Migraine in Children

A migraine is a mild to severe headache that typically lasts between two and forty-eight hours. It generally happens two to four times each month. Also, a migraine is sometimes known as an acute recurring headache.

Furthermore, the fact is that it affects around 3% of preschool children and 4%–11% of elementary school children. Also, around 8%–15% of high school students also suffer from migraine.

Migraine is more prevalent in males than females throughout early infancy and prepubescence. On the other hand, it is more prevalent in girls than boys throughout adolescence. In addition, females are three times likelier than males to suffer from migraines as adults.

What are the paediatric migraine symptoms?
Children have similar types of headaches that adults do. However, their symptoms may be a little different. This is because they are younger. For example, adults often have migraine pain that lasts for at least four hours.

In children, the suffering may not stay as long, though. Hence, it may be hard to figure out what kind of headache a child is suffering from. It becomes hard if the child is younger and can’t describe what’s going on with them. However, certain symptoms seem to fall into particular groups more commonly than others.

What causes migraine in children?
A lot of things can make your child have headaches. The major responsible factors are:

1. Infections and Illness
Firstly, there are a lot of common illnesses that can cause headaches in kids. These include colds, the flu, and infections in the ear and sinus. Mostly, meningitis or encephalitis doesn’t cause headaches, but sometimes they do.

2. Getting hurt in the head
Secondly, bumpy and bruised skin can make people feel achy. If your kid falls hard on their head or is hit very hard in the head, get them checked out right away. Although many head injuries aren’t very bad, you should get them checked out immediately. Also, seek medical advice if your child’s headache keeps getting worse after a head injury.

3. Factors of emotion, anxiety, and stress
Perhaps a result of conflict with friends, teachers, or parents might contribute to children’s headaches. In addition, children who are in depression may get headaches, especially if they have difficulty identifying emotions of melancholy and loneliness.

4. Problems in the brain
There are a very few times when something in the brain can cause a headache that lasts for a long time and gets worse. These things are called brain tumors or brain infections, or blood loss in the brain. A lot of people who have this kind of problem also have other symptoms like vision problems or dizziness, or problems with their balance or strength.

Migraine treatment kids:
Most of the time, you can do treatment of your child’s migraine at the house with rest. You need to ensure less noise, give a lot of water, healthy food, and over-the-counter pain relievers. Also, help your child learn how to relax and deal with stress through different types of therapy.

1. Therapies
A headache may not be caused by stress, but it can be made worse by stress. Mood swings can also play a part in the situation. Your doctor may recommend Behavior therapy in these cases. For example, this could be from the below list:

2. Relaxation training 
Hence, deep breathing, meditation, yoga, and muscle relaxation are all ways to relax. You can tense one muscle at a time and then relax it. Then you let go of all the tension in your body until every muscle in your body comes into a relaxed situation. Hence, a grown-up child can learn to relax in lessons or at home with books or videos.

3. Cognitive-behavioural therapy
Moreover, this therapy helps your child learn how to deal with stress. As a result, it cuts down on the number and intensity of headaches that happen. In addition, when your child has this kind of talk therapy, a counselor can help them positively.

However, these medicine and dosages aren’t always safe for kids. Before giving any over-the-counter medicine to a child, confirm with a physician.

Furthermore, if a child has frequent or severe migraines, a doctor may also give them a drug. These are only meant to stop migraines from happening.

One popular drug is Sumatriptan (Imitrex), and another drug, rizatriptan (Maxalt), can now be used for children. All these are approved by FDA.

Conclusion
In conclusion, if your child has a migraine, the symptoms can start at a very young age. Taking over-the-counter pain killers as early as symptoms appear may help prevent or mitigate their consequences. Alternatively, a physician may give migraine drugs that are specifically targeted.

You should see your doctor right away to get help for any migraine symptoms. If a doctor isn’t sure what’s going on, some symptoms could be from other health problems.