Every year The Migraine Trust promotes Migraine Awareness Week to raise general awareness of migraine as a serious public health issue and to reduce stigma.
Migraine affects 1 in 7 people (Over 8 million people in the UK), making it more prevalent than diabetes, epilepsy and asthma combined.
Migraine is a complex neurological disorder with no known cause or cure. Unfortunately many people will suffer from migraine for years throughout their life negatively impacting upon their work, family and social lives.
Symptoms
According to Migraine Action Migraine is more than just a headache. Other symptoms can include: visual disturbances (flashing lights, blind spots in the vision, zig zag patterns etc.), nausea and vomiting, sensitivity to light (photophobia), sensitivity to noise (phonophobia), sensitivity to smells (osmophobia) and tingling/ pins and needles/ weakness/ numbness in the limbs.
Children and young people can suffer from migraines too – it is thought about 10% of schoolchildren may have suffered from a migraine attack. Symptoms might appear slightly differently in children – some signs to watch out for are:
- aches and pains (not just in the head) and excessive tiredness
- abdominal pain
- dizziness
- confusion, numbness or tingling sensations.
- The attacks are likely to come in defined episodes with your child being well in between.
Certain things can trigger migraines and they can be different things for each individual. Many sufferers are affected by a combination of factors occurring together. You may be able to manage migraine attacks by identifying some of the triggers that seem to affect you or your child. You could do this by keeping a diary of your diet, activities, stresses, etc.
Treatment
Lifestyle changes may be necessary to try and avoid your triggers, however, to help you manage when you do have a migraine attack you may be able to take medication to relieve the symptoms, such as painkillers (i.e. paracetamol, aspirin, etc.); anti-sickness medication or migraine specific drugs, known as triptans – which are available on prescription (however these are not recommended for people under the age of 18).
Support
Migraine Action has a webpage with advice for parents on how you may be able to help your child if they suffer from migraines. They also provide details of specialist clinics for young migraine sufferers. They have dedicated a section of their website to ‘young migraneurs’.
The Migraine Trust provides information specifically for young sufferers. They estimate as many as 18% of teenagers suffer from migraines. They provide detailed advice for parents of children between 7 – 12 yrs old and parents of teenagers.
