Slightly Enlarged Cisterna Magna

CMy daughter is 9.  She has suffered from occasional migraines that began around age 2.. The first couple of years she had one a month and by age 4/5 they tapered down to 3 or 4 a year.  Today was the worst one, she was nearly screaming with pain, her vision is blurred (that was a new symptom with todays migraine), and of coarse, after about an hr and a half the vomiting began..

I took her to our Urgent Care and I was fearing the worst, that I would be put in a dark room with her to soothe and given some prescriptions and shooo'd away, instead I had a Dr that ordered the CT scan and there it was. I was told that my daughters Cisterna Magna was slightly enlarged, at the same time, it my be enlarged but it is still within a normal range..

Our consult with a neurologist isnt for another 4 weeks.  In the meantime I have begun my reading and I have more questions now than when I started. For the past couple of months she has had many frequent small headaches that, regretfully, I have been writing off as side effects to her recently changing AD/HD meds. One nagging thing that didnt fit was that the headaches persisted even during times I wasnt administering meds to my daughter during school breaks.

What can I expect from here on out? I havent been able to find alot on this topic and could use more info.. Thanks     L

[Dr Santos]

Hi,
How is your daughter? The cisterna magna is the space between the cerebellum and the  medulla oblongata where the spinal fluid flows through. It would help to know if  a cyst  or cerebellar atrophy/thinning is present. The atrophy could make the space appear large and cysts could cause dizziness, balance, and visual problems. Further imaging test such as  MRI may be helpful. Take care and do keep us posted.

[ebeth4406]

Alexis is fine right now. Thankfully, her migraines aren't often, usually we have 2 to 3 months between episodes. Reading back over my post I forgot to mention that along with the headaches she also had alot of nausea, even without headaches to cause it. Back then I  also attributed this symptom to her changing medications. Regretfully, I'm thinking twice about that now.

While in Urgent Care my daughter had received two injections, one (ketorolac) for the pain of the migraine and the second (promethazine) for vomiting/nausea. We also came away with a prescription for cyproheptadine and promethazine. So my next update will be once we have the consult with the neurologist.