we were told our child may have abdominal migraines- both of this parents have regular migraines( headaches) and strong family history of headache migraines on both maternal and paternal sides. One family member ( adult) has abdominal migraines.
Our child has what appears to be very strong episodes of nausea that can last for as long as six hours but usually around 1 to two hours. nausea is in waves. He gets extremely pale and says his cheeks feel numb and then sometimes his hands and arms do as well.. this can last as long as nausea sometimes.. I thought the tingling sensations might be panic related ( panics when the nausea is very bad) but GI doc said tingling should not last that long with panic. He also has dark circles often with these and more recently has complained of back bothering him when he has these episodes. He has had stomach cramping for two months now as well as the nausea but nausea is getting more severe... he had upper and lower scoping done and has been recently diagnosed with acid reflux for which he is taking 40 mg of prilosec in capsule form ( capsules poured out). He has also been prescribed ondansetron for nausea ( which does not always seem real effective) also just started him on amitriptyline ( 10mg) just started last night. had been hesitant to start him on the amitriptyline as the GI specialist said that with as severe and as long-lived as the nausea seemed, he wondered if it was maybe abdominal migraines and that the nausea would not be that long lasting with reflux alone. So, my thought was if it was abdominal migraines, I wanted to monitor what he had eaten the days the nausea has been really bad. The common thread I found for each day was caffeine and he loves iced tea. He has had six episodes of severe nausea, tingling etc in the last two weeks..... all lasting at least an hour if not more... He also urinates a lot and when he has these episodes and sometimes says he feels dizzy. My main question is, if he continues to take the amitriptyline, is it then going to be difficult to diagnose him with abdominal migraines ( GI doc said if it is abdominal migraine, that is the med a Neurologist would prescribe). Can reflux cause abdominal migraines or make them worse? Looking back over the last couple months when this first started... he has been pale a lot ( looks sick)... we were pediatrician several times and were not to see specialist until next week but when he started losing weight specialist saw us sooner. Son had difficulty eating at times the past couple of months due to feeling so nauseated and became thinner. and thinner.. trying to get him some relief he is absolutely miserable when he has these episodes. Having nausea with headache migraines, I know how severe nausea can be... he does not cope with it well at all. I take something at onset of headache migraines and feel good within a half hour... this is not happening for him...I really don't want him on meds for a long time but since migraines are so strong in our family, I am concerned this may be the case. Do kids usually grow out of these if it is abdominal migraine? Could it be related to his hormones? He is 10 . Concerned about side effects of med.... maybe things will subside when reflux clears up? Thanks so much for any help you can provide!!! Heartfelt thanks!!