18 day migraine, is this real?

[cycleninja]

My 15 year old son has had a bad headache and nausea at times for 18 days now. Pain wise his headache goes between a 6-9. GP checked him. Diagnosed migraine Hospital checked him, agree with migraine, CT scan clear. We are starting to wonder if he's telling the truth. We've sent him to school a few times but he comes home after a couple of hours saying the pain is a 10 and feels sick. I'm thinking he doesn't want to be at school but he says he's not lying but does prefer to be home. I hate to doubt him. But surely a migraine would have stopped by now. He's taking ibuprofen/paracetamol and anti sickness pills.

Can teens take sumitriptan? That's all that helps me.

Re if telling truth, what's he doing at home? If pain is an 8-10 i wouldnt be able to lift my head up

The Gp said sumatriptan isn't licensed for children.

Yes it is possible to have continuous migraine for this long. Poor kid! I would go back to GP. Ask for neurology referral. And also talk to school this is going to affect his GCSEs.

Yes depends what he's doing at home. I get frequent migraines. I have varying symptoms but always involve nausea (where I can't move without feeling worse and just curl up in a chair or go to bed to sleep) or/and light sensitivity during which I can't use my phone for any length of time, can't bear to watch TV without sunglasses on, can't play video games. I can't concentrate enough to read or do complicated tasks either.

I'm thinking of giving him migraleave. Has anyone experience with taking it this far into a migraine?

I don't do migraleve as its just an expensive combination of codeine and paracetamol - though it may be more suitable for your DS as some versions contain buclizine for nausea relief.
I use two ibuprofen (or aspirin) as soon as possible - making sure to eat a decent stomach lining food first - with a can of full sugar cola if I can cope or some pro plus if not) then an hour later I start on the codeine & paracetamol (migraleve, or in my case co-codamol).
But I've never in all my days (age 13 to present at 47!) had an 18 day migraine. My max has been 5.

Has he had other migraines before this? I'd be going back for a second opinion or referral as, if he is telling the truth, he can't carry on like this indefinitely.

My 14 year old takes zolmitriptin for migraine and it works really well for him. There are loads of viral things going round as well that are taking ages to shift, could it be something like that?

My dd,in her 20s, had a headache/migraine everyday for three months. Paracetamol and caffine eased it.

Finally went with amitriptyline and visits to chiropractor. Not sure which one worked.

Could his sinuses be blocked? I had a really bad migraine for 13 days, was in bed, felt sick no painkiller eased the pain at all. Then i decided to try Sudafed and after 2 days it eased the pain which eventually went away.

I do have problems with my sinuses but this was completely different this time.

Also ensure he’s drinking enough and away from any herbal medicines, and sprays ie deodorant etc as that can make it worse.

More than 6 days in a row of ibuprofen or paracetamol can cause headaches.
I hope he hasn’t been taking them all 18days?

Have his eyes been checked? MRI would miss any eye issues that cause headache.

There are lots of migraine preventatives, who hasn’t he been referred to neurology ?

I had continuous migrane with aura (going from one episode into the next) twice in my life .Once after starting the pill in my 20's and in my first pregnancy.It was horrendous both times . blindness . vomiting and absolutely splitting headache non stop for 10 days.All tests like EEG /MRi normal .I was told it was called Status Migranosis .Had something similar last year on HRT and when my blood pressure was high but only Occular Migrane.

Yes. My migraines can laser for days. Only things that gets rid is Triptan and coedine
Ive had them since nearly a teen

He tried the migraleave and it definitely lowered the pain, also made him extremely drowsy. Once tablets wore off the pain has returned. It's not a long term solution.

He hasn't been taking many pills because they just do nothing for him.

He had an eye test just before Christmas.

Did he have a big change in prescription? That could be causing it (did for me recently). I went back to the Opticians and they gave me a new lenses not as strong.

i would be thinking of sumatriptan (can he take sumatriptan??) plenty of sleep and plenty of water. If the pain was a 10 I’d be in a dark room unable to talk with my head under a cold pillow. I’ve had headaches last for days but not a full blown migraine most I’ve had a migraine is 2 days, for me a migraine is double vision, being sick, unable to walk due to dizziness, flashing lights and or double vision, sweating/shivering, pins and needles down my arms, I couldn’t even contemplate lifting my phone to look at it. I can’t even drink water it’s a total body shut down. Completely different to a headache, I have tension headaches a lot. I’d be taking him back to the GP too.

NICE guidelines - screenshot below if you want to Google, mention nasal triptans for under 18s

Doctor told me to try 3 aspirin with a can of coke, before using triptans. Sometimes it helps.

But yes, it's possible (and hellish) to have a migraine for that long. My first ones were like that, and I thought I was almost certainly dying with a brain tumour. Get him diagnosed, and treat him softly, poor lad.

Is he eating? Drinking? When I have a migraine I literally can’t keep any food or drink down without being sick so if I had one for 18 days I’d be dead. But maybe that’s not the case with all migraines, so apologies. I only have my own experience.

There is no long term solution. Triptans don't work reliably, and they're specific for the condition.