Child’s abdominal pain may be hint of migraine later

Muscat: Abdominal migraine affects children and makes them vulnerable to migraine when they grow up, an Omani doctor said.

There are many types of headache that affect humans and more than 150 clinical descriptions of headache include tension headache and cluster headache.

Migraine is the most controversial type of headache, as it has under its name a long list of descriptions such as classic migraine, non-traditional migraine and silent headache, including abdominal migraine, hormonal headache, food headache, and others.

Dr. Saleh bin Saif Al-Hinai, Senior Consultant, Family Medicine, said that abdominal migraine often affects children, especially those between the ages of 5 and 9, and makes them vulnerable to migraine when they grow up.

“Children are not the only group at risk of abdominal migraine, but also adults, although doctors have not yet been able to determine the causes of it,” Dr. Saleh added.

Dr. Saif explained that the symptoms of abdominal migraine are as follows: abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, a feeling of heaviness in the intestines, lethargy, sweating, fatigue and loss of appetite.

Al-Hinai identified the risk factors that may lead to abdominal migraine. These include genetic factors, constant exposure to anxiety and tension, swallowing a lot of air as a result of eating quickly and some foods such as chocolate and processed meat.

Regarding the diagnosis of this disease, Al-Hinai said there are no specific tests to diagnose the disease, but the doctor comes to know about it through medical history and some tests ruling out other diseases.

For treatment, Al-Hinai said: Avoid risk factors, if possible; some medications reduce the severity or frequency of seizures, such as antihistamines, some types of heart medications, beta-blockers and analgesics.