Last Thursday, Mr P fell off his bunk bed. He probably would have been okay if he hadn’t hit a metal chair on the way down. He knocked a tooth loose and had quite a bruise on his chest, but otherwise seemed unhurt, so I sent him back to bed. Alone. (His bed is on the bottom. He fell out of the top bunk because he and his two brothers decided to have a sleepover in the same bed. The highest bed.)
Friday, he complained of a headache. It seemed to get gradually worse throughout the day, but still, he seemed okay. He did his schoolwork and got an A on his spelling test. I went to the grocery store Friday night and when I got home around 10 pm, Mr P was still up, crying that he couldn’t sleep because his head hurt. He was seeing double when he looked at lights and getting dizzy going up and down the stairs. So I took him to the ER.
They did a CT scan and ruled out brain injury. They did find a cyst on his brain and referred him for an MRI, and gave us the standard worksheet for head injuries, saying to come back if pain is worse, if he starts vomiting, and so on. I got home from the ER around 1:30 am.
At 7 am Mr P woke me up. He started throwing up and didn’t stop – every 5-10 minutes, poor thing. So I called my husband home from work and took him back to the ER. Once there, his blood pressure was high, and his little heart was beating too fast. Mr P said he was having trouble breathing. They gave him Zofran and he felt a thousand times better, an IV, and took a more detailed look at his chest. The doctor decided he must have coincidentally gotten a stomach bug and eventually we came home.
I googled, and I think he has migraines. He has just about every symptom listed, a family history of migraines, and a trigger (bump to the head).
I’m in the middle of a giant red tape tangle, as our Medicaid is run by people who don’t know what diligence means, exacerbated by the holiday. Seriously, there are some typos that are holding everything up plus a primary care doctor that let us pick them as our PCP but isn’t accepting new patients. Duh.
We won’t see a doctor until after his MRI which is scheduled for next Sunday. I spent most of yesterday on the phone and was finally able to talk to someone with medical training at the hospital who looked up his records and tests and said that should be fine. Arachnoid cysts are generally not too harmful, I think they are making sure that’s what it is and it’s not a brain tumor or something.
Poor thing felt terrible on Sunday, was a bit better yesterday, but is complaining of headache again today. He also may possibly die of boredom, since reading, TV, and computer games are out but he doesn’t really want to move too much.
Have any of your kids gotten migraines? What seemed to help?
Update on Mr P~ he was diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome by his neurologist, and the arachnoid cyst seems to have gotten irritated. That’s why he was throwing up, dizzy, etc.
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Family history of migraines here, on both sides. No wonder the kids get them. Sigh. We find that taking feverfew makes a HUGE difference (not the tea though that works faster but tastes horrific– find tablets or capsules). Also a migrastick (found at health food stores like GNC) really helps. You can make it yourself — it is just lavender and mint oils in a carrier but the little roll on bottle makes it easy to use for kids. Lavender makes a huge difference as well, my kids like lavender and chamomile tea when they have a headache. My husband swears by ice packs when he gets a migraine though we aren’t sure if it really helps but it is what he craves. Rach, who gets them the most, finds that a bath or shower immediately when they start coming on makes a huge difference, especially if she uses lavender and mint oil. Then she lays in a dark room and listens to audio books until it lifts. She also finds that getting into natural light helps but hers are brought on by flickering lights, camera flashes, and her food allergies (so are hubby’s– which is why he seldom gets them anymore.)
I had migraines through my teen years, and they just suddenly went away when I was pregnant with our third baby.
My best friend’s elder son is Mr P’s age, and has had migraines for years. He takes hydroxyzine as needed, although my friend thinks that that medication helps him sleep through the pain more than actually treats the pain itself. I’ll talk to her in more detail later today and see if she has any tips to throw your way. Tell Mr P that I’ve been in his shoes (one week a month on average) insofar as the vomiting, photophobia, and lack of mental stimulation, and that I’m sorry he has to go through all of this, and especially that I love him.
Bless his heart!(and everything else) I hope everthing turns out ok, you and your family will be in my prayers. I have had my own exp. with a sickness that may or may not be in my child and it is hard. My kids dont have them but i have had a few and a dark room with no sound is helpful. and dont make him eat. let him eat when he is hungry. it may make it worse. good luck and god bless
I’m so sorry he has to go through that. Poor baby. I really have no experience with migraines or anything migraine related. I just wanted to mention that Shannon @ RocksInMyDryer asked the same question yesterday. There were lots of responses including things like drinking more water, vitamins, etc. I hope he feels better soon and everything turns out good.
Poor guy.
Poor Mr. P.
No experience with kids & migraines, just the ones I get which are debilitating and excruciating. Drugs seldom help. The only thing that truly works for me is sleeping them away, so I’ll take Excedrin PM to knock myself out and sleep them off. Doesn’t always work though and obviously isn’t a good idea for kids.
Eating helps sometimes, but the timing is weird and can make it worse instead. I agree with Lesly, don’t make him eat if he doesn’t want to.
I also always have a “migraine hangover” which feels like the flu and consists of a killer “normal” headache; it lasts for up to two days after the migraine. Which, it sounds like Mr. P. may also very well be experiencing.
My last child suffered so badly from migraine she was diagnosed as failure to thrive. I tried everything to get a diagnosis. Eventually I went back to the paediatrician who was with me through the girls’ deliveries and was “fired” by the doctor who wrote the referral. She was diagnosed with migraine and started on Periactin. This is dirt cheap here in Australian and within 24 hours my girl has colour in her face for the first time in years. The paed thought she would never shake the migraine but fortunately they seem to be under control and for most of the time they do not affect her. I am so pleased that after a long search a simple fix was found. Good luck.
I second the feverfew and essential oils. When I get my migraines I sleep them off, too. Dramamine gets me to sleep and wards off the nausea. I take a feverfew tincture everyday for prevention. I also get “warning” headaches when one is coming on, so I step up the feverfew. Origins at Macys makes a great little product called Peace of mind. Its Lavender and peppermint essetial oils in a lotion to dab onto the temples for relief.
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