What Is Intestinal Migraine?
You would be surprised that a term such as "intestinal migraine" exists since it refers to two seemingly opposite words - "intestine" and "migraine". While the intestine pertains to the stomach, migraine generally refers to a chronic and very stubborn headache. So how can anyone suffer from intestinal migraine?
An Introduction To Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome (CVS)
The CVS is characterized by bouts of acute nausea accompanied by vomiting. This condition might or might not be accompanied by headaches. The cyclic vomiting syndrome which is also known as intestinal migraine generally occurs in children, though you would in rare cases find it affecting adults as well.
The statistics suggest that as many as one in every fifty children may suffer from this problem yet they have not been diagnosed correctly. Be careful when you explain the symptoms to the doctor so he could reach the correct diagnosis early with ease.
The triggers for CVS or intestinal migraine could be anxiety caused by going to school, bullying by other children, emotional stress due to parents fighting, excitement over happy times such as Christmas, birthdays, etc. Try to carefully watch the child to identify and understand what factors aggravate the problem. You would be surprised with the speed of recovery once the trigger has been isolated and removed from the environment where the child lives.
You will find that the intestinal migraine begins anytime between ages of three and seven. The attacks would more or less occur on the same days of the week or month and last generally for the same time as the last attack occurred. In adults the frequency of this condition is lesser, while it compensates by longer episodes in spite of medication.
The triggers of an adult episode of intestinal migraine and that of child are very different from one another. While in children it is very easy to identity the exact triggers that unleash this type of migraine, in adults it is difficult to pinpoint the exact cause or trigger.
There are four phases in CVS. The prodrome starts with abdomen pain and an acute need to vomit. Sometimes this phase would last for half an hour while sometimes it could prolong into days. The second phase is the actual episode which is the culmination of this condition such as paleness, total loss of appetite, vomiting and total exhaustion.
This phase is followed by the recovery period which is marked by the gradual disappearance of all the symptoms. The recovery period is followed by a period of time when the child or adult shows absolutely no sign of CVS. This is also known as the symptom free interval, which is the last of all the four phases.
