Migraines in children

[RachA]

Anyone have any experience with this?

I suspect my 5 year old to have these but having trouble identifying triggers.
She's been referred today to see the paediatrician to see if it is migraines.

Basically what happens is that around every 6 - 12 weeks she will wake up in the morning and promptly be sick (there is no underlaying sickness, she's not ill before or after). She will sleep on and off for around 4 hours and upon waking each time she'll be sick. After the 4 hours or so she'll wake up, be sick and then it's like a switch has been turned on/off as she'll be 100% fine. To start off with i didn't give any medicines as she didn't appear to be in any pain - she also couldn't tell me that she was in any pain due to her language development issues. The last couple of time - and the reason i've now gone to the drs about it - she's complained of her head hurting and been crying with the pain. She's been given meds for the pain which she's promptly picked back up and the pains stayed.
She had unexplained seizures between 8months and 2yrs 3mths. She started preschool at 3 and from memory this is when the sick episodes started.

The only thing that i can think of is that she gets over tired. Her diet is always pretty similar so i can't see it's that. Due to her language issues its difficulty to tell if she's anxious or stressed or worried etc.

Any advice? Experiences? Ideas of what else it could be if it's not migraines?

Thanks

(also posted in toddler section)

 

[SerenityNow]

My 15 yo DD gets migraines. They started when she was a bit older than your DD, I think she was 6 or 7.

She doesn't vomit, but is nauseous and has an excruciating headache and is very light sensitive. When she was a bit older she began to recognize that she gets a blind spot in her vision prior to having a migraine so we give her pain relief as soon as she feels it coming on and that lessens the severity. Visual stimuli also can trigger them for her. So we've learned some things to avoid, particularly if she is over tired or hormonal.

Her Dr recommended giving a vitamin B2 supplement which I think has helped reduce the frequency. She is also just about a year into menstruating now, so her hormones haven't settled into a pattern. It makes it hard to tell if anything helps prevent them.

My OH also gets them, so he recognized it in her when they started.

 

[Aphrodite]

We have a strong familial history of migraines going back 4 generations. I got my first one at 7 and my son is coming up to 5 so I'm keeping a close watch for symptoms. I'm seeing a neurologist myself next month as I basically have a.permanent migraine that never completely leaves, just flares up more sometimes. Does sound like your daughter could have a gastric or silent migraine. Apparently these are more common in children.

 

[wishingonastar]

My nephew used to get awful migraines when he was going through a growth spurt

 

[noon_child]

It could well be migraine. She's either waking up in order to be sick, or the light coming in to her eyes when she opens them could trigger the vomiting. It is good that sleep helps get rid of it. I'm lucky, if I can get to sleep I know I can get rid of the migraine in less than a day. If I can't sleep due to the pain it hangs around longer.

However with that history of seizures, I'd want to know they had thoroughly investigated before putting it down to migraine.