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20 Hudson Valley Parent n March 2018 Searching for a diagnosis Jessica Paterson from Hyde Park became frustrated when she couldn't help her sick child. Her daughter Kailey became suddenly ill at 9 years old. "Kailey presented with severe head pain, stomach pain and vomiting accompanied with nausea, often throwing up 50 plus times a day," she says. "At first she had an upper- respiratory infection, which led to the headache and vomiting and we figured she picked up a stomach bug. But after 3 days with no relief we met with our pediatrician who gave her an anti-nausea medication." Meg VanLeuven of Stanfordville says that her daughter Grace had un- usual symptoms right after having the flu shot. "She got up for school and was as happy as could be. An hour By ROXANNE FERBER M igraine episodes in children can often be dismissed as a stomach bug or a virus. When children experience the very common symptoms of nausea, vom- iting and a headache, parents and doc- tors don't usually suspect migraines as the culprit of their sickness. The onset of symptoms can be as quick and as debilitating as the flu. There are innumerable childhood illnesses beginning with vomiting and headaches so it can be hard to differentiate exactly what sickness a child is experiencing. Over 37 million Americans live with migraine headaches. Is your child one of them? later I picked her up after learning she had a high fever. I brought her home and she kept telling me she couldn't see and her eyes hurt really badly. Every time she tried to open them they were "hot and burning" and she instantly needed to close them." After a visit to her doctor, Grace was diagnosed with the flu. She spent two days in her room complaining of head pain and feeling nauseous. When she felt better, Grace was able to explain to her mother that she needed the room to be really cool and dark. That's when VanLeuven thought about the possibility of a migraine. "She was 7 years old when she had her first migraine. She started to have them almost weekly sometimes every 10 days. We always tried natural Nausea, vomiting, headaches… is it a stomach bug or something more? Recognize migraines in your child Jessica Paterson struggled to find a solution to her daughter's severe pain and vomiting. As a parent, seeing her daughter ill so often was frustrating. (Continued on Page 22)