My son Dylan is six years old, and he has had migraine since the age of just four. When he started to get headaches and sickness, doctors told us it was just stomach bugs, which is normal for young kids starting nursery and school, and he would grow out of it.
These episodes kept getting more frequent though, and each time he was sick I would have to keep him out of school for 48 hours as that’s the policy with stomach bugs.
“It’s horrible to see your baby in pain, crying and so ill.”
It took a long time to get Dylan diagnosed with migraine, and it was very frustrating. My mum has migraine so there is a family history there but it didn’t seem to have been thought of. He had to go through the process of getting an MRI scan, and that was so scary. He was so brave though!
I will know when an attack is coming because Dylan won’t want to eat or drink, not even hot chocolate which is his favourite. He won’t want to use his iPad or watch TV either. He’ll say that the front of his head is hurting and so I will rub his forehead. A few hours after that he will be sick, sometimes for hours at a time. It’s just awful. It’s horrible to see your baby in pain, crying and so ill.
He was missing so much at such a critical time – this is when he is learning to read and write – and I was worried about him falling behind. Once we received the migraine diagnosis, it meant he was only missing one day of school rather than two which was an improvement.
Still, when he would become ill at school, I would have to bring him home (I’m a Teaching Assistant at the same school), so there’s an impact on me and my job as well as Dylan and his education. I’d feel so bad having to leave as we’re often short staffed but I have to do what’s best for Dylan as well.
He’s now been prescribed a triptan which I have to cut in half, and crush into a yoghurt for him to take. Even then, I do worry about the longer-term effects of being on a medication like that at such a young age, but it does seem to have really helped with shortening Dylan’s attacks.
“I want him to be able to have fun and play with friends but I also know how unwell he is when a migraine attack sets in.”
I also really worry about when the next attack will come. I’m so wary of triggers now, things like him getting too warm playing football, or even cheese on pizza, that I’ll sometimes say ‘we shouldn’t risk it’. It’s so hard because I want him to be able to have fun and play with friends but I also know how unwell he is when a migraine attack sets in.
People don’t take migraine seriously. They don’t understand that it can impact children, as well as their families. Dylan doesn’t know any other kids with migraine so he can sometimes feel alone, and doesn’t understand why he gets sick and will ask, ‘why does it happen to me’. I wish I could take the migraine attacks, instead of him. I wanted to share our story because there must be other families going through this and feeling like it’s only them. I’d love to meet others who are parenting a young child with migraine and hear their experiences too. If I was to speak to another mum with a child who was suffering because of migraine I’d say keep pushing at the doctors until you get the help they need, and reach out for support; don’t suffer alone.
