Severe migraine pain- in hospital

[HomeTutor]

Sat in hospital with my poor daughter (19) who is having the second horrific migraine in 48 hours.
Shes currently hooked up to IV painkillers and a saline drip because of the amount of vomiting.

Over the years we've tried anti sickness drugs, naproxen, codeine, rizatriptan, nasal sprays, daith piercing, cut out 100% of chocolate, artifical sweetness and scented candles.

She takes an antihistamine daily for allergies and is on the progesterone mini pill as we thought it might be hormone related (she also had bloody awful periods with sickness and severe pain).

Starting propranolol tomorrow.

What else can we do? I cannot stand seeing my kid in so much pain she wants to tap out of life. Her job is at risk as she is unreliable when the migraines hit she has about 20 mins warning before the vomiting starts.

Will try anything. I wish it was me 😔

Sumatriptan has been a life saver for me. I take it as soon as I get the warning signs that a migraine is coming and it stops it in its tracks. My sympathies to your daughter. Migraine is horrendous. I always lose my sight and speech but if I take sumatriptan I can be functioning (albeit slowly!) within an hour.

You've been given a million things to try. Just wanted to add my close friend with chronic migraines tried a lot of the above and ended up finding sertraline the cure (anxiety medication). He wouldn't have said he was stressed/depressed (except stress/depression because of having a migraine)! However it works extremely well for him and he gets a migraine whenever he has tried to cut down.

Just another option.

When mine were bad I had an MRI, could be worth pushing for to rule anything out.

I graduated from propranolol to topiramate. It was a life saver. It is completely contraindicated with pregnancy though so being perimenopausal with a spouse with a vasectomy was why it was easy for me to get when other preventatives failed.

came on here to say this.

Also sumatriptan, you can try by buying over the counter as Imigran (or I think Boots do their own), and if it works, then get your GP to prescribe it.

Crgp injections

@MillyTheMoo sorry to ask a possibly silly question but if you can buy it over the counter what benefit is there to having a GP prescribe it ?

I’m another one who has had good results with feverfew.

Hope she feels better soon op 💐

Have they run a CRP for inflammatory markers? My cousin had something very similar and it was a rare form of autoimmune arteritis, took a long time to diagnose.

Over the counter its 2 tabs for £16, GP prescription gives me 3 months worth (30) for £9.90.
Just thought it may be quicker to try it yourself, rather than go to GP.

@MillyTheMoo thanks . My doc only prescribed sumatripan kn very small doses ? Like 5 tabs at a time ?

Thanks for this . My son has severe migraines and will look into this.
Interestingly enough I've had severe frequent migrainesall my life even to the point of feeling suicidal. Since being on a chemo trial for 4 years which is a monoclonal antibody I've had no migraines .

have you told them thats not 3 months worth? Ive had this prescription for years.

Migraleve pink is the only thing I'd say works.

If you can afford it, self refer to a private neurologist who focusses on migraine. You will get much better treatment as they know all the proper medicines etc.

In the meantime get her to take a high dose B vitamin daily in the morning (make sure it has at least 400 of B2) and 400-600. of magnesium glycinate in the evening

My son had this problem and his GP referred him for an urgent MRI. It turned out to be a malformation in his skull. After surgery he’s loads better.
I hope your daughter is doing better.

Have they looked at hormonal reasons?

Is it triggered from neck/back strain from picking up babies/toddlers all day if she works with kids? Or just the stress and noise of kids? Maybe career change is needed.

I’m so sorry your daughter is going through this. I simply don’t understand the GPs sometimes. I am a chronic migraineur, at one time I was having over 15 migraines a month. I am under the care of a specialist NHS headache clinic. Insist on a referral to a neurologist, ideally she’ll be triaged once the referral gets to them and directed to a neurologist who specialises in headache. There is no need for her to be suffering like this.

Hi, contact the migraine trust. I have recently started Ajovy injections prescribed after an appointment with the trust. They are preventative anf it’s made a massive improvement.

Pharmacies are only supposed to issue it if you have a prescription for it (say if you have run out and they can’t do a prescription fast enough or you are out somewhere without your meds). They are also supposed to get you to sign paperwork to confirm this.

Sorry to hear your daughter is having such an awful time with migraine. My son (late teens) has medication resistant Vestibular Migraine, we have tried nearly all the medications and he’s had such an awful time with it and missed loads of college etc. Paid privately to see a Neurologist in desperation (NHS waiting list 12 months +). To echo what others have said we were advised that triptans need to be taken within a few minutes of the migraine/aura starting to be really effective. Also supplements magnesium, Q10 & riboflavin may help a bit.

The game changer for us is “NERVIVIO” - look it up, its a Vagus Nerve Stimulator for migraine, paid for and ordered privately (not NHS approved) works well at times; he uses it daily during attacks and then every other day for prevention. It’s £250 for 18 sessions so not cheap. The Neurologist highly rates this and feels for a certain patient group it can be transformative. It’s maybe worth a go, as it’s a device worn on the upper arm, so no need to swallow meds if she is being sick. Good luck - I fully appreciate how debilitating and life impacting migraine can be.

I suffer with migraines, propranolol should help her. There's also one beginning with S can't think what its called but that helps take the edge off them

@HomeTutorany improvements on the propanalol?