Migraines in children

[Ollycat]

Hi

Dd (11 - yr 7 at school) has started to suffer from what we think are migraines.

They are pretty bad causing visual disturbance and vomiting. The GP has been great - she has a couple of factors which def point towards migraine - recently started periods and v bad travel sickness as a small child.

She has been prescribed Sumatriptan and Domperidone and we are at the stage of trying these to see if they help.

I would be grateful for any advice from others with daughters who suffered from migraine at a similar age - particularly anything you found which helped stop an attack.

Thank you x

My dd, 14, has migraine and has been given a nasal spray called Zomig. Within 20 minutes of taking it, she is migraine free.
The doctor didn't want to put her on daily preventative's initially and so far, it is looking like he won't have to.
We did do a food and sleep diary prior to seeing the doctor but can't pin down what triggers them, they don't seem to be hormonal either.

angeldiver thank you so much - a quick google looks like zomig is licensed for children 12+ so I will certainly ask the doc about it - it looks amazing I have to say especially as it works both with and without aura!

Thank you x

Forgot to add we can't find any food link. Not sure about hormones - her periods only started in August but they don't seem to be linked directly to cycles - she's had 2 in just over 2 weeks.

I must say, I was pleasantly surprised by my GP for not fobbing us off.
I had migraines as a child, despite seeing many doctors over the years, I was nearly 40 by the time I got anything that worked!

I had migraines that started in my early teens which I now think are linked to hormones, this was 20 odd yrs ago and was put on a daily medication which I think reduced but never stopped them completely. They settled down after a couple fo yrs and then it would be a rare 1 or 2 every 18m to 2 yrs, until recently when i had 2 in the space of 6 weeks, which in discussion with the doctor we have put down to my periods returning after stopping breastfeeding.
So there definetley could be a link to her starting her periods, hopefully once her body gets used to the changes in the hormones it settles and goes away again.

DD2 started migraines when she was about 9yo. They are linked to anxiety often, but not entirely and tend to cluster.
She has been on beta-blockers but she now only takes them if she's getting a cluster.
She gets visual disturbance and may throw up. We have permission to send her back to school within 24hours if she's thrown up due to a migraine. They also will send her home to get medication asap if she's getting visual disturbance.

I started migraines at about 10. As they stopped with the menopause there must've been a hormonal element. We didn't even know the word migraine but called them sick headaches when I was a child. In my late 30s I was prescribed Imigran/sumatriptan which changed my life. I hope it works for your DC. It only works for classical migraine but it's astonishing.