Chronic Migraine and Children in School
Childhood is full of challenges. For some children, one of the greatest challenges is migraine. Young migraineurs, especially those with attacks on more than 15 days per month (i.e., chronic migraine), tend to have a lower quality of life and more difficulty in school than children without migraine.
A team of scientists from the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital recently looked at ways to improve quality of life and performance in school in 135 boys and girls (10–17 years old) with chronic migraine. For a year, they treated them with medication (amitriptyline, an antidepressant) and either psychotherapy or headache education.
Children in both groups felt better overall — so much better that they were about the same as children who do not have migraine. But for performance in school, only the children who had received psychotherapy did about as well as their healthy peers.
Based on their findings, the researchers concluded that psychotherapy plus medication is a good way to help children with chronic migraine do better in school. . .and feel better about life!
