- Josi McLarty, 10, from Killin, is one of 10% of children who suffer migraines
- Was referred to a paediatric neurologist and tried several medications
- Pizotifen, Imigran and paracetamol didn’t work – magnesium pills have
18:46 EST, 14 April 2014
|
18:46 EST, 14 April 2014
Josi
McLarty was just eight years old when she started to develop agonising
headaches. Each time she suffered six or so hours of intense pain and
would often be sick.
‘The first time it happened was horrendous,’ says Josi’s mother, Alma Walker. ‘It was terrible seeing her suffer.’
She
took her to the doctor, who said she had a stomach bug – but the
problem kept returning, at first every six weeks but eventually once or
twice a week. Yet during three more visits to the doctor over 18 months,
Alma was told it was another stomach bug or a virus.
Ten year old Josi Walker from Killin, Stirlingshire suffered from migraines for more than two years
‘The doctors just
kept saying it must be a bug when we knew it wasn’t,’ says Alma, 47, a
full-time mother.
It took the arrival of a new GP to notice that
Josi, now ten, was suffering from migraines. Her mother admits: ‘I never
thought about a child having a migraine.’
Many people believe
migraines to be mainly an adult condition, but Josi is one of the 10 per
cent of children who suffer from them. In fact, migraine can even
strike young babies. The charity Migraine Action says it has had reports
of infants of four months with symptoms of sudden, short-lived
paralysis of eye muscles, face or one of the limbs – warning signs of
the onset of a migraine attack.
For many migraine sufferers, the main
feature is a thumping headache. Some experience an aura beforehand,
during which they have visual disturbances, aches in the neck and
shoulders, sensitivity to light, sound and smells, and a drop in energy.
Others have no headache but suffer the other symptoms. Most children
with migraine will have a headache. Around 90 per cent will also feel
sick and about 60 per cent will actually be sick. Others may complain of
stomach ache. Only 20??per cent have auras.
But as children often
complain of the occasional headache and can be prone to tummy aches, the
symptoms can be mistaken for something else, such as an allergy or
sinus problems.
A consultant has helped her and she takes magnesium pills to ease symptoms
Migraine charities say they often hear of children
who have suffered for months or even years before getting a correct
diagnosis.
The vomiting associated with migraines is even mistaken
for appendicitis, says Dr Andy Dowson, director of headache services at
King’s College Hospital, London.
‘The symptoms may also be mistaken
for attempts to avoid school. In children the attacks are often about
four hours long, so by the time they are picked up from school by their
parents they may be better, and accused of malingering.’
Children’s attacks tend to be shorter – hours compared with up to three days for an adult.
What
causes migraines is not clear. One theory is that low levels of the
brain chemical serotonin cause blood vessels in the brain to contract
suddenly and then expand. Sickness is caused by chemical changes during
an attack stimulating the area of the brain that controls vomiting.
The condition also runs in families, so it may be genetic.
Attacks
can be brought on by all sorts of triggers – some people are sensitive
to caffeine, others to too much or too little sleep. Stress can also
make migraine worse, for example, during exam time.
Childhood
migraine expert Dr Ishaq Abu-Arafeh says his patients at the Royal
Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow can miss up to 80 days of school a
year.
‘In every class at least two or three children will suffer
with migraine,’ he says. ‘Some may only have it two or three times a
year, but others will have it more frequently and it causes a lot of
problems with their education and social activities.
‘Most children with migraine are between the ages of five and 15. The impact on them and their families can be huge.’
Yet there are fewer preventative treatments for children than for adults, as many drugs have not been approved for under-18s.
Two
drugs tend to be used: pizotifen, to prevent swelling in blood vessels
in the brain; and propranolol, which acts in a similar way. Paracetamol
and ibuprofen can help when an attack has started.
Dr Abu-Arafeh
advises reducing children’s intake of caffeine from drinks such as cola
and not skipping meals, as low blood sugar can cause attacks. He also
recommends time outside for an hour a day, away from screens. Bright
light is a common trigger, especially the blue light from iPads,
computer screens, mobile phones and TVs. ‘Once someone has migraine they
always have it, but as they get older the migraine goes into good and
bad phases, and the good phases without headaches can last for years,’
says Dr Abu-Arafeh.
‘Often a person’s threshold for what triggers a migraine increases, so what caused one when they were younger no longer does.’
Josi’s migraines are now better controlled.
She
was referred to a paediatric neurologist in June 2012 and tried several
medications including pizotifen, a nasal spray called Imigran, and
paracetamol. But none had much effect.
Pictured wither mother Alma Walker, Josi would be very tired and irritable when getting a migraine
‘When a migraine was coming
on, Josi would be very tired and irritable and we often had to cancel
plans,’ says Alma, who lives with her partner Christopher McLarty, 47, a
school caretaker, and their other daughters Morgan, 16, and Erin, 14,
in Killin, Perthshire.
‘She’d often come home from school early with a migraine.’
However,
her migraine has improved thanks to a less orthodox approach –
magnesium pills. Migraine sufferers are thought to have lower levels of
magnesium in the brain during an attack.
One study of 81 adults found
that taking 600mg of magnesium daily for 12 weeks reduced the number of
migraine attacks by 42 per cent.
Dr Abu-Arafeh says it helps some
children with migraine and he often recommends it when other treatments
have proved ineffective.
‘It can be bought over the counter and is safe in the recommended doses,’ he says.
Josi has not had a full-blown migraine since November, a month after she started on magnesium.
‘The
pain felt like tiny men trying to thump out of my head,’ she says. ‘I
felt very tired and had to miss things my friends and sisters were
doing. Now I just have a bit of a sore head, which I can cope with.’
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The comments below have been moderated in advance.
mel,
Los Angeles USA,
2 hours ago
my husband has been getting migraines since he was about 6 months old. he would scream for hours and couldn’t be in any light. children being able to get migraines is absolutely true.
FL Living,
Emerald Coast,
2 hours ago
I suffered from migraines throughout my childhood and now in my adult life. The only thing that has helped is eating organic, taking out allergens such as gluten, and staying away from triggers. Yoga is also very important b/c your body needs the increase in oxogen and your neck needs to be stretched. If your child has migraines, you need to look to diet first. Dump the cokes and filter all contaminants including fluoride.
Rae S.,
Missisisppi, United States,
3 hours ago
As a doctor, I can confirm the the brain is infact nowhere near the stomach and therefor cannot be related in any way
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