Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Migraines in young children

I believe my 4-year-old son just had his first migraine. I've been dealing with migraines for 20 odd years, and I'm so disappointed that my son might be afflicted with them too.

I've read anecdotal research suggesting a connection between highly sensitive people (many of whom are also gifted) and migraines. Does anyone else out there have young children who suffer from migraines? Does anyone know of any research or have any insight on this issue?

Thanks in advance.

My DD15 began having migraines at around 11 years old. My husband suffers from them also. She was not nearly as young as your son, but she was missing quite a bit of school from them. I am so sorry to hear that as we have gone through quite a bit from them.

I developed migraines about 3 years ago. I would hate to have them develop in my children. I have had to go on a daily preventative; my quality of life had become extremely poor. One thing that I do know is that stress, certain foods, and posture play a role for me.

Thankfully I don't have migraines often, but I find mine are generally triggered by excess light or caffeine.

My son has a rare migraine disorder. It manifested when he was 1 month old. He gets horrible migraines, vertigo and cyclic vomitting because of it. I suffered from migraines as a young child. I didn't have his disorder but it is hereditary. Many thing giftedness is as well.

Interestingly when my son had a spinal tap to look at neurotransmitter levels (while the neurologists were trying to determine his diagnosis) they found him to have low dopamine and serotonin levels. Lately a lot of research has been done about serotonin and it's link to migraines.

On this blog a few months ago I came across someone posting the New York Times article on prodigies. It mentioned they have seen a link of low dopamine/serotonin levels in the brains of prodigies. They didn't give a reason why.

It caught my eye because of my son's condition. Anyways he was recently tested 160+ iq. My daughter did not inherit the same migraine disorder and while she is very intelligent she is nothing like her brother in his extreme abilities. I often wonder if the migraine issue with him was another way his brain is wired different.

However it all could be genetics. My Brother and Father have both been tested 140+ Iq but neither suffered migraines. It ran more with the females in the family.

To clarify my boy is not a prodigy by any means. I just thought the link in intelligent behaviors were interesting. Also his particular form of migraine disorder is so rare by time they officially gave it a name in the 70's only 50 confirmed cases had been found. So it is not a mainstream issue. However the strong migraines accompaning it are.

My DD was diagnosed with migraines at age 6. Hers are triggered mostly by anxiety but it seems more typical triggers affect her as well (lighting, lack of sleep, weather, etc). DH and I both have very significant migraine history - as does DH's father and the female line on my side. Every doctor just kind of nods and says it was basically inevitable - DD was pretty much destined to have them because of heredity.

She takes a daily low dose of Elavil and it has really helped. She will occasionally get into a bad migraine cycle but it's not constant like it was this time last year. (I discussed it on here so if you search you may be able to find the thread.) I can tell by looking at her when she has one even if she doesn't say anything. Her cheeks flush bright pink (think clown makeup) over pale white skin. Her eyes become glassy and she seems "out of it." If they get bad she develops dark circles under her eyes, appears discoordinated and and moves very slowly. We have found that getting her outside into fresh air can help as can ibuprofen. Most important is trying to keep her school anxiety under control. She takes swim lessons at a physical therapy center so the pool is very warm. When the migraines were at their worst she said swimming in that warm water was the only thing that made her feel "all the way better" - at least for a while.

Hope this helps. Feel free to post any specific questions I may be able to help with.

Thanks everyone. I suppose I'm surprised that kids so young can get migraines. We have a doctor's appointment tomorrow (coincidentally). His headache lasted about 4 hours and went from mild to severe, with vomiting and sensitivity to bright lights. He had no fever, no other symptoms and is perfect today. Pemberley, I'm pleased to hear that there is medication kids can take should this happen again. I've read that triptans aren't approved for kids, yet these are the only drugs that work for me (my migraines are quite regular and bad). I will do some more research and let you know if I have more specific questions. Thanks again.

Triptans don't work for me at all, interestingly. I just went off Elavil after a trial (it was not sufficently effective) and switched back to Topomax, which works very well, but has side effects. Elavil made me extremely groggy in the mornings. Both of these drugs can affect mood.

Topomax has worked for my DD15, but we had to beg the doctor to prescribe at her age (13). She had missed so much school and was in so much pain.