday morning I would feel violently ill. Upset stomach, fever, cold chills. etc..

My mom used to make me tomato soup w/ crackers and it would burn the roof of my mouth and hurt my throat so bad! It wasn't because it was hot but because the roof/throat areas were "raw" and uber sensitive. I wasn't malnourished.

Mom thought this was weird- she even suspected I was making it up until she saw how helplessly sick to my stomach I was. We ended up seeing a few doctors and immediately they had determined that I have "IBS" (irritable bowel syndrome). They said I must be storing up stress from the school week and letting loose on the weekends. They said it was part psychosomatic and part stress-induced. A very real disorder, believe me.



p.s. after almost flunking highschool due to feeling sick every morning and skipping class, I went back to the doctors and a different one said that it wasn't IBS but a different version/form/stage of IBS, called "Gastrointestinal XXXX-XXXXX". I can't remember the last word.

note: It started out as migraines.

reply to post by CoolerAbdullah786


Hi! I have had migraines all of my life and they run in my family, almost all of my relatives have them. Mine were worst as a child and slacked off a LOT after 30. I got them 2-3 times a week from age 4 or 5 and I was officially diagnosed in about 4th grade when they hooked up wires all over my scalp and flashed images at me, at the Air Force Academy Hospital in Colo Spgs. The only thing we knew for sure would trigger them was if I was very excited, like because we were going to an amusement park or birthday party, and lost my appetite/skipped a meal as a result. Once we pinned that down, my Mom would force me to eat a sandwich or something on days with big events, and that helped a lot. Over the years I have tried Ergostat, Fiorinal, Beta Blockers, Imitrix and Midrin, plus a couple of others I can't remember. Midrin worked best for me and also for my Dad and my Grandma, but nowadays, I find Excedrine for Migraine works almost as well. They won't let you give that to the litttle ones though, my son gets them too, and they only let me give him Tylenol and Advil until he was around 14 and hit the required weight. For me, as a kid, They would last 2-3 hours with multiple episodes of throwing up, after which I would feel better and fall asleep until the next wave of pain and nausea woke me up. Mom kept a plastic trashcan by the bed for when I couldn't make it to the bathroom in time. Good tip - if you put one hand on your child's forehead and the other on the back of the head, and apply moderate pressure it helps a lot. I used to beg my Dad to squeeze my head when it was very bad.

In worst case migraines, head to the nearest Urgent Care or your doctor, and they can do several things to help. Usually they give you a shot in the hip that knocks you out for about 12 hours and takes away the pain and nausea. I have also had them put me on oxygen and give me an IV. Lots of times, you get very cold right before the throwing up, so keep blankets, bathrobes, slippers and maybe even a hot water bottle handy.

The good news is, as an adult, mine reduced considerably, to bi-monthly or less, and after 30 I still get them but not to the point of throwing up, most of the time. In fact, I've only thrown up with migraine once that I can think of in the past few years since I passed 40. Now I sometimes get the Aura - zig zaggy shimmering lines across my field of vision, with no pain, and that usually passes in 15-30 minutes.

Good luck, hope this helps! Make sure your child doesn't skip meals when overexcited.

reply to post by CoolerAbdullah786
My son (he's 9) gets them as well. Usually attributed to too much computer or tv, but not always.

My younger brother used to get them as well.

The do grow out of them.

Prayers to your little girl.

beez

reply to post by BoyMeetsWorldATS


Interesting - I never thought of this connection, but I too had similar symptoms for years and just last year was officially diagnosed with Collagenous Collitis (an IBD) via biopsy. I have eaten fewer carbs in general, since around age 30, which is when the migraines really started to drop off, and since being diagnosed have gone gluten free which completely resolved my IBD symptoms. OP - you might want to try a gluten free diet for your child and see if it helps! My family ate lots of bread and had a dessert with dinner every night, as my Mom loves to bake. It may very well be that there is a link there.

There are TONS of cases of head-aches and migraines being the result of parasites in the brain. There are natural and safe herbs that can be used to eliminate parasite stages from egg to adult parasite stages. You want to eliminate ALL stages of them. Read up on it!!

Parasites are MUCH more common than we are lead to believe. Lots of medical conditions are the direct result of parasites. Doctors are not given much training at all about them nor much if any training into safe and effective natural treatment. Theres No MONEY in natural treatment!! AMA, FDA, doctors, big-pharma are all in cahoots with each other getting RICH off of your illness providing their non-curing "band-aid" treatments over a lifetime. Big money and profits mean WAY more to them than our health.

Here is one news story about headaches and parasites from ABC news that I found within 10 seconds of searching for a news article.


abcnews.go.com...

De-parasite her ASAP!! Go the herbal route to achieve this as it is hands-down the most effective (and safest) way to de-parasite.

Homeopathy work great with kids! Especially the remedy Belladona for kids with headaches. Something to look into

reply to post by CoolerAbdullah786


You are correct. Children experience just as many pathologies as adults do. And yes, she should avoid triggers, like chocolate, cheese, MSG, and many other things. As a healthcare professional, I can tell you that strokes are actually on the rise in children. I seen this more times than you would believe. A head CT just for your piece of mind is not a bad idea. In medicine we say "look for the horse," which is the obvious and common problem, but often you need to "look for the zebra," which is the less obvious cause. Many times people have sentient headaches before they actually stroke, they are warning headaches, mostly for things like subarachnoid hemorrhages. It is proven that we have aneurysms our whole lives, but at some point they rupture. I don't want to scare you but strokes are on the rise in children. I wish you good luck.

My children never had migraines when they were young.

I used to get migraines a lot. My triggers are stress, hunger and allergies to chemicals or strong scents.
I puke too. It really is the most awful pain and is rarely alleviated by pain killers.
When my husband yells at me I get migraines and puke.that's my most common trigger for migraines, but that's just me, not coping I think.

Does it hurt more for her to hear noises?
Having your TV on or talking loudly while she is laying down might irritate her. Lights and noises can make it worse.


Treatment; laying down flat on her back in a very quiet dark room, no night lights.

Things I would consider are allergies. Is there any new items in her room? New bedding or bedding washed with new laundry soaps or fabric softeners, Air freshness in the house, mould, renovations being done, new carpets, etc. formaldehydes can be present in new carpets. Things like this.

What about psychological reasons? It's common for a child if her age to invent illnesses to avoid going to bed, but I don't think she is faking it if she pukes.