15 Year old with Migraines

[lstiff]

My son is fifteen years old. He has had migrainge headaches since he was six. They are always in his right temple area and behind his right eye. He is sensitive to light and sound and heat. and often vomits during a migraine. His headaches usually start in the afternoon and we can usually get them to go away by the next morning. We have tried Cyproheptadine, Depakote, Imitrex nasal spray. On 11/6 he was started on Topomax 25 mg at bedtime. He has also treid Maxalt to no avail. However, he got a migraine on November 29th and it has not gone away. He was hopitalized and his topomax was increased to twice a day. He was given 6 doses of DHE. He was dicharged from the hospital with out a headache only to have it return within 2 hours and has not gone away yet. It has almost been 2 weeks. The doctor raised the Topomax to 50 mg twice a day. We gave him this dose yesterday morning. He headache is worse today. Am I wrong in thinking that the Topomax is causing the headache. Our doctor tells us that it is not the cause. Any help you can give me is greatly appreciated.
Linda

[noops01]

Hi,
Your doctor is right topamax is not the cause of headache.The best thing to do would be to identify the trigger for your son's migraine, i know its not easy but do try. Mostly it is a food product like MSG, artificial sweetener, caffeine, beans, cured meats, hot dogs, bacon, aged cheese, chocolates.
Lying in dark quiet room and applying cold compress to the neck helps.

[wgray]

Linda,
My 16 year old daughter has had migraines over three years.  I am currently trying to figured out the best way to get her off of the Topamax.  
She takes 150 mg (75 mg twice a day) and has for about a year.  (The 125 dose didn't help and 175 put her in a stupor.)  In Nov she ended up in the hospital for the DHE and then she decided to go off the Topamax, titrating down 25mg a week.  She made it from 150 down to 100 and was really slammed.  She has been getting migraines daily for the past two weeks.  For a year, we've been dealing with the side effects of Topamax (some real cognitive changes in her and she can't drive due to the momentary space-outs it causes).  Then when it stopping being as effective, why take it?.  In my opinion, it could be possible that the Topomax is contributing to your son's headaches.  After all it is an anti-seizure med.  
The last multi-day migraine my daughter had was treated by our Internist, not Neuroligist.  She had a shot of Toradol at Urgent care.  The migraine stopped for about 40 minutes.  The next day the internist gave her a shot of Toradol, one of Imitrex and one of Fenigren (sp?).  It knocked her out for about 16 hours.  But it knocked out the migraine, too!  You might want to try some Triptans (Imitrex pill or shots since the nasal didn't work) or Zomig, another drug in that class that has provided some relief for my daughter.  When taking a Triptan, my daughter also takes 800mg of Advil in gelcap form.  
We are looking into the B-2 and Magnesium supplements routine for migaines.  And my daughter is getting help from the biofeedback.  Would also like to mention that the first neurologist we saw seemed to specialize in learning disorders and wasn't very creative outside that area.  The second neurologist wanted to prevent the migraines, not treat them.  And so it goes.  Another opinion might be a good idea.  Also there are Headache Clinics.  Don't know much about them but we are going to one at the end of the month.  Good luck. w