Relief That I Had Wished For

My daughter is 17 now and has suffered from very frequent (4-5 times a week) migraines. She has suffered from them since she was about 9 and probably had abdominal migraines prior to that from about the age of 3 or 4. She has been a trooper, but her life has not been easy. Her migraines have impacted both of our lives. She has missed school, events and suffered whilst on vacation. She has seen a total of 3 neurologists who have had of course their own opinions on why she might be suffering etc. A few years ago she was put on different types of medication (e.g. topomax - didn't help & caused weird tingling on her face and hands which was disturbing for her). She also was diagnosed with low blood pressure and put on a medication for that (she evidently has outgrown the low blood pressure now). She has not been on any medication for a few years and we have been diligently trying to remove triggers that were creating her migraines (but as you all can appreciate, that is always easier said than done). For instance, one of the triggers was taking notes in school or watching a video in a dark classroom, or the bright sun as it's setting. Almost impossible to change your lifestyle completely. And once that migraine starts, it was a debilitating experience where she has to lie down in the dark and try and sleep it off. Fortunately the vomiting with a migraine stopped as she got a bit older. (Tylenol nor Advil, nor anything stronger works to knock it out).

She of course was too young to start on the triptan type of medicines (which I wasn't keen on her taking anyway). We tried homeopathy and were told she had parasites and to take this & that etc. (I didn't really think that's what was causing the migraines.) Being her mother, there is no-one that knows her as well as I do and so I happened to research the connection between bowel movements, sinus blockages and migraines (it took a while to connect the dots). I know it sounds funny, but these I believe are 2 of the things that have contributed to the migraines. She had an MRI (as the pediatrician had wanted to rule anything serious out and it was discovered, unbeknownst to us, that she had chronic sinusitis). After she was better, she saw an ENT dr who gave her an azelastine nasal spray and she uses that when she feels her one sinus seems particularly blocked. For the bm, I try my best for her to eat more fruits and veggies (which she's not so keen on), so I ensure she drinks inulin (natural fiber) in her water as well as a prune tablet. Occasionally I'll give her a stool softener. I know all of this sounds graphic, but I wanted to share it, because it could hold some significance and help someone else who's suffering.

Not once did any of the pediatric neurologists connect that not having a regular bowel movement can contribute to getting a migraine. It makes sense that the body needs to expel those toxins. Anyway, working on getting those 2 things (the bm and the sinuses) under control helped tremendously, but she would still get rather frequent migraines. Still 2-3 a week. I got to thinking about her other family member's migraine history (her paternal aunt) and how she coped with her severe migraines. It makes sense because of the familial connection and her make-up, that what might work for one blood relative might work for another. I recalled her aunt actually drinking a lot of coke to get through the day. Well, I didn't want my daughter drinking soda to that extent, so instead she started drinking a chai tea latte with soy milk every morning (purely for the caffeine intake). It has been about 3 weeks now since she drinks that and I don't want to jinx anything, but we are astounded how the caffeine alone has reduced her migraine occurrence. In about 3 weeks, she has suffered probably from 2 migraines total. She has a big glass of water to dilute it a bit. That's the only caffeine she has during the day, but I think it has worked wonders. I'd rather her have caffeine than prescription drugs to relieve or prevent her migraines. I know my story is long, but I truly wanted to share some things that we have gone through and hopefully can help others with these tips.