combining migraine and schooling, the struggle of some children

Children with migraine are not always well taken care of, particularly in the school environment. An association has launched a campaign to raise awareness of this pathology. Testimony of a schoolgirl and her mother met in Val-de-Marne.

Like Rachel, a million children in France are subject to migraines, sometimes violent. At 12 years old, the 5th grade schoolgirl in Val-de-Marne has suffered from migraines since she was 5: “When I have a migraine attack, it feels like I have a drum in my head, like someone is hitting me with drumsticks. And depending on the intensity of the migraine, it gets worse and worse. strong.”

The association “The voice of migraine sufferers” launched a campaign to raise awareness of this pathology. Objective: for it to be recognized and better supported, particularly in the school environment because it is not always easy.

When she has a seizure, Rachel has to take Doliprane or ibuprofen. And when she is in class, it gets complicated: you have to ask the teacher for permission to go out, access the medication that is in the infirmary, ask a supervisor to open it for her if the nurse is not there – this which happens a lot – then return to class with this “drum in the head” which prevents him from working.

Because of her migraines, Rachel misses five to ten half days of classes each term. She has already received comments from her teachers: “Once, the sports teacher said to me, ‘Well, Rachel, why weren’t you there?’ He said that as if it was me who had purposely not come, even though I had really been in really bad pain that day!”

“There are some who think that it is to miss the lessons that we simulate. But in fact, no.”

Rachel, 12 years old

at franceinfo

Rachel’s mother would like teaching staff to be better informed about this neurological disease and able to recognize the symptoms of migraine in children: “If the child says he has a headache, if he says he has a migraine, it means he really has one. In children, it can also be stomach aches, It’s not just in the head And when he takes his medicine, what can be misleading is that sometimes, ten or fifteen minutes later, the child is doing very well. , someone in front, we can say to ourselves that he had nothing… But yes, it’s very strong, it’s debilitating, you can’t do anything when you have a migraine”she defends.

The association “The voice of migraine sufferers calls for the establishment at school of a special migraine PAI (individualized support plan), which would precisely define the action to be taken in the event of a crisis: give treatment immediately, isolate the child in a calm and safe space. light and give him something to drink.