Abdominal Migraine Often Diagnosed As Stomach Trouble
The discussion of migraines typically involves headaches the most common form of the ailment. However, in children they can manifest themselves in the form of abdominal migraine and are often misdiagnosed as a gastrointestinal disorder. Diagnostic testing is non-existent for an abdominal migraine and in order to isolate the disorder testing is often needed to rule out other causes of the symptoms. Once all other causes of the stomach pain have been ruled out, an effective treatment can be presented.
Typically, an abdominal migraine will present itself with pain the midsection, usually in young children, accompanied by nausea and vomiting along with occasional anorexia and a pale color to the skin. These symptoms are often associated with many other ailments such as gall bladder trouble, acid reflux, Crohn's Disease and irritable bowel syndrome. Diagnosing an abdominal migraine is time consuming and family history will play a key role in making the right diagnosis.
The physician will begin ruling out all of the diseases usually associated with the symptoms of an abdominal migraine and if the family history reveals a frequency of migraine headaches, the diagnosis may be discovered. Once it has been made, many of the same treatments for migraine headaches are used to treat the abdominal variety of migraines. Prevention becomes a big part of the child's life to reduce occurrences of the symptoms.
Looking For Signs Of Migraines
In young children an abdominal migraine may be difficult to diagnose and many times tests can rule out gastrointestinal or renal diseases. However, nausea and vomiting accompanied by a pale skin tone, often accented with dark circles around the eyes can offer a hint of the real culprit. Those that suffer infrequent attacks of an abdominal migraine may be helped with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
Often, the pain associated with an abdominal migraine will interfere with normal, daily activities and other symptoms make it difficult to differentiate from ailments such as peptic ulcers, gastroesophageal reflux and duodenal obstruction. All of these, plus several others, will have to be ruled out through testing before an accurate abdominal migraine diagnosis is made.
Unfortunately, most children who experience abdominal migraine as youngsters will develop migraines as an adult. Additionally, once diagnosed, steps for prevention are similar to those used for adult migraine sufferers. Finding the foods, drinks and environmental impacts that can trigger a migraine incident can be crucial to the younger child, who will need to continue the precautions into their adult life.
