DD12 severe migraine

[BirdInDisguise]

My 12 y/o DD had a really bad migraine a couple of weeks ago.

She woke in the morning with severe headache over one eye. Gave her paracetamol but within about half an hour she started vomiting. She was sick every 15 minutes or so for hours and hours. Excruciating headache. Light aversion. And most alarmingly she lost the ability to read or speak properly. She didn't have any visual disturbance.

I ended up calling GP after a couple of hours and they wanted to see her (to rule out meningitis I think), diagnosed migraine and gave her a single dose of a nasal spray for the pain (I can't remember the name) and an anti-sickness pill.

By about 4 or 5pm she was starting to feel better but was washed out and unable to eat properly for a couple of days.

I'm not sure what I'm asking really, but it was pretty horrific for several hours and I'm worried that it will happen again. She's fairly skinny for her age and only showing first signs of puberty. No periods yet. No other obvious triggers so I suspect hormones might be the cause.

Is this likely to happen this badly again or could it be a one-off? Any tips for managing the symptoms if it does? The vomiting meant she was unable to keep any painkillers down and the pain was constantly severe even with lying in a dark room and cold compress for head etc.

Thank you :)

Get the doctor to prescribe some triptans - keep them with her/you at all times. Probably the spray version because she won’t be able to throw it up like a pill. Take it at the first sign of a headache. Good luck, migraines are vile.

Poor daughter
I used to get awful sick headaches as a child-

Migraines are horrid.

As one gets older they seem to ease off , sometimes just giving the classic “ Aura” without bad pain if painkillers can be taken in time.

Our female Gp gets migraines and swears by Tesco Soluble aspirin and an anti nauseant ( prescription) taken at first sign of migraine.

Different things help different people.

I too was very skinny
Stress could bring them on.

Edit The worst are those one wakes up with - brutal. And no painkillers seem to touch them.

It does sound very typical migraine like.

I didn’t get the classical aura til 20 , and thought I was going blind.
it started with an intense bright spot that shimmered - it increased over 30 mins to fill visual field- very scintillating and dazzling

Then as soon as it appeared- it went away and a thumping headache followed.

Often genetic.

Yes the key is to get the triptan in asap to stop it progressing so definitely get them to prescribe the nasal one to you so she can have it quickly next time if it worked. Poor girl!

Thanks everyone.
Me, her dad and her brother all get migraines but nothing like this. It was the loss of speech that really worried me.
I think I'll have to wait and see if it happens again then go back to GP. All the meds mentioned are prescription only for children I think.

Mine began at the same age in almost exactly the same way, including the loss of speech and reading. I still get them occasionally though I don’t think I have ever had one as bad as my first.
Mine responded better to the herbal remedy feverfew than to triptans.

The Migraine Trust website is really good for descriptions of migraine types, and how to respond in general.

My son is 15 and his migraines started 5 or 6 years ago. He only ever took ibuprofen but had a severe episode which lasted over 24 hrs where he had pain and vomiting and painkillers weren’t working. He got prescribed zolmitriptin for migraine and ondansetron for vomiting. The zolmitriptin works really well and if he takes it quickly, it usually stops it quickly.