Daughter had "migraine" for 5 days now

[naughty40me]

Please anyone with any experience?

My daughter age 10 has never suffered with headaches before. Started complaining of a bad head on Sunday morning.

Now, unfortunately her step sister whom she has contact with a week ago (as of that day) is in hospital with bacterial meningitis and is obviously very ill. She is still in there now.

So, being cautious I explained the situation and 111 said to go to a&e...he ruled out meningitis due to no fever or rash.

She was still no better come NYE so took her to drop in. Dr wasn't happy and sent her to children's assessment ward telling me they would run tests.

Drs there again ruled out anything but did not perform any bloods or scans and diagnosed migraine. Said to give calpol and ibuprofen which we have been doing already. Also had 2 doses of sumatriptan over the past few days and that doesn't work either.

We spent NYE in hospital more so because I couldn't get home (no car and no taxis available and we live 30 mins drive away)...nightmare.

Got home yesterday and come last night she was crying and holding her head.

She has slept last night for 13 hours which is long for her but I thought it would help so left her.

She's now up and refusing to come downstairs. Just wants to stay in bed. Have just given her calpol and a sumatriptan but I'm so so worried.

Surely she shouldn't be in this much pain for 5 days?? Even if a viral thing she would be fighting it off by now?

I'm not concerned about meningitis but I do think the drs focused on ruling it out rather than trying to find the cause of this pain.

Tbh I'm thinking of brain tumours now and all sorts

I'm going to ring GP and ask for bloods and a scan or is that being dramatic?

Single mum with no help and no one else really to sound off. Help please.

@naughty40me - Oh, bless her. I'm so relieved for you that there isn't anything 'serious' underlying her pain (not to minimise the pain at all).

For what it's worth, I had something that sounds very similar when I was about 15. Horrendous pain, dizziness, and fatigue so bad I slept most of the day. Scans turned up nothing. The doctors were stumped. I was put on to serious painkillers, but also decided to take matters into my own hands and started easing my neck and shoulders by doing hundreds of micro movements. I also started yoga, and jogging. I wrapped a scarf around my head when I went outside.

Whether that worked, or whether the pain was simply self-limiting, I was out of it in a couple of weeks.

My dd has migraines which are primarily dizziness. She has been prescribed medication which is essentially travel sickness tablets. If not already prescribed something I would ask for some. The first lot made her really sleepy, the second lot do make her tired but it is a balancing act. We need to dose her up a fair bit initially and then taper off. If she ever doesn't have her medicine then any travel sickness tablets help, hers can actually be bought OTC but she needs them in substantial quantities to suppress the headaches. Under 12 the dose is less and may not be enough to fully manage the migraine. They don't cure the migraine, just suppress the dizziness until it subsides.

Thanks for all the well wishes and I'm sorry to hear others are poorly too.

I'm trying my best to get her an eye appointment but everywhere seems booked up.

We're into day 13 now and she's so wobbly. I do think it's some kind of viral thing that's affected her middle ears maybe?

It's so stressful, just want her to get better. She's missed loads of school this year already and I'm missing work too as I have no one to help.

I was going to suggest travel sickness tablets. And also the travel sick bands if she’s feeling nauseous.

Shld be able to get high st appt at optician?
Is she having follow up with paediatrician at hospital? You need general paediatrician to then refer to headache clinic
Where in uk are you? Gosh headache clinic is great.
For school call LEA and ask for education officer dealing with children missing school due to illness.
(This helps pre empt any attendance letters...)
Once she missed 15 days consecutive she shld get access to alternative provision.
Dd attended small group then hospital schools day pupil until better control of symptoms.

www.gov.uk/illness-child-education

Paed can also refer to ENT vestibular audiology

With any of the meds it s trial to see what works

Sorry if it's been suggested I havent rtft.

But the symptoms sound very similar to when I had sinusitis. It's debilitating. The dr I saw thought it was menigitis I was so bad and sent me to a and e.
They x-rayed me and there was this cloudy mass all around my sinuses.

Oh and sinusitis can go on for weeks, the only thing that worked for me was antibiotics.

(Dd symptoms were similar and eventually diagnosed chronic migraine at gosh headache clinic ...she missed more than a year of regular school but got access to other provision
It s hard I was able to work from home
.
.

Thank you.

I'm not sure about sinusitis I thought perhaps it would have shown up on the MRI but I don't know.

She also has no infection according to her bloods but not sure if a virus would show or not.

I will ask the doctor about it for sure if she doesn't improve soon.

I've got her in today at 1.15pm at the opticians, so we will see what that achieves.

The children's drs just said to go back to our GP for a review in 2/3 weeks.

We are in the north close to Wakefield...the hospital we have to use is Pinderfields.

I only do a small part time job as I'm long term sickness myself and have no childcare. So I work as a lunchtime supervisor and it's actually at her school. Everyone is very supportive though.

We had the attendance officer turn up in October when she was off with flu, there was nothing I could do; It was doctors orders for her to stay off and the previous episode of appendix out followed by bowel issues was all just unlucky I guess.

Was hoping 2020 would be a better year....just been informed my grandmother is in hospital now with heart failing, she is 90 though. Not having any luck at the moment!

1. Keep a headache and symptoms diary use the gosh one
2. Ask for referral to regional oaed headache clinic

Paediatric headache clinic

The migraine trust has list

@Embracelife
Thank you
I will keep a diary of everything

Her eye test shows she needs a stronger prescription glasses but the level of it does not tally with her vision loss at the moment.

It's a case of something else affecting the eyes rather than the eyes themselves so it could well be a viral thing.

But we're coming up to 2 weeks now so if no improvement soon I will be back at GP for more tests/referrals

So are you not under any consultant now? Surely ‘they’ should be looking into what it is not just ruling things out and discharging you!

No @lilgreen

The paediatrician on the hospital ward queried with the registrar before we left as to what the follow up should be.

They decided on a visit back to the GP for review. So I'm presuming they will only refer to a specialist if it carries on for any longer.

We've been past from pillar to post. There seems to be a lot of cutting corners and cost cutting around our area. We're certainly not the only family having to fight for healthcare.

Such a shame, the NHS is definitely failing where we live .

My 15 year old son suffers from ridiculously painful migraines and is under a consultant neurologist for them - and it's not that unusual for them to last for a week at times, depending on the trigger which caused it (he has different triggers: oranges, cheese - but only Cheddar - and stress). Sometimes the pain goes away, and then comes back; sometimes they make him vomit, and sometimes medication doesn't work at all (he was prescribed Migraleve as an 8 year old by the neurologist, and the GP almost went through the roof as it's not meant to be given to any under-12s, apparently...).

On the other hand, it could be a virus. As a PP said, there is one doing the rounds where horrible headaches do occur for over a week. It might even be a sinus infection, given the time of year leading to pressure headaches. It's unlikely to be a tumour... but you're her mum: trust your instinct. If you think it's not a virus - you need to insist that she gets a referral to the migraine clinic. They'll run more in-depth tests (my son was tested, twice, for epilepsy using electricity to stimulate different parts of his brain, and had a CT scan to rule out anything nasty lurking - the scan picked up that his headaches were more likely to be migraine, because of something that the doctor recognised and he was referred to the migraine clinic and a specialist paeds consultant) and hopefully give you some answers. Just be prepared to have to do tests involving known food triggers (chocolate, and so forth), and to answer questions about any sort of head trauma. My son suffered a severe head injury when he was hit in the head by a tennis racket that my ex-MIL was using to play tennis on the lawn with, and had a severe concussion before developing post-concussion syndrome. That's when his migraines began, actually, so the head trauma is 90% likely to be connected to them... but there is a family history of migraine (both my father and I get the classic migraines with aura - I actually go completely blind in my left eye, and develop numbness down that side of my face until the migraine goes away, and when I was 5, and had my first ever migraine? My mother thought I was having a stroke or a recurrance of the epilepsy I'd had a few years prior and "grown out of".

Migraines in children are notoriously difficult to diagnose, though - all told, it took a year or so for my son's diagnosis to be settled upon by the various neurologists he saw, and only because of the scan he had showing up the difference in his frontal lobe -, so be prepared to recount everything and anything you can think of which might be connected, at the drop of a hat, when asked (including whether or not you think she's started puberty - because they can be triggered by hormonal changes in the body, too). But yes; you need to push for referrals. Just because she's never had one before, doesn't mean that she hasn't developed them.

Hope that helps.

Have they mentioned labrynthitis or Ménière's disease to you? Her symptoms fit with both

OP’s DD has had an MRI @contrary13 so she is now not worried about tumours but just wants answers.
Good luck op, hope you get a referral soon .

Has she had a lumbar puncture (fluid taken from the spine with a needle)?

@GrandmaSharksDentures

No she hasn't. Do you think it may show anything?

Just read all of your thread, hoping she improves soon.
I really sympathise - it's such a worry when the kids get ill and I can never think clearly.
Great parenting from you I must say

@Cuddling57

Thank you 😊
I really appreciate that

With the dizziness sounds like it could be vestibular migraine.