Teenager & migraine

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Looking for some advice for DD. She has recently started getting regular longlasting headaches. Doctor believes these are migraines. DD has recently started on the pill, could this be connected? Dr said she needs to talk to Family Planning nurse.

What other things could DD be doing to help with these please? DD is taking ibuprofen but finding this doesnt help.

i'd be careful with adding prescription drugs with the pill and migraines, my sister had a stroke at 25 because of the pill and migraine medication.

i had really bad migraines as a teen and found anadin extra worked best, that and sleeping it off in a dark room.

My migraines got a whole lot worse when I went on the pill as a teen (microgynon) so it quite possibly linked. When I got to 40 & swapped to the minipill, the migraines lessened dramatically.

I find that ibuprofen with lysine are better than just normal ibuprofen. Most pharmacies sell them as migraine or tension relief tablets.

Migraleve is another OTC tablet that if taken at the onset can help quite quickly.

I find a darkened room with a bag of frozen peas on my head or neck helps too.

I think the first step would be to see the nurse as a simple change in pill might do the trick.

Thanks all for the advice.

The only other thing that helps me is 'For Head' its like a cream in a roll on type thing that you put directly on your forhead and works miracles. You should be able to get it from Boots or Superdrug its in a pink/grey box.

I started with migraines after a significant period of stress. I find the most effective combo is migralieve -taking the pink one immediately on starting a migraine, a 4head stick or the migralieve cool and soothe strips and to lie down in a dark, quiet room.
It's also worth doing a food diary because most people have some triggers. For me it's red wine, goats's cheese and certain marshmellows!
It's important that she reviews the pill. It's higher risk of stroke to be on the combined pill with migraines. The mini pill, implant or injection may be more suitable. Her GP should really have advised on that! But I agree, get her to family planning pronto. Hth.

I agree with everything said re the pill, but for short-term pain relief, I found a great suggestion on another, older mn thread on migraine - take soluble aspirin and hold each mouthful of the water and aspirin in your mouth for a few seconds as it absorbs through the gums and cheeks quickly. I have previously found all otc medication useless for migraine but this has really, really worked for me. I also found a food diary very useful and discovered my triggers are coffee, red wine, cheese and - most of all - tiredness. It can also help identify if there are certain times of day or times of your DD's cycle that she is particularly prone to suffer, and at which it makes sense to cut down on the trigger foods or on tiring activities. E.g. I can eat cheese in the evening on a relatively full stomach, but earlier in the day it is asking for trouble.

Just remembered dark chocolate triggers for me too.

When I was a teenager I used to get migraines a few times a week and this went on for years. They started before I went on the pill. I feel they were due to hormones being all over the place and stress (school and family issues) I still suffer now, but they are much improved when I'm not in the pill. For me, 4head stick on forehead and temples with regular special migraine ibuprofen as well as paracetamol works best and going for a lie down in a dark room. Tiredness is the big trigger now. If I take a painkiller when I get the first niggle of pain I can sometimes stop it before it starts.