My 11-year-old daughter is having migraines!

cruzanheart

Okay, y'all, get out your experiences, thinking caps, and remedies. Jennie is 11 (will be 12 in October). This year she has started to show all of the classic signs of puberty, and a couple of weeks ago had cramps about the same time as my cycle. No menstrual flow yet, though. She also had tunnel vision and a classic migraine one day during that time. This morning she called me to say she had tunnel vision again, and while she was getting the Advil down on my orders, the headache hit. That was at 9A. The headache appears to be gone now (I ordered her into a dark room to lie down), but she feels very fragile.

I made an appointment with a female gynecologist for August 1 to see if we can get a handle on this, but I would welcome your suggestions.

Thanks!!!

Nina (who is looking FORWARD to menopause at this point)

Frannie Banannie

Nina, I think you're doing all that needs to be done right now. My daughter actually experienced a period of total blindness during the onset of puberty.

FYI, I'm sure you've already heard of this, but women in the same "household" or living arrangements tend to have cycles that coincide, so she may well actually begin menses first time during yours. 3 calcium w/magnesium tabs will offset those cramps. They calm muscle spasms and work just fine for cramps.

Frannie

damselfly

Sorry to hear about your daughter's migraines.

I first started to get migraines when I was 4 years old. They did a cat scan at that time to rule out a brain disorder. They got worse as I hit puberty with all the hormone fluctuations but evened out as my hormones settled. Too much stress, heat, certains foods such as pickles, caffeine ( before they started, but would help if already full blown. ) aged cheeses etc. And fluorescent lighting was bad along with certain smells.

Perhaps after meeting with the gyno. you will want to get a cat scan and additional testing to ensure that their isn't an additional cause besides hormones?

Best of Luck! Damselfly

Legolas

I grew up with them and my son(19) has them as well. I used to have to go to the hospital for a shot of Demeral, but the Imetrex came out and thats what I took. I would know when I was getting mine by, do you know what I mean when I say 'aura', it's like when you look through chrystal thats cut a bunch of different ways how you see the same thing a bunch of times and it has more light around it. well thats would would hit about 20 minutes before the pain.

damselfly

Getting into a dark and very quiet room is great at the first signs of a migraine, especially if she can get some sleep, it seems to work for me to shorten the duration and the pain level. Is she getting any auras other then the tunnel vision?

Damselfly

calamityjane

Sorry to hear of this Nina. Migraines are no picnic. I've had them since my 20's. Mine would come on like Legolas' has described. So basically you have 20 minutes to half an hour to get some meds into your body before the extreme pain hits. I find what works for me now is I take aspirin on the onset of the Aura. (I'm not sure if Jennie is old enough to take aspirin). but aspirin has the effect of thinning the blood so the migraine is not that extreme for me. I can basically carry on with my day. Otherwise there are quite a few drugs that I'm sure the doctor can prescribe for her.

Take care. Give Jennie a hug for me

cj

satirev

i have no remedy suggestions...

but i just want to offer my moral support.

my 11 year old had her first visitor 3 months ago and all of the sudden, i feel like i have no idea what i am doing as a parent anymore. she gets headaches with the cramps but she doesn't have full blown migraines. for ten years, she was the perfect daughter. sweet. loving. intelligent and organized... now, she has these devil-spawn moments that truly frustrate me.

but this thread is about your situation... good luck.

cruzanheart

Thanks, everyone! "Devil-spawn" -- I like that. It's a rather accurate description of the mood swings she's been having. Her girlfriends are going through it too, and I've had a chat with one of the dads who is totally bewildered at the change in his daughter. Oh, the sulks! The temper flare-ups! The sensitivity! Brings back lots of not-so-fond memories of my mother, who was allowed to do all of that but censured me severely if I let my hormones get out of control. I should be able to control myself. Well, I did and you can, but it ain't easy!

So we've got one kid sliding into puberty, one kid with major depression, and one of these days I'm going to hit menopause with the force of an 18-wheeler into a concrete wall. We may have to postpone apostafests at the Scotts' house until this blows over! Too many fireworks!

Hugs to all,

Nina

Carol

I've got to agree with everything damselfy and legolas said! Definately with the avoidance of certain foods! I called my aura....nodes! I would have the vision problems and then two tender spots at the back and base of my skull. If I took something for it and went to a dark/cool room I could avoid the "on your knees, crawl to the loo nausea" I was prone to. I ended up with a script for phorinal w/codeine as demerol made me sicker! They finally stopped when I had my son. A Gyno visit is the best thing you can do at this point!

Big Tex

So we've got one kid sliding into puberty, one kid with major depression, and one of these days I'm going to hit menopause with the force of an 18-wheeler into a concrete wall

>looks for place to hide<

My 11-year-old daughter is having migraines!

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