Anyone have experience with childhood migraines?

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I have been trying to work out what is wrong with ds who is 12. He is prone to headaches but they don’t seem terribly painful, either that or he is very stoic. He normally manages on a couple of calpols. But he does talk about facial numbness and sometimes vision changes. He mentioned seeing zigzags and things in his vision look funny. He doesn’t seem very good at articulating what he means. I said it feels like he is looking out a window. It does seem to pass and he is getting on fine at school. We wonder if it is associated with tiredness as it often happens after exercise or at the end of the day.

I do plan to take him to the doctor and opticians but I find research limb possible reasons myself tends to be helpful. Another thing he says is sometimes sounds seem different. Almost like a sound that he should hear as constant, actually is more pulsating. He is quite worried about it himself, so not sure if the stress is maybe affecting the symptoms too.

My dd is 12 and has migraines around the time of her periods. They are called Ice Pick pains. Could be hormonal/ loads of body changes through puberty

I had childhood migraines, centred on one eye, went on from 6-10ish. They were very painful and there were lots of vision 'distortions' and light sensitivity. My eyesight was poor from early childhood and despite lots of tests, they never found a concrete cause (it was a long time ago, no scans etc) so in the end it was attributed to my sight. I think your plan of opticians and doctors is the right one and I would do it sooner rather than later, TBH.

For what it's worth, I did grow out of them.

Thank you that’s very helpful

Yes, mine -dd- was about 12 when it started. Perhaps linked to puberty and maybe increased reading and schoolwork -my theory. Was under the care of the neurology department at the children’s hospital. They just filled her full of increasing doses of different drugs, none of which made any difference, but made her groggy at school.

Things that did make a difference- discovered much too late when she was at university.

Testing for visual stress. Now has prismic glasses and coloured overlays.
Magnesium.
Co-Q-10 I think it’s called.
She found a Facebook group for migraine sufferers which helped a lot.
I wish I had known about the visual thing much earlier. She described how the words moved around on the page, but she didn’t mention this until she was a student. She thought everybody saw things in the same way.

Sounds very familiar. Every female in my close family gets migraines, starting from pre- secondary school.

I would get a gp appointment booked, and opticians while you research.

Thanks. This all is reassuring. I must admit I am not expecting much from appointment with doctor but I know it’s good starting point. He has also described feeling like things are further away than they actually are. I found a syndrome online called Alice in wonderland syndrome and it seems to fit that. He is quite scared by it as it’s always worrying when neurological symptoms appear

I will look at Facebook group

Mine said that things seemed to move and not stay still even when outside - like lampposts.

That sounds like hemiplegic migraines, my son has had migraines since he was 3. He has had a couple where his face has gone numb and eye has drooped down.
DS has glasses with blue tint for computer use, they help a lot.

Book an eye test and see the GP.

Thanks so much. I just looked up hemiplegic migraines and it fits his symptoms very closely. So this is looking likely cause. We are being referred to a specialist now anyway I think but was pleased to see this and will speak to the specialist about it.

My son was referred to paediatric neurologist who was a great help, good to hear your son is seeing a specialist.