15 year old daughter migranes daily

[Hope2day]

My 15 yr old daughter is suffering horribly with daily migraines. They have been happening for about 3 yrs. She wakes with the migraines and is unable to lift her head off of her pillow. The headaches are so bad that she cries and vomits. Last year she missed so much school that they put her on home  instruction. This year it is still happening. But she is back in school. She has been to the neurologist and had cat scans and Mri's. She has taken Topamax(YUCK) ambitriptolene (also YUCK!!) Now they have her on a blood pressure medicine 3 times a day..(not helpin) She also has Immitrex,Relpac,Fiorocet, Tylenol#3. She has had numerous trips to the ER for IV meds. recently she was with friends and did not want to go home and began throwing up ( for 2 hours) and then went to her friends room and passed out and had a seizure. So the Dr just did an EEG.. Also came back normal . I feel so bad for her!! I don't know what to do. The school is very hard.. She is so behind already..and that stresses her and makes it worse. She wakes up every day with a brutal migraine. Sometimes I can get her in around 11. Sometimes not at all. Any ideas? Not sure what to do next . I just feel so bad for her. She keeps saying that it's just not fair..and that she wants to be like everyone else. Thanks for the help!!

[Lolqueen]

Hi, I am very similar to your daughter. A 504 may help her in school. One of the accomidations you can get could be unlimited amount of absences. For the pain, try sodium naproxen (aleve). A beta blocker might help too. Best of wishes!!

[Hope2day]

Thank You so much for the advice!! we see the Dr on the 22 and I am going to bring that up. I am so happy that you have been migraine free . I totally want that for my daughter. Thanks!!

[Hope2day]

I just wanted to drop you a quick note. Today we are on day 3 straight of a migraine. Her and I were up most of the night. Med's aren't helping...I am thinking it is time for the ER. Although she is finally asleep.Yesteday we made an appointment foe a sleep study ..at this point we are willing to try anything!! She is so miserable..:-( It just breaks my heart. We have an appointment on the 10/22 I will def. talk to them about the vitamins. I really appreciate al your comments!! Your mom sounds like a special mom!!  I find like last night I just lay in her bed with her and definately letting her know anything she needs I am there for her. Although I am sorry that you struggle with migraines..it is very nice to talk to someone that actually GETS whats going on with us.Did your neurologist ever suggest a therapist? My daughters neurologist wants her to see a therapist that specializes in adolesence..My daughter does NOT want to go. She feels like she spends so much time in bed she does not want to give up any more of her life to Dr's We also are trying a chiropracter..not sure if it's the way to go but at this point we have done acupuncture and we figured what the heck give it a try.Thank You again for all your help!!!

[marileew]

I am so sorry to hear that your daughter is suffering so much...

I am 26, female, and have been suffering from migraines for a long time now too... I go to college and they really get in the way of my school and they also get in the way of hanging out with friends. Being a teenager and being 20something is different... but, we are both young a female, so I can empathize with her. I can understand how it gets in the way of school and how it gets in the way of her social life and I really feel for her a lot.

I have also been on amitriptyline when I was in my early 20s and I agree yuck! I do not take it anymore because I don't think it helped at all and all it did was make me very tired. I am currently on topamax and have not had any bad side-effects with it but I know that some people can have bad-side effects and I can understand how it could be very different for a teenage and for an adult... medications are very different for teens and can act very different on teens than they do on adults... a medication that can work really well for an adult can be very yuck! for a teenager so I understand if she is having bad reactions to the topamax. I am also on blood pressure medication too, mine is called nadolol and I don't know if it helps at all but I haven't found any bad reactions... but again, that might be because I'm an adult or just because of my own personal chemistry, everyone is different.

I have tried botox too. Maybe that is something that your daughter might want to try? You would have to ask her neurologist. I do not know if it is appropriate for teenagers. Instead of daily, it is given every 3 months and then works for the 3 months... so that is better than daily.

penn1023 suggest was a really good one too... magnesium has been proven to work in clinical trials but please make sure to check with her doctor first because magnesium can be dangerous to mix with some medical condition or with some medications. I have personally heard that magnesium citrate is best but I guess penn1023 has heard that meagnesium glycinate is best. I guess ask your daughters doctor for advice on which one is best? in the clinical trials that i have read they say 400mg once a day. but, i would suggest asking your daughter's doctor about dosages.

another supplement that has been proven effective in clinical trials is vitamin B2. this is somewhat safer than magnesium in terms of mixing with other medications and medical conditions (less possible counterindications and not toxic even in high doses) but it is still always important to check with your daughters doctor or pharmacist before giving her anything new to treat a medical condition, even vitamins. the recommended dose according to the clinical trials is 400mg once a day. but please check with your daughters doctor about this.

One other supplement that has been proven effective in SOME clinical trials (but not as widely proven as magnesium and B2) is Coenzyme Q10 @ 300mg a day. Like the magnesium it is VERY important that you check with your daughters doctor or pharmacist before giving her this because it can possibly be dangerous to mix this with some medical conditions. CoQ10 can be expensive too, so I would suggest trying the magnesium (if it is okay with your daughter's doctor) or vitamin B2 first before trying the CoQ10 since magnesium and B2 are more affordable.

When ever I get really depressed and say things like I just want to be normal... something that my mom reminds me (I always talk to my mom when I get really depressed or feel like giving up) is my mom reminds me that I have a medical condition and it is sort of like having diabetes or something... and I wouldn't tell someone with diabetes to give up or tell them that they weren't normal (my mom has diabetes). My mom asks me what I would say to someone with diabetes if they were feeling depressed or like they were different or not normal. And then because my mom has diabetes I can't say anything mean or depressing about having a medical condition and my mom forces me to give an "up lifting talk" to her about having diabetes and that usually snaps me back into thinking more positive about my own medical problems because if she can manage her medical problems then I have to manage my own too and think positive. Sometimes it doesn't work if I am REALLY depressed or if I really hurt, because I just feel too terrible to be up-lifted at all... in which case she just hugs me, or if I hurt too much to get hugged she will just sit next to me, and tells me she knows it's hard and she is sorry and that actually really helps. Just having you understand how hard it is for her and love her and support her does more for her than anything, trust me. Unfortunately, she might meet people who won't understand because migraine is a hard disease to cope with because it is sort of "invisible"... but you do support her and you are trying to help her and she knows that because a daughter will always know when a mother loves her and supports her, and that is the most important.  

[penn1023]

I had migraines with aura every two weeks. I started taking magnesium glycinate every day 200 mg 3 times a day or 250 mg twice a day. It's been 5 months now and no headaches. The first two months I started I had two headaches but they were shorter duration and less intense. Make sure it's mag glycinate and be patient. Anything is better than what is going on now.