Abdominal Migraine in Adults: A Review of Pharmacotherapeutic Options

OBJECTIVE:To report the case of a 32-year-old woman with abdominal migraine and present a literature review to evaluate abdominal migraine in adults, with particular regard to effective treatment.CASE SUMMARY:A 32-year-old African American female presented with recurrent, severe abdominal pain. The patient had several previous admissions with similar symptoms and an extensive gastrointestinal workup in which findings were normal. Attacks of abdominal pain occurred despite treatment with analgesics and antiemetics. She had a family history of migraine headaches. A diagnosis of abdominal migraine was presumed and prophylactic therapy with topiramate 50 mg twice daily relieved the symptoms.DISCUSSION:Most published cases of adult abdominal migraine describe females who had a long history of abdominal pain refractory to conventional therapies. The majority of patients had a strong family history of migraine and reported similar episodic abdominal pain. Patients responded to prophylactic migraine therapies, in...