Abdominal migraine: a cause of abdominal pain in adults?

Eighty-five patients with non-organic abdominal pain, were interviewed with the help of a questionnaire. Those who responded to a high fibre diet were excluded from the study. Twenty-seven patients had multiple pains and 58 described a single pain, which was intermittent in 39. A detailed analysis of the symptoms and family history of the latter group suggested that in 19 patients the symptoms might have been caused by abdominal migraine. Six of these 19 had typical migraine-associated symptoms during the attack, characteristic abdominal pain and a family or personal history of classical migraine. Abdominal migraine should be considered in patients with non-organic abdominal pain where symptoms are not typical of irritable bowel syndrome and when organic disease has been excluded.