Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Afraid to take medication

My ds10 also has migraines. He takes ibuprophen at the onset (and every 4 hours after) and zophran for nausea (which he does not have with every migraine anymore. I'm living for the day he can take imetrex (he has to be 12). He has taken cyproheptadine (pericactin) with no results, and topamax with some positive results and some negative. The topamax lessened the duration and severity of the migraines but had no effect on the frequency. It made him a little spacey (but he has ADHD, so it's a subtle thing). Right now, he's not taking any daily medicine for migraines, but he probably will once school starts again.

We have not found a food trigger, but getting too hungry can be one. Also, not enough sleep, deydration, and getting too hot can be problems, as well as stress.

As the OP will know, a child under 16 cannot take Excedrin because it contains asprin. I'd be happy to try caffeine at the onset, but ds doesn't drink anything that contains caffeine (other than hot chocolate or chocolate milk, but chocolate can be a trigger for some people). I've tried to get him to develop a taste for tea, but no luck yet. He won't drink anything carbonated.

But enough about me...
Are you seeing a pediatric neurolgist? The doctor ought to be willing to discuss the side effects with your son. I didn't want to go with daily medications either, but when things get bad enough, you try things. Ds used to be hysterical when he knew a migraine was coming (he started having them at 2 but was not properly diagnosed until 5).

We use a herbal remedy called "restful legs" that we get at Walgreens. They look like saccarin, taste like chalk and they work. Have no idea why but there are two sufferers in my house and they work well.

Thanks everyone. I have been so sleep deprived that I can't think straight and I didn't know what to do. My son sleeps until noon when he can't sleep but I have to get up early. We need to start back with our homeschooling and this is going to be hard if I am too tired to think and he is sleeping until noon. We have to do something. I just hope there is a better alternative than that medication. I will see if I can talk to the pharmacist when I go to pick up the medication.

My son and I get migraines with weather changes and we also seem to get them whenever the temperature goes over 100 degrees. We were both getting headaches about three days a week for a while. We do use caffeine when he starts to get a headache and it helps a little.

My husband wants our son to try the Amitryptyline because it has become so hard for us to get a good night's sleep and the pediatric neurologist said it should help my son sleep. My son often wakes me up at 2, 3 or 4 in the morning because he can't sleep either because he has a headache or a leg ache or restless legs. He could be having growing pains because he is growing a lot. I will try the restful legs from Walgreens.

It looks like the Restful Legs stuff is homeopathic. May be worth trying, but if it doesn't work I would also look at the possibility of a deficiencies in magnesium or iron. Have these been tested? Many people, including one I live with, have found restless leg problems eliminated with magnesium supplementation. It is a common deficiency.

Personally I would be VERY hesitant about attributing pain to "growing pains." We heard this explanation with our son but when his metabolic problems were treated this totally went away suggesting that "growing pains" was a garbage explanation that was getting in the way of treating what was really going on. I would not see muscular pain as separate from hypotonia, but instead a flag that he may have some underlying problem that requires treatment - not just masking with an antidepressant.

As far as waking you in the night, I see that as a huge problem. Your sleep is important too. He's old enough that he should have tools to handle it if he is having problems in the night without having to disrupt your sleep as well. I would focus on helping develop some routines during the day to handle these times. It may help him to get up and walk or to use a heating pad. During the day he may practice deep breathing or relaxation exercises. Rehearsing ahead of time makes it so the body is more able to access these techniques when they are needed.

If you and your son have not already done so you may both benefit from reading more about insomnia and sleep disorders. Pretty much everything written about sleep problems emphasizes the importance of consistent routines. Sleeping in to try to make up lost sleep doesn't work and will make the problem worse the next night. This is a very academic book but your son is bright and this may be helpful to him. http://www.amazon.com/Promise-Sleep-Medicine-Connection-Happiness/dp/0440509017/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_c

I'm no doctor so I'm not giving medical advice... Let's get that out of the way. LOL

Seriously... a friend of mine's husband had way bad migraines all through his younger years into adulthood. You know lights out, no noise, vomitting. The works. He never went on daily prescription meds or anything. Just dosed himself with massive pills when one would start.

Anyway, as an adult, he ended up going to therapy for something or other. It turns out he had been holding so much inside that he actually was causing himself to have migraines. The therapy got rid of most of the old stuff and with his new skills he is able to get those emotions out regularly. So he rarely gets migraines anymore!

Maybe something similiar could be going on with your child? I mean it couldn't hurt to take a weekly kids yoga class or do some daily meditation exercises with him. There aren't any side effects that I know of. Or maybe the kid is worried about his life. I think I read you were on base. Military? I can imagine that would put some thoughts into a kids mind. Maybe there is a support group for kids in the military?

Whatever you do listen to yourself. If you have a feeling that you should or shouldn't do something there is a reason. Explore it and you'll find your answer.

Many blessings

If he takes magnesium for his legs, it might also help with migraines. Vitamin B2 is also supposed to help some people.

Just a couple of things I'm unsure of here:

1. I don't understand why the pharmacist questioned the prescription from the neurologist. I would have thought the neurologist was in a better position to judge the type and severity of the migraine and therefore the most appropriate treatment. Based on the evidence in front of him the doctor may have felt it wasn't appropriate to try something else first.

2. Was the script for Imigran tablets or nasal spray? If it was nasal spray then it is safe for use in adolescents 12 - 17 years of age.


I'm not telling you anything new by saying that all medication has potential side effects even the ones that most people would regard as innocuous. In any given circumstance you have to weigh the pros and cons and make your judgement based on that. Why are you seeking advice from a neurologist for your son's migraines? I would imagine the answer is, because they are impacting on his ability to function normally. If this is indeed the case then do the risks of a side effect outweigh the potential for him to lessen the effect of the migraine. I don't think you can make your son take the medication, he is an intelligent young man and ultimately he will make the decision but at some point what he will have to consider is his quality of life and the impact he is having on other members of the family.

I think the first prescription, the one the pharmacist wouldn't fill, was for Imitrex tablets. I was surprised that a pharmacist would question a neurologist. My husband talked to the pharmacist that time so I don't know exactly what the pharmacist said.

By the way, the very busy AFB pharmacy that we use because our medications are free there (husband is retired military) just gave my husband the wrong medication. Who knows what it is or what potential side effects it might have. The information on the bottle said it was one thing but it looked totally different from the medication in the second bottle which was supposed to be the same thing. My husband says he knows to always check his medication before taking it because this has happened before. This is just one more reason I am a little worried about using a prescription medication for my son. If it is over the counter stuff and my son accidentally takes magnesium instead of fish oil, no big deal. But if we are given the wrong prescription medication, who knows what could happen.

My son wants to know how we are supposed to just put things like this out of our minds and trust the people in the pharmacy and the doctors prescribing the medication. He has "white coat syndrome" and his blood pressure goes up just like mine does when we have to go to the doctor. I got put on blood pressure medication that makes me tired all the time because I couldn't convince my doctor that my blood pressure wasn't high like this all the time. My blood pressure wasn't high when I was pregnant with my son and I was an older mom when I had him. Going to doctors who couldn't give me answers and not being able to get therapy for my son for his low muscle tone caused a lot of anxiety. Not being able to figure out how to get help for my son and seeing him in pain caused my blood pressure to rise. Not sleeping doesn't help either.

Now I even wonder about the headache medicine my doctor prescribed for me when I was pregnant with my son. Was I really taking what they told me I was taking? I also wasn't told anything about possible problems with having labor induced with pitocin or having the epidural. The neuropsychologist and the neurologist both said it was possible my son's hypotonia and sensory processing and other difficulties were caused by the difficult birth--possible mild birth asphyxia, slight delay in getting him out because vacuum thing wouldn't work and they had to use forceps. I know this had nothing to do with the migraines and restless legs problem because that runs in my family but he should not have to deal with the back pain and leg pain and foot pain that he gets when he tries to keep up with other kids physically because he has mild hypotonia. He will be competing with his fellow acting group members in a dance routine as part of a local parade today. He will do it, which is amazing considering he was diagnosed with motor dyspraxia, and he will probably do it well just like he did all of his performances of Seussical the Musical but he will pay for it later with leg pain and back pain. He is willing to live with some pain in order to do what he loves doing. I will massage his legs and back if he hurts tonight, just like my mom would have done when I was a child. She never got mad at me if I woke her up because I was sick or hurting.

I thought my husband would be upset when I told him that I wasn't going to force our son to take the medication. He thought about the experience he had trying to get relief for his sinus headaches. Doctors prescribed medications that did nothing for him. Someone told him about Oregano Oil. He tried it. It works for him and there are no side effects.

My son woke me up last night again. He didn't yell my name so he didn't wake up his dad. I just heard him say Mom. He knows I have trouble sleeping too and thought I might still be awake at 2:00 a.m. I was. I went to his room and his back was hurting this time. He didn't ask for pain medication because he wants to save the Ibuprofin and Tylenol for worse pain, but the back massage helped him. He finally fell asleep about 3:00 a.m.

We are going to try Restful Legs tonight. I am so hoping that this will work. If we can just get better sleep then it will be easier for us to deal with pain and there will be less anxiety and our quality of life will be so much better.

Thanks again, everyone.

Just to be clear the suggestion wasn't that you yell at him for waking you up. Rather, that one of the things that may help him ultimately feel better and less afraid is if he develops more independence and competence. ALL people feel anxiety. ALL people face difficult parts of life. Yes, some more than others and life isn't fair. But, we've all got to find a way to play the hand we were dealt without being trapped in a place of feeling like we are mistreated or hopeless.

One of the best ways to decrease anxiety is to find ways to effectively deal with moods and to feel greater control. Also, as we all know there is a huge mind body connection and unresolved anxiety can play out in chronic pain symptoms.

There will be a time when he will no longer want to rely that his only way to cope is to wake up his mom. That is not a model that allows him to develop an appropriate level of independence that will allow him to be able to have new experiences or to individuate. I would look to the future and try to explore other methods to help him develop coping strategies.

..for entertainment only:
http://www.avoidamigraine.com/migraine.html

I never got migraines. �My mom and two sisters did. �One sister controlled some of her migraines by hanging upside-down. �I googled to see how reasonable this is. �
The page I just linked has all the home remedies listed here and an alternative explanation for their origin- toxins accumulated in the spinal cord between the stomach and the brain, rather than engorged vessels inside the brain. One of the links on the side said Chinese medicine suggests the time of day the headache occurs tells us which body system is detoxing, causing the headaches. �If he's always getting them at 2am... Sadly they don't give you the chart.
Just a fun read about alternative migraine medicine. �Like I said though, talk to the doctor and the pharmacist and make sure they resolve your concerns to your satisfaction. �They have the degree and the education, that's why you hired them. �But don't forget, you're the customer. � You don't have to be rude and tell them, but keep it in your mind that they should not brush off your concerns unresolved. �You hired them to provide a service for you.