Migraines

[Emma]

Hi all,
As always, I do feel terrible when I post and ask for advice as I don't always post when I feel I have nothign useful to add - but I do check in here daily and think of you often I promise!

This week's problem...

We think Chloe is beginning to suffer with migraines now.

Jason's (hubby and daddy) had them all his life - they started when he was her age and he used to have to stay in bed for days, being sick and with his head throbbing. His have always started with what he calls 'flashing lights' and then progressed on to a headache, although not so badly not as he's older. He takes a tablet daily to try and prevent them and then has expensive ones to take if a migraine starts.

Chloe has always had little headaches and complained about seeing lights and zig zags so I was aware she might start them, and supposedly they are more common in heart patients too, so with family history (Jason's mum also suffers with them!) and her heart the poor girl stood no chance of avoiding them.

Just before she left school yesterday she told me she could see the lights again, then she felt sick, then the headache came. First time its all come in that order but sounds very like a migraine to me.
Have just made an appointment with doctors for her - for next week! I doubt he will give her anything but I'd like it checked anyway.

Do these sound like migraines do you? Have any of you suffered similarly and is there anything apart from normal paracetomol that you take safely with warfarin???

Thankyou very much!
Love Emma
xxx

 

[LUVMyBirman]

Sorry to hear it Emma. Yes, it sounds like migrane with aura. When you see the aura first. The migrane it actually less severe. Dull ache, nausea, etc. It can make you feel awful the rest of the day. But....still functioning.

Have had both types of migraines for the past 30 years. Conciendentially my daughter is exhibiting signs now and again Best advice I can give you. If you can ask her to lie down, in a dark room. Cold compress over the eyes, Tylenol. Find recovery to be faster. Most of my migrane auras come on during stress....or just rushing around to get somewhere. Scary when you have to drive a car.

I am willing to bet Chole has light eyes. I would purchase a pair of UV rated sunglasses. Just going outdoors can trigger an aura. Even on a cloudy day. You will see me in sunglasses.

 

[pedimed]

Hello,

Yes it does indeed sound like she is experiencing a migraine

I have tried many things, Imitrex and other fast acting meds.. now I am on only preventative meds: nortryptaline and the Toprol (after surgery I was put on this instead of the calcium channel blocker I had been taking)

Topiramate (an antiseizure medication) recently has been shown to have great efficacy in preventing migraines..

It sounds like you are familiar with the treatment options, ideally depending on the frequency she could as suggested below take some Tylenol, and lay in a dark room until it subsides..

The beta blockers are known to be given for migraine prophylaxis (although efficacy varies depending on the individual)... there have been reports that warfarin also mayhelp with migraine...

I would discuss with the pedi cardiologist what med choices are best...

Wish you the best and hope Emma is not getting these too frequently..

Lea

 

[geebee]

I had my first migraine when I was 7 so they can start very early.

Flashing lights (auras), nausea, headache - all typical migraine symptoms so it sure sounds like she is in the migraine club.

I have taken Inderal for heart rythym control for years and it helps my migraines also. Not sure if it interacts with coumadin since I was taking it before my first surgery so my coumadin would have been dosed around it.

If you find a med that works, just test until you know if it affects her INR.

Sending you good wishes for the doctor visit.

 

[Granbonny]

Emma

Emma

My age 14 year old Grandson has had headaches for many years..but never said anything about the lights, ect...Just a cold cloth and something like tylenol would do the trick...However, we did have his eyes tested for glasses. he wore them around age 9/10 and then again around age 12/13..(due to so much homework)..When she does her homework..do not let her prop herself up with an arm and bend over to the paperwork..was told this by his last eye doctor..I think he has outgrown the headaches.. does not wear glasses anymore.. ...Have you had her eyes tested? bonnie

 

[Marguerite53]

Yes, it does sound like migraine. Please, though, before you go through all the different drugs with your daughter, see if you can eliminate some of the "triggers".

I know that we have written ad infinitum on these "optical migraines" or visual disturbances. There is a lot of useful info here on vr.com, so use your search button and do some reading.

Triggers can be food, light, scents, sound. Unfortunately, you can never really which is affecting her unless you eliminate possibilities and then add them back in one by one to see which is causing the migraine. Here are some possibilities. Is her classroom window facing a white wall where the sun may glare into her eyes? (that was a huge probelme for me once). Do venetian blinds cause little shafts of light to sparkle in her face? Is she walking/driving by a lake or stream which might brightly reflect the sunlight? Are you driving with windshields in front of you which glare. Buy her some good polaroid sunglasses for the car.

Foods. I don't know if you have as many processed foods in your part of the world, they can have MSG which is notorious as a trigger (chinese foods can be rampant with msg -- monosodium glutamate). Often cured meats have nitrates....they can be triggers.

Did you start using any new soaps, air fresheners, floor cleaners? Is she in a newly carpeted area at school, new wall paint? What changed when she started getting these? Is she switching lunch with anyone? Chocolate is bad. Caffeine can be bad. Peanuts can be bad (and other nuts). Highly salted foods have set me off.

Often a food diary can be very helpful. Try to write down all that she eats for a week or so and see if there is a pattern.

Anyway, hope some of this helps. Mine only last 23 minutes. But I rarely get the headache afterwards. If she knows she can control things abit, maybe they won't bother her so much.

Good luck. Let us know.

Marguerite

 

[Susan BAV]

"Classic Migraine." Zig zags. Yep. It's in the optical books.

I had my first one when I was 16. I don't have them much anymore. Maybe that's because of the new valve? The few I've had in the last few or several years don't last very long and I don't get the headache afterward anymore. I have also wondered if they are hormonally influenced. (edit - I have heard recently that at least some seem to be hormonally influenced.)

The vision disturbance used to last for me about 20 minutes and I would have an annoying, but not awful, headache the rest of the day that nothing could help but sleep. The trigger for me was when a bright light would flash in my eyes, usually in the morning and usually when I was hungry. Have you ever sat in a restaurant and chrome on a parked or passing car flashes into your eyes? That would always set me off so I learned to sit with my back to the window.

 

[Christina]

Headaches are usually allergy related.

Headaches are usually allergy related.

Emma,

I am sorry to hear about Chloe's problems with migraine headaches They can be very debilitating for an adult but especially for a young child.
Migraines are usually related to food allergies.
Go to the following website and try to find a NAET (Allergy Elimination Technique) practitioner in your area.

http://www.naet.com/

I personally was not suffering from too many headaches but I would sneeze my head off after eating certain foods, especially fruits. (strawberries, apples) After completing just the basics of NAET I don't sneeze anymore and can eat these foods to my hearts desire.

Hope this will help someone.

 

[LUVMyBirman]

Hi Christina,

Interesting. Will take a look @ the link. I sneeze every time I eat a mint...or mint gum. Just once.

 

[mntbiker]

Foods. I don't know if you have as many processed foods in your part of the world, they can have MSG which is notorious as a trigger (chinese foods can be rampant with msg -- monosodium glutamate). Often cured meats have nitrates....they can be triggers.

Marguerite

Just to jump on Marguerite's well written response. Most migraines that have nausea are triggered by food. The primary trigger for mine was MSG. Once you start reading labels you will see how difficult it is to get away from. Just about anything in a can will have MSG and many other products. Nitrates were the second trigger for me fortunately those are much easier to avoid, don't eat hot dogs

Good luck and I hope they don't last.

 

[LUVMyBirman]

Have had migraines upon waking as well. Without recent food consumption. For me......beleive they are brought on by stress, lack of sleep, hormones, light triggers, etc. TDecided to cut out coffee a number of years ago....helped drastically.

 

[Susan BAV]

Funny how different we all are. MSG keeps me awake. All night. Highly unpleasant.

 

[Marguerite53]

Emma,

I am sorry to hear about Chloe's problems with migraine headaches They can be very debilitating for an adult but especially for a young child.
Migraines are usually related to food allergies.
Go to the following website and try to find a NAET (Allergy Elimination Technique) practitioner in your area.

http://www.naet.com/

I personally was not suffering from too many headaches but I would sneeze my head off after eating certain foods, especially fruits. (strawberries, apples) After completing just the basics of NAET I don't sneeze anymore and can eat these foods to my hearts desire.

Hope this will help someone.

Christina. This looks to be quite promising as a resource! Thank you. Her medical degree is from Antigua ( ) but that doesn't mean she can't be right on about many things! The book the doctor has written is available in its 6th edition at Amazon.com for only $16. They also give you a peek inside the book and lots of comments from readers. Interesting!

Many years ago my husband (always a believer in alternative medicines) sent me to a naturopath who attached me to a german made device which metered my responses to various elements (searching for sensitivities). The pure form of foodstuffs and other potential allergens were in clear liquid form in tiny glass, capped vials which I held in one hand. The baseline item was rat poison, or so he said. Then, if anything responded (metered) badly (as the rat poison did) it was deemed a sensitivity or allergy. At one point his eyes lit up and he said, well, frankly, you'd do better to drink the rat poison than have a glass of red wine! That used to be true....red wine caused me dreadful migraine episodes and heart palpitations. They must have reduced the amount of sulphites (or whatever is in wine) or, since I just drink local stuff (we have famous Oregon wines!), it doesn't seem to bother me nearly as much.

Oh, and Emma.....please do not let Chloe drink any purple grape juice...yeow.....my worst ever migraines!!

Marguerite

 

[Emma]

Thankyou all SO much! These replies are excellent and I'm going to have a look at the link right now Christina.

Food allergy did cross my mind too - I went over everything she'd eaten yesterday and couldn't find anything that she didn't have on a regular basis but you never know what she may of 'tasted' of a friends at lunchtime!

Bonnie, hadn't thought of her eyes - might be worth a trip to the opticians, thankyou!

Thankyou all very much again. I'll let you know what the doctor says next Tuesday.

love Emma
xxx

 

[gijanet]

Emma..........

Emma..........

(((hugs))) so sorry Chloe is struggling with these headaches. Keep me posted on what you find out. Katie, too, complains frequently of headaches - not migraine strength yet as they rarely slow her down, but I'm hoping and praying that they don't escalate. I know migraines do seem to be pretty common among our heart kiddoes. Did Chloe complain about headaches frequently in the past? Not migraine type, but just regular headaches?

Anyway, I hope you get some answers and Miss C. gets some relief. I hope it is something as simple as needing some glasses. Keep us posted. Hugs. J.

 

[Emma]

(((hugs))) so sorry Chloe is struggling with these headaches. Keep me posted on what you find out. Katie, too, complains frequently of headaches - not migraine strength yet as they rarely slow her down, but I'm hoping and praying that they don't escalate. I know migraines do seem to be pretty common among our heart kiddoes. Did Chloe complain about headaches frequently in the past? Not migraine type, but just regular headaches?

Anyway, I hope you get some answers and Miss C. gets some relief. I hope it is something as simple as needing some glasses. Keep us posted. Hugs. J.

HI Janet,
Yep, unfortunately she has always suffered from little headaches and it seems just recently the lights and the sick feeling have accompanied them. She doesn't have them often at all so really hope it stays that way!

Hope Katies don't escalate either! How's she doing now?? Been thinking of you and looking for an update on her - about time we have more of her escapades posted I think!

Love Emma
xxx

 

[gijanet]

HI Janet,
Yep, unfortunately she has always suffered from little headaches and it seems just recently the lights and the sick feeling have accompanied them. She doesn't have them often at all so really hope it stays that way!

xxx

Me, too, Emma, me, too! for both Chloe and Katie. I know, I know. I am way overdue on a Katie update...........but, but, I've got a headache!

Love ya. J.

 

[Butterfly]

Hi Just wanted to let you know that I had classic miagraine i.e. aura,zig zags,nausea for many many years however I did some research and came up with supplemental magnesium as a "cure". Being the world's greatest skeptic I started supplementing with magnesium not expecting any startling results however I was mistaken and I havn't had a headache since supplementing unless I forget to do so for a few days .I understand that heart patients need to be careful about supplemnting with substances like magnesium so I wouldn't suggest anyone do so unless they have discussed it with their GP first. Although I learnt to live with my headaches and not really let them dictate my life I am so pleased now that something works for me.

I also read somewhere that a study found some people have a micrscopic pinhole between the chambers in their heart which cause microembolisms that bring about miagraine in some people. Apparently if this hole is repaired they no longer have headaches.


Regards Jacqui

 

[Susan BAV]

Now Jacqui, that's very interesting as I haven't had many of these in quite awhile and the last few haven't had the intensity as before...

And I was given quite a bit of magnesium by IV post-op because of A-fib (over three years ago now).

Wonder if there is any connection? I too am cautious about taking ANYTHING supplemental post-op.

 

[lcwhitney]

Ihad my first migrane at 5. For me the key to controlling the headaches was finding the triggers .

Lettitia