Horrible phone call with school😭

Who are ‘they’?

Migraine sufferer here too. Oddly cheese helps mine.

My son is in Y11. What they have done to this cohort is brutal. I would keep going for school help. Lots of kids have had to be coaxed in and the school cannot tell those genuinely ill from those not. Neither can the exam boards. There was a 16yo on chemo who missed one exam and the school/board were disgustingly unhelpful and said she could resit next time!

Well you've certainly not read this thread properly, for whatever reason. Schools have procedures they have to follow when dealing with external examinations and all they seem to have done is follow those procedures. I honestly think that too many people think that schools can make decisions regarding exams whereas all they can do is liaise with the Board.

Sorry your dd is having a rough time. While doing exams I had similar migraines and epilepsy seizures also. A letter can be put in but they don’t necessarily take it into consideration every time it’s all case by case. I read you mentioned Topimpramate is being considered when she’s older. Unless it’s completely necessary after personal experience I wouldn’t recommend especially for young women. Hope dd is feeling herself soon.

My daughter is 13 and has been on Topirimate for about a year. She was on max dose of pizotifen for about 2 years before that. Sumatriptalin made her so sick and didn't touch her migraines. Think it all depends what type of migraines they are. My daughter is under a neurologist at Addenbrookes after being referred by pediatrician and it was the neurologist that moved her off Pizotifen as he felt Topirimate was a better option. She's not on a max dose and her migraines are relatively stable. Shes had no side effects but at last check up he did tell her that she can't take Topirimate if she gets pregnant lol

This.
I was 12 when I had my first migraine.
My second one a few months later lasted for 4 days and I was hospitalized on day 3 as I'd vomited much I was dehydrated.

A migraine is so much more than a headache, it's the worst blinding pain you have ever felt, visual disturbances ( I get loss of peripheral vision and bright flashes of light in the vision I have left) extreme nausea followed by copious vomiting.

Sitting an exam ? I cant even sit up.

Wow lots of people who have clearly never had a migraine on here.

I'm sorry your daughter is unwell.

I had a seizure on the morning of one of my exams. It had never happened before so you can imagine I was a bit bewildered. No one was home so somehow I managed to make it to the bus and do the exam, but I didn’t do very well. The exam board gave me no discretion and failed me. I was diagnosed afterwards with epilepsy.

The school are right though. Exam boards make almost no allowances for these types of situations. So if she misses it then she might not get the GCSE.
A child's mum could die the day before and the exam board only give them 5% dispensation.

In some cases if the student has already sat over half the papers, a school can ask for special consideration so long as there is strong evidence they are unfit to sit the exam. Although even then the exam board don't have to accept it.
The school isn't saying you're lying, they are just trying to get her in despite her being ill if possible because it might cost her a GCSE.

I'm sure the school are doing what they can. School can't decide anything, they can only put things forward to JCQ and they will question everything the school say.
For normal access arrangements for medicals, they won't accept gp letters only specialists and consultants letters as evidence.

IMO nobody is in the wrong here. You as the parent and the school for just trying to push a bit. Don’t be upset OP, the school tried and you said she can’t. That’s fine.

OP you havent done anything wrong. Neither have the school, unless they have said outright you’re lying. They have to do all they can to ensure they did what they should, just the same as you are for your daughter. I would take a step back, you seem to be getting very upset about something that isn’t personal.

A migraine is totally debilitating, of course your DD was unable to sit an exam in that condition. I am usually vomiting with one, and can’t bear light, so I can empathise. Awful, awful pain.

As a migraine sufferer I can sympathise OP.

I take Triptans (Sumitriptan now but used to be Zolmitriptan). Don’t know what I’d do without them as nothing else works.

You’d assume the school would have protocols in place for sickness during exams. After all, any child could wake up with any illness.

I used to suffer so badly with migraines for years all through school and college and about 5 year ago I got a daith piercing and honestly it’s the best thing I ever did.

It used to affect me when working I was always having time off I went from having around 5/6 migraines a month to about 2 a year!

Just something to consider and to be honest I think a lot of people who’ve never had a migraine play them down saying it’s only a headache.. I couldn’t even get out of bed at times needed a dark room and no sound and would literally be sick until there was nothing left in my stomach and I would need to sleep it off. None of the medication from doctors worked, only thing that would take the edge off was nurofen after I’d finished throwing up and it would shift.

I would get a sick note from the doctors and see if your able to reschedule her exam.

good luck x

That's awful, OP. They need retraining. They are minimising a serious condition as if she's making a fuss over a little headache. I would be making a complaint over this.

I am so sorry to hear this. I had migraines from the age of eight and my school teachers were a nightmare not understanding. Now 54, still having them daily, I cannot cope with the pain and had to give up my business as some days I can barely move with the pain. Long story short, Rapid Response had to be called when I had sepsis last year and the paramedic was shocked I hadn’t been given oxygen for home use. She also told my GP that she is sure that I suffer from cluster headaches too. I hate the CH term as the pain is worse than migraines. Now on a waiting list for oxygen. I hope that my experience helps in some way and that your GP will refer her to a neurologist as that’s where I am hoping to go to soon (a private one as I cannot wait for another year like this). Apologies if half of that doesn’t make sense as I have a nightmare migraine right now and no meds work. I will check in again tomorrow if possible. Wishing both of you all the best!

There are plenty of students who would try and get out of an exam and parents who would support them. Unless the person you were speaking to knows your daughter well, what do you expect?

If the person being spoken to didn't know the student then they should have listened to the mother, said they would check on processes and getr back to mother. Then they should have spoken to relevant person who does know the student and procedures should have been followed accordingly! Fatuous remarks about coming in without full knowledge are not appropriate!

Exams are a reflection of the school so of course they will say all you’ve stated. Your daughter’s health comes first and therefore do what’s best for her because an unwell and unhappy child with good grades is useless. Wish you both the best, X

This is very interesting. I’m on the spectrum, suffer migraines and also really struggle with anxiety. It’s been debilitating at times. I really hope your dd can get some proper help and find something that sorts out her issues long term.

Pzitofen makes her so sleepy. She tried doubling the dose but couldn’t keep awake.
I wonder if it’s an ASD thing? She has really intense anxiety and is ultra ultra sensitive to anything. So even minor stresses can top her over.

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow this was another reason DD stopped taking the pizotifen (and the melatonin that we also tried). When on them, she slept better at night, but was still so groggy in the morning it was very difficult to wake her and she still ended up missing school, or being very, very late.

The intense anxiety also sounds very familiar, with 'minor' things absolutely causing so much anxiety/panic that she doesn't sleep which then brings on a headache, which means she misses school. We need something to break that cycle, hence having spoken to the GP about anti-anxiety meds. Hopefully we won't have to wait till she is 16 for those.

I really hope your DD starts to feel better, and that the exam board are understanding.

The exams are extra spread out because of covid. If a pupil gets covid on the day of an exam it gives them a chance to at least take one of the papers in the subject and their grade will be based on the one they took.