Daughter missing school - migraines

[Jule5ky]

Hello
My daughter (11) is missing lots of school due to migraines. Basically the current one is ongoing for 35 days. We are seeing doctors and a paediatrician and currently await MRI results.
My question is whether anybody has any experience or advice how we can keep on top of her education. She's struggling to get out of bed. Sometimes we get an hour or two where I can get her out of the house. That sometimes depends on medicines and when that pocket is.
Obviously this situation could change (if the migraine cycle breaks) but in the meantime I'm wondering what support we can expect off the school in terms of sending work home and communication. Would be good to hear from anyone who has experience of a poorly child and lots of absence.
We may be able to get her in to school for say an hour or two on a good day but when she managed this three weeks ago they stuck her in another classroom to do a test because she'd had so much absence. One of those things but wasn't the best thing for her that day I'm sure. I'm taking time off to be with her but have to work at some stage too.
Really hoped this would resolve over Xmas but there had been no change and she's constantly 'coping' with the pain and dipping in to painkillers when it gets too much. Am chasing different parties within school as nobody seems to be taking an interest (apart from the attendance service who obviously want to make sure it is genuine absence).

💐 for you and your daughter. I sympathise as I suffer with migraines but never had one lasting more than a couple of days let alone 35 days. Your poor dd that must be horrendous. 💐 getting treatment for the migraine I think is the only option you can persue at the moment, she obviously can't attend school or even do any work at home. Poor thing. I do hope it gets better you just all be at your wits end.

DD2 gets migraines and at times she can have cluster ones. Have you tied beta blockers? She has found them quite successful in stopping the cycle, although they make her very tired so she only takes them when needing to.

Jule5ky I have sent you a PM

Hi,
I'm a head of department in a secondary school so my experience is from 'the other side.'

The way we arrange work in this situation is for the Head of Year to group email all the student's teachers to request work and explain the situation - i.e. the cause of absence and that the student may or may not attend on occasion etc etc

If she's genuinely suffering from migraines though it's probably near impossible for her to keep up, so you may want to focus on the core subjects (English and Maths) when she is able to do work and catch up on other things slowly and in holidays etc. If she gets behind in core subjects she'll have significant difficulties later on as the new GCSEs are phenomenally harder and rely on developed skill over the 5years - no more coursework / controlled assessments.

So I would email head of year / relevant pastoral person to get an email sent to teachers requesting work for you to collect on day X from reception.
If you don't have heads of year and you aren't sure who to contact, go to the Head teacher and they'll pass it onto the relevant person I'm sure

Just been through similar with DS although he is 15 and has GCSEs this year!

His were coming on every morning. He missed three weeks before xmas holidays and two lots of three weeks last summer term.

I kept his housemaster in the loop with an email every morning. And his teachers got catch up work organised and I picked it up. Attendance office not involved so far - prob as it's an independent school.

It's horrible for them and you feel so helpless and worried. I got ds an appointment at the national migraine centre in London just before xmas. They were helpful but nothing earth shattering or miraculous. He did say teens need as much sleep as an 8 or 9 year old and that is why they can seem to improve over the holidays. Dehydration is def a trigger for ds. He also said no screens at night other than tv.

We managed to break this cycle by getting him up half an hour before he migraine usually hits and he took a Sumatriptan with a glass of coke. He still got a headache but much less and it went quicker. Repeated th per next morning (xmas day) with th same result and he hasn't had a migraine since. Fingers crossed! He had never fund Sumatriptan worked before but the coke def helped. You might already have tried it just thought I would mention it.

The national migraine centre website is quite good.

Can you try cranial ostheopathy on top of the other medical treatment she is already doing.?

Dc has suffered with them since 7years old. Nothing worked.

Went to orthodontist few years back who asked if dc was migraine sufferer as soon as she saw him. Said it was to do with the way the jaw aligns & grinding of jaw & teeth. Has had a mouth guard fitted which he sleeps in & migraines are definitely less often.

HTH