Migraines

[Villageidiots]

My 16 year old son suffers really badly from migraines. He gets them at least every week and they wipe him out completely. All he can do is sleep and he is often v sick and in a lot of pain. He ended up under consultant care just before his gcses due to a bad cluster of them. He takes preventers and painkillers which don't seem effective. I am waiting on a call from his consultant as he's had so many since starting college and the college are not happy about him missing learning. Any top tips for an alternative solution or anything that we can do? I feel that they are ruining his life. He's definitely not faking btw.

DS, now 18, has them, but not as severely as your DS, and they seem to be improving as he gets older. They were at their worst a couple of years ago. Had they not improved, we would have tried acupuncture.

My DS when he was 9/10 had a phase of migraines over the course of 18 mths, coming on very quickly and then would be sick, after a sleep would be ok. Took him to see a cranial chiropractor who did some manipulation and touch wood he hasn’t suffered since, he’s 15 now.

I'm sceptical about alternative and complementary medicine but my DD did have cranial osteopathy for her migraines aged 10. I'm not 100% certain it helped but we were at the point of trying anything. We now think they were caused by a separate illness. I would say it's worth a try. She also had acupuncture and that was a bit terrifying for me seeing the need,Es in her head! But she felt no pain from either procedure

Have a look at the Migraine Trust details on supplements he can take: www.migrainetrust.org/living-with-migraine/treatments/supplements-and-herbs/

V high dose Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) and magnesium were recommended for me by Neurology. My consultant is a leading expert on migraine, so I trust him!

Is he taking triptans or codeine for his migraine? Codeine is often prescribed, but is actually no good for migraine.

How often is he taking painkillers? Is he into medication overuse territory? It's very common.

Also, have a look at the NICE clinical guidance on treatment of migraine in young people, and make sure he's getting access to everything: cks.nice.org.uk/migraine#!scenario:1

It sounds like he's especially triggered by stressful situations. Migraineurs often need good routines of sleep, healthy food and plenty of liquids. Have a look at a book called"Heal Your Headache" - it's a bit out of date on the science of what causes migraine, but it gives great advice on lifestyle management for coping.

Has ge changed preventers? My 7 year old had 10 months ofnsolid abdominal migraines before diagnosis. Started treatment and was a different child within weeks. 1 year later he could come off them.

I have had many different preventative medicines and until my current one, all have worn off after 9-18 months and stopped working

Also a solid routine is needed. I get up and go to sleep every day at the same time including the weekend. I eat at the same time too and drink lots of water. Its boring but helps.

One of mine was badly affected from about the age of 12 and was under the care of paediatric neurology. An increasing cocktail of different drugs was tried but didn’t make much difference. We tried chiropractors, which didn’t help either. But someone I know was helped by a chiropractor, so could be worth a try. Reading made it worse and often seemed to be a trigger. Eyesight was fine. We found laying coloured sheets over books or screens to change the colour of the page to help quite a bit.

One top tip is to take painkillers (prederably a crisis migraine tablet) as soon as his head starts hurting. I used to wait until I could tell if it wasnjust a headache or a migraine, but my neurologist told me to take the crisis medicine immediately and that helps.

Is he drinking enough water?

Does he drink coke? Some people find it helps, some find it doesn't. Have you identified any food triggers?

Tell college he has a disability (as defined as chronic condition) and ask them to work with your son.
Get referral to a regional headache clinic.
Try a different preventive.

I don't think there's anything else that you could opt for with no extra information. By 16, if a regular sufferer, someone should be noticing if anything improves or exacerbates the migraines. Diet, behaviour, or whatever.

And the problem with migraines is that a hurting head is often the last symptom, after a bucket load of weird.

I agree with much of what pp have said already but just to add my own two penn'orth: I discovered that aerobic exercise triggered some migraines. It took a while to realise but after 2 barn dances and a zumba class (not on the same day!) I realised this wasn't a coincidence,so I have to be very careful. One activity would then trigger weeks of migraines.

They aren't my only triggers,just another one to consider. Tbh the causes are so varied and so mysterious at the same time. I get the full blown aura- though I think 'bucket load of weird' describes it perfectly - and I've taken pizotifen twice a day for years,plus magnesium. Plus sumatriptan when they strike.
A neurologist told me that pizotifen doesn't work but mine got worse when I stopped and better when I restarted so I had to disagree. I do dread it stopping working though. Main downside was weight gain but I had to balance that against being able to function.

Migraines are horrible and OP's son's college should be supporting him,not adding to his stress.

Poor lad. Migraines like that must be awful. No advice but lots of sympathy.

Triggers can also be things like the weather, and also an addition of several triggers, each one not enough to individually trigger a migraine, but stacked together tip you over the threshold.

I find it oddly fascinating that DS and I will sometimes have a migraine at the same time whilst on holiday for example, which is definitely from some external trigger (ie. not stress or diet) that we must both be sensitive to.