Abdominal migraine: does it exist?

Abstract

Abdominal migraine is well recognised in children, but in spite of anecdotal reports migraine is not well established as a cause of abdominal pain in adults. Functional abdominal pain is usually classified as either irritable bowel syndrome or nonulcer dyspepsia, but some patients have intermittent abdominal pain associated with headache or other migraine accompaniments and, in these, a diagnosis of abdominal migraine should be considered. It is possible that some patients with functional abdominal pain have migraine presenting with few or even no migraine accompaniments. There is no nonclinical objective standard for diagnosing migraine, and research in this area is therefore very difficult. Nevertheless, some patients with functional abdominal pain may respond to antimigraine medication and, if their symptoms are suggestive, a trial of therapy may be desirable.