SQLite foreign key, on delete cascade, and SQLITE_CONSTRAINT - node.js

Question

Overview:
I have a parent / child table relationship where the child may contain 2:n records with FK's back to the parent. When attempting to delete from the parent, I get a SQLITE_CONSTRAINT error. This is unexpected as I have FK's enabled, have the child registered with ON DELETE CASCADE, and a new enough SQLite version.
However: My child table originally did not have ON DELETE CASCADE. I added (and enabled FK's) after data had been added to parent/child. From there, I renamed the original child & created a new table with the constraint, and finally moved to the new table.
Table layout as follows:
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS message (
message_id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
area_tag VARCHAR NOT NULL,
message_uuid VARCHAR(36) NOT NULL,
reply_to_message_id INTEGER,
to_user_name VARCHAR NOT NULL,
from_user_name VARCHAR NOT NULL,
subject, /* FTS # message_fts */
message, /* FTS # message_fts */
modified_timestamp DATETIME NOT NULL,
view_count INTEGER NOT NULL DEFAULT 0,
UNIQUE(message_uuid)
);
CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS message_by_area_tag_index
ON message (area_tag);
CREATE VIRTUAL TABLE IF NOT EXISTS message_fts USING fts4 (
content="message",
subject,
message
);
CREATE TRIGGER IF NOT EXISTS message_before_update BEFORE UPDATE ON message BEGIN
DELETE FROM message_fts WHERE docid=old.rowid;
END;
CREATE TRIGGER IF NOT EXISTS message_before_delete BEFORE DELETE ON message BEGIN
DELETE FROM message_fts WHERE docid=old.rowid;
END;
CREATE TRIGGER IF NOT EXISTS message_after_update AFTER UPDATE ON message BEGIN
INSERT INTO message_fts(docid, subject, message) VALUES(new.rowid, new.subject, new.message);
END;
CREATE TRIGGER IF NOT EXISTS message_after_insert AFTER INSERT ON message BEGIN
INSERT INTO message_fts(docid, subject, message) VALUES(new.rowid, new.subject, new.message);
END;
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS message_meta (
message_id INTEGER NOT NULL,
meta_category INTEGER NOT NULL,
meta_name VARCHAR NOT NULL,
meta_value VARCHAR NOT NULL,
UNIQUE(message_id, meta_category, meta_name, meta_value),
FOREIGN KEY(message_id) REFERENCES message(message_id) ON DELETE CASCADE
);
At startup, directly after attaching to the DB's I ensure FK's are enabled:
PRAGMA foreign_keys = ON;
Other details:
SQLite version: 3.7.17
Access: node-sqlite3
Exact error: Error: SQLITE_CONSTRAINT: FOREIGN KEY constraint failed
Is this caused by the fact that I later added the constraint? (See Update 1)
How do I fix this without losing data?
Update 1:
I can confirm that only select messages (I believe, messages that were in message before ON DELETE CASCADE as added to message_meta) cause the constraint error. Others delete just fine and properly take out associated message_meta records.

Answer 1

Answering my own question -- after some hours of trying various things I was able to find the issue(s):
When I originally added the ON DELETE CASCADE clause, I did so by renaming the original message_meta table to message_meta_backup, creating a new table with the clause, then moving the data into it: SELECT * FROM message_meta_backup INSERT INTO message_meta;. What I did not do was to drop the backup table.
Due to #1 or something related, something internal to my database became corrupted or confused.
What I tried (that did not work):
REINDEX;
Simply dropping the backup table: DROP TABLE message_meta_backup;
...and various other things I forget :)
What DID work:
What finally ended up working was a combination of dropping the backup table and completely rebuilding the database using the sqlite3 shell's .drop command:
> sqlite3 db/message.sqlite3
SQLite version 3.7.17 2013-05-20 00:56:22
Enter ".help" for instructions
Enter SQL statements terminated with a ";"
sqlite> drop table message_meta_backup;
sqlite> .quit
> sqlite3 db/message.sqlite3 ".dump" >> message_dump.sql
rm db/message.sqlite3
> cat message_dump.sql | sqlite3 db/message.sqlite3
I'm now able to DELETE FROM message ... and have it properly cascade the delete to message_meta without the nasty error:
sqlite> DELETE FROM message WHERE message_id IN(SELECT message_id FROM message WHERE area_tag='some_area' ORDER BY message_id desc limit -1 offset 200);
sqlite>
(no error given!)