ever suffered a Migraine?

[Icey101]

My son has been getting migraine headaches for a few years now, it stops him from going to school etc...

Do you suffer and what do you do about it?

[fmoore200]

Excedrin and a dark, quiet room

[254 stringer]

Take him to the doctor. My wife gets them and they used to be pretty bad but she got some medication( can't remember the name) and it gets rid of them in an about an hour.

[Relic]

Yes, for about the past 20 years or so... they can really be disruptive as it's way more than just a headache, it's nausea, visual disturbances and so on. Once they start, there's NOTHING that works. I can take advils, exedrins, aspirins, aleves and none will even scratch the surface.
The best advice that I can give is to look for "triggers" (as in many of these cases there are triggers that can cause these). If you can figure out what they are and avoid them, the battle's mostly won. In my case it's a series of things - lack of sleep is #1, but it can also be alcohol and nicotine. In your son's case, might it be some sort of food, or is he getting enough sleep etc? Maybe keep a log to see if a pattern emerges. I wish him the best of luck, these migraines are just rotten..

Oh and yes - 254 stringer is right - have him see a doc

[Tsal]

There's effective drugs for it, yep, called triptans. There's multiple versions of these, you might need to try different ones to find one that works for him. Other than that, max dosage painkillers for the headache, and sometimes caffeine helps as well. Then there's preventable drugs, if he gets it often.

With migraine, he might have certain things that trigger it. For me it's alcohol, I get a migraine after a hangover. Needless to say, I don't drink much nowadays.

[RosieB]

Yes, migraines are my life. But my sons get them, too. Seemed to start at puberty. My older son missed so much school I finally took him to a neurologist. They put him on a low dose of amitriptyline for a few years till he outgrew the worst of it. It really kept them under control. We could always tell when he forgot to take it.

Same pattern for my younger son though not as severe, so he just avoids the triggers he can (nitrates & nitrites) and uses Excedrine migraine when needed. Maxalt only worked the first few times he took it and the same for the other medicine they prescribed. I had a bad reaction to Maxalt myself. Older son and I both use Excedrine migraine, too, with good results. But be very careful if your son is younger because it has aspirin in it which can cause Reyes syndrome. I really just started giving it to my son out of desperation because nothing else seemed to help at all.

Identifying triggers and avoiding them is the best solution, though not always feasible. All three of us are triggered by weather/pressure changes, and I'm triggered by sinus pressure. Keeping a weather, food, activity and migraine diary is really the best way to identify triggers. It's a pain, but it's the fastest, most effective way.

I wish you well getting this figured out quickly for him. It's no fun for anyone when they hit.

[RosieB]

Originally Posted by fmoore200

Excedrin and a dark, quiet room

+10000000

[ADbassman]

No actually. Nor do I want to.

[Tat2dHeart]

Two aspirin, two Aleve, four Excedrin Migraine, 1/2 a caffeinated soda, a pitch black room and sleep.

If that doesn't kick it, Axert has helped, but that's hit or miss. After that - it's off to the ER for demerol.

[jmattbassplaya]

I got them every day in second grade. It would get to the point where I'd just blank out in class and forget how to even head a paper of mine before turning it in. I took a lot of medication for a while to keep them at bay. Surprisingly, I mostly stopped getting them once I graduated on to third grade. I haven't even gotten a migraine since 5th or 6th grade.

[stratovani]

My wife has had migraines her entire life. She used to get such bad ones that she'd do the usual - spend time in a dark room and puking on occasion. When the kids were little she's spend the entire weekend in the bedroom, leaving yours truly to care for three little ones. That was fun! But since then she's been taking medication and it has helped her enormously. She'll get one once in a while, but they're nothing like they used to be!

[purpletornado]

I've had problems with headaches since I was a kid and over the last few years they've progressively gotten worse. Since caffeine sometimes makes me feel sketchy I've been self-medicating with marijuana and it helps me.

[Hobobob]

I was getting bad ones every couple weeks - mine would start with blind spots and progress to where half of my visual field was gone. I tried imitrex, didn't do a damn thing. My neurologist has me on Topomax now (a friggin seizure medication) and I haven't had one in awhile.

[bassbrad]

Yes, so sorry to hear about your son.
I used to get one every 2 or 3 weeks that kept me down for 24-36 hours in agitated agony. The only thing that worked was Fiorinal but couldn't renew Rx due to the Phenobarbatol and the new formulation did nothing. after keeping a diary it seemed that all my headaches were proceeded by similar symptoms the most significant tied to sleep irregularities. My Doc started me on 10mg of Amitryptaline at bedtime for sleep regulation and it seems to do the trick, now perhaps 2 or 3 times a year I get one- 2 Excedrin Migraine and back to sleep for a couple of hours and all better.

[Time Monkey]

i had them from about 6 to 14... all i could do was lay in a dark room, try and eat... puke my brains out, go to sleep, and i would usually wake up OK. other than that, my aunt would give me some pain killers, usually a quarter pill of tylenol with codiene or an 8th of an ambiel just so i could sleep it off. nothing you can do, really.

[scootron]

Really sorry to hear about your son. I've had them for 28 years now. One yesterday caused me to leave work at lunch time, and I couldn't go back.

The migraine diary is a great idea, as it will help you track the triggers. For me, #1 is a change in the weather, especially a low pressure cell moving in. Another big trigger is MSG, the food additive. It is in most canned soups, chips that have flavorings built in, many Chinese restaurants, and other places. The label usually shows it, but you have to look carefully.

Getting him to a competent neurologist is critical, but it has to be someone who understands migraines. I traveled across the country to a clinic which specialized. There should be some people in Australia who specialize in migraines and pain management.

It can definitely be passed genetically. My grandfather had them, although it wasn't until years after his death that we realized what was wrong with him. My father had them. Both my sisters have them, and one of my nieces has them so bad she gets seizures from them.

In summary, they are nothing to be taken lightly, and there are some medications which, for some people, are almost miraculous in their ability to prevent or stop migraines cold.

Good luck to you and your son.

[DRafalske]

Have you gotten his eyes checked?

I suffered from them from childhood all the way into my mid 20's. Severely. I'm talking 4-5 days a week, sometimes more. I saw every kind of doctor and specialist there is. CT Scans. MRI's. X-rays. You name it. They fed me everything from narcotic painkillers to the latest greatest blood pressure meds. Nothing affected them.

I finally got my eyes checked and found I had major astigmatism in both eyes. I'd love to tell you I haven't gotten a headache since getting glasses, but sadly I do still get them. Once a month, maybe. I'll take it.

D

[lo_freq_geek]

I used to get them all the time and now just once in a while. I swear by Advil gel caps (2 or 3) and alergy/sinus medication - Claratin etc. just my 2 cents.

[pacojas]

i live with it and take nothing for them. i just ride it out. my son has seen a doctor and periodically takes meds that seem to work for weeks at a time per single dose!

i'm not aware of the name of this drug, but a single pill is $125.00!!!

[hover]

I have been diagnosed with migraines / severe cluster headaches and have an open ended script for the really good headache candy as a result.

Sometimes they get so bad I pass out and wake up later in the hospital. Most times they come on slow and I can be proactive, then other times, whoosh. Knocks me right out.

Ct scans, the whole nine. many times. scary crap. I once had it bad with benign positional vertigo on top of it from a bad ear infection. The room spun and vomitous on top of it. Worst 1.5 weeks of my life. My son was only 1, and I could not hold him when he cried to comfort him. Pure hell. Just sat there pumped full of dramamine and antibiotics, which is never a good mix to me, trying not to move a muscle.