Information About Child Migraine
Child migraine, or pediatric migraine, does exist, though it is far less common than in adults. Having said that, it is still one of the most prevalent childhood health problems. According to current estimates, up to 10% of children in the ten to fifteen age group may be migraine sufferers. This could rise to 28% for fifteen to nineteen year olds, which is close to the level in adults, and it has a major impact on quality of life.
The condition may even effect infants but this is not easy to verify. The International Headache Society has set down criteria for the diagnosis of migraine. This can be applied to child migraine but in children, it is more problematic. For adults, a migraine should last for between 4 and 72 hours. In children, they tend to be generally shorter, which needs to be taken into account. A characteristic of migraine headaches is that they commonly effect one so of the head, though they can be two sided.
In migraines in children, it is very much more common for pain to be experienced in both sides of the head. This can lead to migraine being mistakenly ruled out as a diagnosis. The onset of child migraine tends to be between the ages of 5 and 11. Before puberty, the number of male and female migraineurs is roughly equal. After puberty, this changes drastically, with women being almost 3 times more likely to experience migraine than men are. It is not known why this is, but a very high proportion of female sufferers experience migraine around the time of their periods.
For some child migraineurs, the condition may disappear, at or soon after puberty. But having migraine as a child, makes it far more likely that you will have it in adulthood than someone who didn’t have it as a child. I have a personal bias against using any kind of medication, particularly where migraine is concerned. I prefer natural treatment methods if at all possible. I think that this is also excellent advice where children are concerned. Obviously though, expert medical advice should be sought before making this decision.
My own experience of migraine was that my headaches began at around ten years old. I did experience one sided headaches, along with nausea and light sensitivity. We were not the type of close knit family where I could talk to my parents about it. It was during the summer break so school wasn’t an issue. Back then, parents weren’t so paranoid about letting their children out. It was not uncommon for me to be gone all day. It was just as easy for me to be unnoticed in my room. I suffered in silence, staying out of the sunlight and imaging all kinds of terrible things.
I had heard of a brain tumor and though I didn’t know what it was, I was sure that’s what I must have. The pain passed after a day or so, and I discounted it and carried on. When it came again, I was less fearful. The attacks became less frequent as I went into my teens and as an adult, they have been few and far between. They do tend to lessen as you get older. I have also developed strategies to cope with them. There is much more information available now than there was. I have collected some of it on this site, to help others like myself.
I would hope that most children nowadays, would be able to discuss this sort of problem with their parents, but it pays to keep an eye on them. It could explain them suddenly becoming less active than normal. Adult migraineurs should be particularly watchful. If both parents experience migraines, the child has a 70% probability of having them too.
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