Desperate for advice
I’m at my wits end and desperate for any advice. Both my husband and I get migraines, not very often and are very treatable. However, my son began getting migraines at about age 11 now and again. Since he hit 15 a few months ago they have got worse and worse to the point he wakes with a migraine 5-6 days a week. We have tried triptans with little success and have him on propanolol but he has IBS and at anything over 40mg gets an upset stomach after 48 hrs. We have insisted on regular bed routines, taken away Xbox, trying to get him to eat better (difficult when he feels nausea with the migraine). The school is supportive but he has missed weeks. My latest is wondering if he could be diabetic? He is approx 50kilos and 5foot 8, does drink a lot but says he’s never hungry. Waiting to see a consultant in 2 weeks time but could really do with some help!
i've had migraines since age 7. It's good that you are seeking professionals to rule out other things. I'd say treat his migraines as you would yours. But you can't eliminate them all together. Have you seen a migraine specialist? It's hard when his hormones are fluxuating too. Changes in hormones seem to play a big part in migraines.
warm regards
RonanOh gosh, I'm so sorry! Here is some information about migraine and diet, including foods that are triggers and foods that are not. One thing I failed to realize when I first started having near-daily migraines like your son, was that I was inadvertently eating migraine triggers at nearly every meal. I had eaten them my entire life, and thought nothing of it, but bodies can change, and mine had become oversensitized (almost overnight) to virtually all chemicals in food that can trigger migraine. Cutting that out of my diet and only eating food prepared from scratch at home helped immensely.
https://migraine.com/blog/elimination-diet-foods-to-eat-foods-to-avoid/
I'm not a doctor, so I'm not aware if typical meds can't be prescribed under 18 and know nothing about IBS, so forgive me for what may be dumb questions, but is it safe for your son to take anything for nausea? That might be a question to ask your doctor. I don't get nausea with every migraine, but have a real problem with it if I have to ride in a car, and if I start throwing up, nothing stops me but an IV in the ER. So I have a prescription for two different nausea meds, which is helpful and prevents ER visits.
You mentioned taking away the X-box... has he mentioned if he feels light/screen sensitive?
Hi kwebst,
I'm so sorry to hear about your son not feeling well. I completely understand - seeing our children in pain is awful. Both my children have episodic migraine disease, so for now their attacks are few and far between.
Good to hear you'll be seeing someone soon to help him and it sounds like you're really trying to get a handle on his triggers, not an easy job! If you haven't kept a detailed migraine diary recently I would encourage you to do so. When my son was nine years old and having frequent migraine attacks, I wasn't able to figure out what was triggering them so I kept a detailed migraine diary with (really for) him. We determined if he was dehydrated, skipped meals, didn't keep a regular sleep schedule, got overheated, ate dark chocolate or too many nitrates he would have a migraine attack. Once his sleep was regulated and he stayed away from the things I mentioned his attack reduced dramatically. Let me share our information on this topic with you;
https://migraine.com/blog/keeping-migraine-diary-basics/.I hope this helps,
Nancy
