Coping with my daughter's migraine.

Hello,
I am a mother of an 11 year old girl, Cleo, who has been suffering with migraine since she was about 7 years old. She had an operation and the migraines seemed to come on afterwards. She has migraine with aura and is often sick. She usually just needs to sleep in a dark room and then she is fine. I would love to hear from any of you with regard to your experiences of migraine with aura or any other parents who are trying to help their children.

Hi Kaye

Thanks for joining our friendly forum and I just wanted to welcome you to the family.

My children are still very young and I haven't noticed anything as yet symptom wise with them.

There are other parents on here with children who have migraines and I am sure they will be along to welcome you too. Tracey has created a section for childhood migraine, so that would be a good place for you to start..she has put articles up etc which may help you become more acquainted with triggers etc.

It is always helpful to keep a migraine/headache diary to try and find out if anything specific is setting Cleo off and also to gauge how frequently they are happening.

Just ask if you have any questions and we will try to get back to you promptly.

Kind regards
Jane

Hi Kaye and welcome

Sorry to read about your daughter I started with migraine with aura at 13 and my son started at 5.

There are a number of things which spring to mind, as ways to help your daughter.

I am sure you have already spoken to doctors - but if not there is a list of children clinics under the Migraine in children thread. https://migrainetalk.forumotion.co.uk/f14-migraine-in-children You will also find some other useful stuff there

Migraine in children can be different to those in adults and there are some kinds of migraine that only occur in children.

https://migrainetalk.forumotion.co.uk/t185-types-of-migraine

Identifying the trigger(s) will help loads (sometimes that is not that easy) but as Jane has said keeping a diary should help - food is a big trigger in children, in particular nitrates ie cured meats like ham or hotdogs. Also chocolate and citrus. Watch out for something she may have eaten the day before as well, as sometimes it can take that long to trigger. Over head lights are one to watch out for - those low energy light bulbs can be a trigger. Once you know the triggers, you just avoid them

How often are they coming? How is she coping with them? There is a great book called My Secret, which has been helpful for children to deal with this. But she is now 11, so this might not be needed....

There are meds you can get from your GP for the sickness - my son gets very upset from the tummy cramps and sickness and these meds help loads - they also make him sleepy, so he is able to sleep the attack off. I do not think she can take a triptan, untill she is 12 - but that is something to ask the GP about - I used Migraleave when I was 13.

If you are giving her a pain killer, give her a drink with caffeine in it at the same time - coke is fine - this will help the pain killer get into her system faster

With regards to my son- I also make sure he does not miss a meal, drink lots of water and wears sunglasses.

Here is a list of triggers which you may find helpful: https://migrainetalk.forumotion.co.uk/t330-types-of-triggers

I also think you might find this helpful - its a list of aura's - aura is not just seeing funny stuff, it can effect other parts of the body and mind. https://migrainetalk.forumotion.co.uk/t250-types-of-aura

Many children do grow out of migraine. But if I am honest, with girls, you may find she gets a little worse once puberty starts, but then gets better during her 20's, with it starting again in her 30's.

Sorry if I have stated anything you already know - but if you have any specific questions - please do fire away

Hugs to you both

Tee