Does my son have abdominal migraines?

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My 7 year old son is often ill for 2/3 days at a time. It’s all a bit undefined with a bit of tummy ache, headache... but just says he feels unwell. He looks unwell. It happens every 4 weeks or so. There is a family history of migraines. Any thoughts? Thanks.

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I have no medical expertise, I just have loads of migraines.

I haven't read the subject recently but I have looked into it previously in case one of my sons starts showing signs.

From memory it does sound like it's a possibility.

My neurologist said my sons have a 50% chance of inheriting migraines from me. I seem to have them from my dad's family, although he has never had one, his sisters get bad ones like me.

Could it be something like worry or anxiety? My DS gets frequent stomach aches and the current ones (pretty much daily since October) have no "organic" explanation according to the tests we've done, so our pediatrician thinks it might be caused by anxiety, so we're currently looking into that.

Have you identified any triggers? (stress, sleep, certain foods, dehydration,....)

Could be. Could also be the glands in his tummy. My eldest always gets stomach pains when she's coming down with something like a cold. Doctor said it was the glands in her stomach.

yes DS1 had pains for 6 weeks due to glands in his intestine getting infected following a cold. And unfortunately for that there is absolutely sod all you can do.

When it started hurting again in October we did another scan but it wasn't glands this time.

Thank you all. I really need to get him to the GP but it’s emergency appointments only and has been for months, so we have to muddle on and this is why I’m diagnosing him myself

Could be;

Does he go pale?

Is the pain central umbilical?

Does he vomit?

Does he sleep for 12+ hours afterwards?

He goes very pale and feels sick but isn’t actually sick.

Could you not take him for an emergency appointment anyway if it happens that often? Might be worth it, even if they look at you a bit strangely. He is your son afterall and you will do what's best for him. Sounds awful though, I hope he gets better soon!

Coeliac? Have your aunts, you or your DS been recently tested? A negative test in the past doesn’t necessarily mean a negative test now.

Even if negative, an exclusion diet may be worth trying to see if you can identify food triggers - it’s not always obvious what these are until you cut them out for a while, and sometimes (ie in the case of histamine intolerance), it’s a combination of foods that might be a trigger.

Common triggers - wheat, gluten, eggs, citrus, but also aged cheeses, tea, cured meats, “old” fish etc can be high histamine.

I do think you need to get a gp appointment tho, even if you need to wait a bit. Tell them you think although not an emergency you think it urgent (I’d say that’s true as it sounds like he’s getting worse over time, and it should be checked out properly).

Food exclusion is a good idea. He’s always had tummy issues - colic as a baby, constipation etc.
Honestly there is no chance of a GP appointment. I had to do some undignified begging when I was in agony with a UTI.

Does he have dark circles under eyes and yawn a lot? My son has abdominal migraines and the first sign is often the classic migraine 'look' and him yawning loads.