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Original poster

Is there anything that can help my son with his headaches/migraines?

23 replies

TrackerBar · 25/03/2018 13:56

Hi all Smile

I really need some advice and support. My 13 year old son has had headaches pretty much since primary school and he gets them every single day. I used to get calls to come and pick him up because he had been sick and I still get those calls now occasionally, although he does manage them better now with paracetamol and ibuprofen.

It really affects his life and he often goes to bed with one and wakes up with one. I know he's not dehydrated because he always has water by his bed and I check that he's drinking enough at school.

Sometimes he just has to come home from school and get into bed and put a sleep mask on and have the fan blowing on him.

Is there anything I can do about this? Any advice is much appreciated.

OP posts:
nuttyknitter · 25/03/2018 14:03

Have you been to your GP? My DS was very similar and we were referred to a specialist paediatric migraine clinic.

Original poster
TrackerBar · 25/03/2018 14:05

Hi nutty, thank you.

What did they do for your ds? Did it help?

OP posts:
LynetteScavo · 25/03/2018 18:50

My GP asked us to keep a diary.
It became obvious that high/low blood sugar was a factor, and DS has learned to manage this himself. They started in Y4 and seemed to stop in Y10 (touch wood!)

nuttyknitter · 25/03/2018 22:13

We were prescribed preventative medication - not actually very helpful, but this was 20 years ago. I'd hope that things had moved on since then. My DS actually grew out of the problem by the age of 18, and only has one or two episodes a year now.

Witchend · 26/03/2018 19:01

Dd2 gets cluster migraines. She had beta blockers at one point which worked well.

Original poster
TrackerBar · 26/03/2018 19:35

Thank you for your replies. I think I will book a doctors appointment and see what they suggest. I have taken him to the doctors before, but they just said give him ibuprofen, which I am not keen on using all the time.
He likes those cool and soothe head strips too.
I just hope it is something he grows out of, although I get migraines with aura and am wondering if they are hereditary!

OP posts:
cestlavielife · 27/03/2018 08:53

Yes hereditary
Keep a headache diary and get referral to headache clinic.
Gosh headache page has a sample headache diary

Ppropanolol worked well for dd for sone 5 years.... tho does not any longer. Awaiting the new CGRP injections....

brownelephant · 27/03/2018 08:57

has he had an eye test recently?
just asking as the gp will ask that too before they do anything.

SnowOnTheSeine · 27/03/2018 09:12

I started using propanolol when I was 13. It worked but wore off. I'm now mid-30s and have had 8 different preventative treatments, most of which worked for a while then wore off.

Am currently on a fantastic one which not only reduces the frequency of the migraines but also the strength.

Other things that really helped me were:

  • Avoiding stress (not easy!)
  • Having a strict routine. I go to bed at the same time, get up at the same time. Eat at the same time. Even on weekends. The worst thing I can do is skip a meal or even eat lunch at 3pm instead of 12.30. Guaranteed migraine the next day.
  • Drink lots of water
  • Never let my blood sugar drop too low.
Research has shown that often you get cravings for food which is "bad for migraines", eg. chocolate. And you get the craving, then eat the chocolate, then get the migraine you assume it was the chocolate. Whereas it's the craving that has caused the migraine not the chocolate IYSWIM? I've found that by eating small amounts regularly, even things like chocolate and cheese which I always thought were my triggers, has helped reduce my migraines.

My neurologist says its genetic. I'm hoping neither of my DSes gets them. It's a horrible way to live and has really impacted my life.

cestlavielife · 27/03/2018 09:16

Which do you take snow?
Dd started candesarten but no huge difference yet

SnowOnTheSeine · 27/03/2018 09:41

It's candesarten!!!

Took about 6 months to have a real impact but I would not be without it now. LOVE it!

I take 4mg the morning and 8mg in the evening.

twinkletoedelephant · 27/03/2018 09:48

As a child I was on propranolol i know triggers for my migraine too much sun/wind lavender citrus fruit and brie i bloody love brie and have worked out I can eat a bit as long as it's smaller than my little finger
Weirdly full sugar coke tends to help massively when first symptoms appear...I yawn alot when getting a migraine

SnowOnTheSeine · 27/03/2018 10:05

Knowing your triggers is key. Except sometimes it's a combination of triggers that tips you over the edge. Or it could be something like it rained 2 days ago Hmm (I'm not joking)

One of my random triggers is malteasers. Took me years to figure it out and I was totally gutted as I love them!

I even waited until I was 7 months pregnant (and no longer having migraines due to hormones) to have some...I had a migraine Sad

SnowOnTheSeine · 27/03/2018 10:12

@cestlavielife

Re Candesartan, I went from having a migraine every 3 days (for all of 2016) to having one a month or even less now after 15 months treatment.

CiderwithBuda · 27/03/2018 10:24

Migraines are definitely genetic. My mum got them as did her brother - both of their parents got them. I’m one of four and we all get them. My DS gets them as do some of my nieces and nephews.

We DS is now 16 and we have had a couple of bad years with him with them. He did his GCSEs at home having not been at school since the previous November. We tried lots of things.

I would start with your GP - there are lots of preventatives they can try. We tried a few but they didn’t seem to work - we finally got a referral to a private paediatric neurologist and he said that he hadn’t been on the right dose for long enough.

We went to a chiropractor and an osteopath/cranial osteopath. And we tried acupuncture which definitely helped.

DS then got himself into a bit of a state about going back to school and asked to see a psychologist. He had seen a mental health nurse at school but she didn’t think it was stress or issues at school. It’s taken a while but the psychologist has really helped. He now hasn’t had a migraine since the end of November and went back to school in January. He has just done a full term with no migraine and no absences. His started as migraine and developed into a psychological issue.

Start with your GP. Poor boy, I really feel for him. They are miserable.

Also caffeine can help. So taking a triptan with coke is often recommended. It worked for DS for a while. Aspirin can help but is not recommended for children although our GP did prescribe it in th end.

cestlavielife · 27/03/2018 10:53

That is good to hear Snow.

Op if you near london the headache clinic at gosh is fantastic and they run a psychologist led support group for teens it s a six week course

Original poster
TrackerBar · 27/03/2018 22:26

Ooh, thank you, lots of replies! I'm not able to get on the puter much at the moment.

Loads of really good advice and help here, I really appreciate it!

He doesn't eat a lot of chocolate and if he drinks coke, it's the zero everything one, which I'm not sure helps at all.

I can't remember when his last eye test was, but they normally send a letter. I have asked if he can see the board properly etc and he says he can. I think I will go to the optician and find out when his last one was and book him in again.

I like the diary idea, so we can identify a pattern maybe?

Thank you for the link Cestlavie, I think if there was something that could reduce them or take them away completely it would change his life.

Can I also ask, did any of your dd's and ds's also get wound up just before a migraine came on? I find that with the headaches come very negative emotions and then extreme fatigue.
He is quite dramatic anyway, so this probably doesn't help!

OP posts:
SnowOnTheSeine · 28/03/2018 06:45

I find I get very short tempered and grumpy. But even after all these years of experience it can take me a while to clock on to the fact that my head is hurting and that's why I'm grumpy!

Thinking about it, yes I would say I get negative too. It's such a weight on my brain and is exhausting

Peanutbuttercups21 · 28/03/2018 06:54

My DS gets headache (with throwing up, and unable to cope with light, so.guess more a migraine) if his blood sugar gets too low.

Things like soft drinks or sweets send his bloodsugar up, and then crashing down.

Or not eating in time

He gets hot and sweaty and moody, then goes red in the face, retches and gets this crashing headache.

He manages it (with 99% success) by eating carb based things regularly. He needs a sandwich, out of school, and another one before bed. Bread, potatoes, crackers are all good to stabilise his bloodsugar.

Your DS may be totally different, so see a GP.

But we "ban" soft drinks, even the diet ones, as they really mess with his blood sugar (he is not diabetic, just gets unwell if blood sugar drops too much). He instinctively now avoids sugary stuff, actually

Peanutbuttercups21 · 28/03/2018 07:00

Oh yes, the yawning too, and the craving of sugar (but knows this makes it worse)

Hereditary too, I have it as does my dad.

Iron routine with fixed meal times helps

And lots of brown bread Grin (slow release carbs)

user1494670108 · 28/03/2018 07:19

A friends dd had gained reduction in migraines by seeing an Osteopath regularly.

Original poster
TrackerBar · 28/03/2018 17:46

Everything you're describing sounds similar to ds.

He gets hot and sweaty and moody, then goes red in the face, retches and gets this crashing headache

Peanutbuttercups, this is pretty much how he is as well and then if he is sick at school I have to go and pick him up.

I like the idea of the osteopath as well, I'll look into that.

Flowers Thank you all Smile

OP posts:
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