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Mary Chris Forum All-Star
Joined: Jan 27 2005 Location: Virginia
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Posted: Dec 26 2007 at 7:51am | IP Logged
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My ds10 has frequent headaches. This is my cancer survivor so I have already spoken to the doctor about it .
Yesterday, I think he had a headache that turned into a migrane after playing two games of basketball and running around with his friends. We were walking home and he complained of a headache and stomachache, shortly after we got home he threw up. That happens to me when I get migranes, I started getting migranes when he was on chemo .
So what do you do when your children complain of headaches or migranes? We give him some pain reliever but anything else I can do?
__________________ Blessings, Mary Chris Beardsley
mom to MacKenzie3/95, Carter 12/97 Ronan 3/00 and wife to Jim since 1/92
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Elizabeth Founder
Real Learning
Joined: Jan 20 2005 Location: Virginia
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Posted: Dec 26 2007 at 8:02am | IP Logged
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MC, I'm wondering if dehydration after basketball might be the trigger. Remember, my water filter was out? Nicholas was boycotting tap water. Was Carter?
__________________ Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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Mary Chris Forum All-Star
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Posted: Dec 26 2007 at 8:09am | IP Logged
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I think dehydration is a trigger. But he wasn't boycotting your tap water, I saw him with a cup in his hand. I think in his eagerness to play with your boys he didn't tell me about the headache.
He was fine after he threw up, had some meds and slept. I really think his throwing up was because of the nausea from the headache.
__________________ Blessings, Mary Chris Beardsley
mom to MacKenzie3/95, Carter 12/97 Ronan 3/00 and wife to Jim since 1/92
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teamgriswold Forum Rookie
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Posted: Dec 26 2007 at 8:10am | IP Logged
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My 9 yr old gets migranes from time to time. We saw a neurologist who runs a headache clinic for kids at CHOP (children's hosp. of Philly) and she told us if his pain is greater then a 3 or 4 on a scale of 1-10 and he has a stomachache to give him 4 tsp of ibuprofen. For anything else he would get 3 tsp b/c of his size.
__________________ X-Hail
Wife to Mark '97 Mommy to Robby '98, Patrick '01, Abigail '03 and John-Paul '08
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folklaur Forum All-Star
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Posted: Dec 26 2007 at 11:28am | IP Logged
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I have had migraines since I was young. The only thing that ever helped was pain relievers and sleeping in complete dark & silence. Maybe an ice pack or a hot pack, but usually ice. I only had Tylenol when I was very young...I think when I was about 13 or so and I got really bad ones, I would get a Fiorinal or Fioricet....I still have a bottle of Fiorinal in the cabinet in case I get one, but I haven't had to take it for awhile, if I catch it early enough I can take aspirin with a glass of Coca-cola or other caffeine drink will help me....advil or tylenol don't seem to do very much to help mine...
but once I get to the nauseous/throwing up point, where light hurts, the only thing that helps is sleep.....
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Bridget Forum All-Star
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Posted: Dec 26 2007 at 12:07pm | IP Logged
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Any dehydration or heat gives one of my sons a throwing up headache. I feel like a ridiculous mom on the sidelines calling him to get a drink constantly.
__________________ God Bless,
Bridget, happily married to Kevin, mom to 8 on earth and a small army in heaven
Our Magnum Opus
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Courtney Forum All-Star
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Posted: Dec 26 2007 at 12:10pm | IP Logged
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Hi, Mary Chris. My dd has had bad headaches off and on for about a year and a half. I took her to the chiropractor and he suggested accupuncuture. She's had accupuncture now about 4 times. Every time she has it, her headaches decrease significantly for about 2-3 months. I do believe hydration is key for her, too, though. I've had to really remind her to drink plenty of water. Her headaches always occur btwn 4-7pm. I think that's when the lack of enough water would start to hit her. My chiropractor also believes (in her case) it may be hormone related (she's 10). So far, we haven't had to do anything else re: the headaches. I know it's miserable for them. I hope your son can get some relief soon! On a more adult headache note, my sister firmly believes in Excedrin for headaches. It has acetamenophin (sp?), aspirin and caffeine. My dh had a killer headache (sinus related) on Christmas Eve. Nothing touched it until I bought some Excedrin. I guess that caffeine does do something good now and again, huh?
__________________ Courtney in Texas
Wife to Mike since 3/94
Mom to Candace 10/97,Christopher 4/00 and Connor 11/11
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JodieLyn Forum Moderator
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Posted: Dec 26 2007 at 3:31pm | IP Logged
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caffeine can knock out a migraine for me without any other meds.. but I don't have it any other time.
__________________ Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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Rachel May Forum All-Star
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Posted: Dec 27 2007 at 7:29am | IP Logged
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We've found food, sleep, and hydration can all be triggers and hot weather makes them worse. If Thomas' diet is skewed in favor of carbs, if he has had several active days going to bed later but no afternoon rests, if he hasn't been drinking his water , he gets a HA.
Now that he knows that waiting to tell me (muscling through it because he doesn't want to stop what he's doing) really chaps my hide, he'll usually ask for medicine (motrin or tylenol) earlier and avoid needing dark and sleep. He's only thrown up once from HA this year which has been a miraculous improvement.
__________________ Rachel
Thomas and Anthony (10), Maria (8), Charles (6), Cecilia (5), James (3), and Joseph (1)
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Servant2theKing Forum All-Star
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Posted: Dec 27 2007 at 7:39am | IP Logged
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One of our sons has had migraines for several years. I get them and several siblings as well. Our son seems to have several triggers...bright sun, humidity, low blood sugar, hormone changes. I'm suspicious that he may also suffer from exercise-induced asthma, which might be a possible trigger for him and perhaps for your son. Other triggers to watch for are lack of sleep and certain food allergies. Ibuprofen ligui-gels are helpful as they work faster. Caffeine also helps speed up the effectiveness. If migraines are from food related allergies, Benedryl helps. Darkened room and sleep are essential for my son. We try to avoid or lessen any triggers altogether, whenever possible.
If a migraine hits, the sooner you treat it the better. Migraines usually only worsen if you try to just work through it. Boys and men who suffer from migraines need to be taught to treat it fast so they can get back on task. This is one area of life where they can't just "tough it out". Try to explain to your son that he will actually be much more productive if he treats the headache as soon as it hits.
__________________ All for Christ, our Saviour and King, servant
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Mary Chris Forum All-Star
Joined: Jan 27 2005 Location: Virginia
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Posted: Dec 27 2007 at 7:54am | IP Logged
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You are all a wealth on information! There are a lot of things here for me to mull over. I think his biggest trigger is dehydration. I am going to really work on getting more water into him.
I took him to the chiropractor back in Aug. It wasn't the best visit for me emotionally, she mentioned he had big lymph nodes three days before the anniversary of his leukemia diagnosis. That had me a little stressed and in a tizzy until I got him in for a count check. I am ready to take him back in now, I'll just not worry about her comments on his lymph nodes.
I use Excederin Migraine when I feel one coming on. It is very effective!
Thank you all for your great info!
__________________ Blessings, Mary Chris Beardsley
mom to MacKenzie3/95, Carter 12/97 Ronan 3/00 and wife to Jim since 1/92
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Anne McD Forum All-Star
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Posted: Jan 23 2008 at 11:15am | IP Logged
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just have a second, but I had frequent migranes as a child, all because of dehydration (once I was preg with #1, I knew how much to drink and didn't get them any more.)
If I ever felt one coming on, I'd take an ibuprophin and catch it-- I've found that ice packs on the back of my neck get rid of them, too.
HTH!!
__________________ Anne
Wife to Jon
Mommy to Alex 9
James 8
Katie 6
William 3 1/2
Benedict Joseph 1
and baby on the way! 10/14
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Cay Gibson Forum All-Star
Joined: July 16 2005 Location: Louisiana
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Posted: Jan 23 2008 at 11:29am | IP Logged
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Mary Chris wrote:
I use Excederin Migraine when I feel one coming on. It is very effective!
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I've got a doosey today. Tylenol isn't touching it. We're out of milk so I have to do a speed run to the store and will try this. I've never found anything that really "works" on my headaches.
__________________ Cay Gibson
"There are 49 states, then there is Louisiana." ~ Chef Emeril
wife to Mark '86
mom to 5
Cajun Cottage Under the Oaks
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JennGM Forum Moderator
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Posted: Jan 23 2008 at 11:47am | IP Logged
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I'm sorry he's going through this! Like said before, it helps to treat ASAP, so he needs to start recognizing beginning symptoms. A friend of mine's son would get the stomachache first, and she knew the migraine would get worse. And it seemed exercise induced (and asthma), so the dehydration does seem to fit the bill.
Next I would examine some of the foods he eats. Nitrates are notorious for causing migraines.
But one of my former boss's son suffered from migraines for several years, and they were never able to find the trigger. The doctors seemed to connect it to hormones and growing, but that was just a theory.
__________________ Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to & ds1 '03 & ds2 '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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Jenny Forum Pro
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Posted: Jan 23 2008 at 12:11pm | IP Logged
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Second or thirding dehydration. My dh and I don't even think to call them anything else but dehydration headaches. I get terrible headaches, sick to my stomach feeling and even an irregular heart beat.
__________________ Jenny
Chris' wife and momma of 7. My blog: The Littlest Way--Bible Journaling, Inspiring Bible Quotes, Daily Affirmations, Prayer Journaling & photography
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Mary Chris Forum All-Star
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Posted: Jan 23 2008 at 12:15pm | IP Logged
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JennGM wrote:
. Nitrates are notorious for causing migraines.
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Well hopefully he won't have to give up his favorite sandwich, salami, pepperoni and olives........otherwise known as The Salt Lick
We are working on making sure he has a big drink of water at breakfast and drinking through the day. Thankfully he has not had any headaches lately.
__________________ Blessings, Mary Chris Beardsley
mom to MacKenzie3/95, Carter 12/97 Ronan 3/00 and wife to Jim since 1/92
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Christine Forum All-Star
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Posted: Jan 24 2008 at 10:34am | IP Logged
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Hot dogs and processed meats give my seven-year old severe migraines. They also cause migraines for one of my sisters and a niece. Caffeine triggers migraines in my husband.
__________________ Christine
Mommy to 4 girls, 5 boys, & 2 in God's care
Memories of a Catholic Wife and Mother
Pretty Lilla Rose
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BrendaPeter Forum All-Star
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Posted: Jan 24 2008 at 9:33pm | IP Logged
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Same story here about dehydration. My dh would take a gallon container of water with him to play tennis to prevent a migraine.
__________________ Blessings,
Brenda (mom to 6)
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cathhomeschool Board Moderator
Texas Bluebonnets
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Posted: Jan 24 2008 at 9:37pm | IP Logged
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Regular pain relievers never helped my migraines as a child. I'd throw up and run a fever when they got bad. The only thing that would take them away was sleep.
As an adult, I tried prescription meds that never worked, but Excedrin Migraine does! (Fortunately I rarely get them anymore, though.)
Triggers now: sugar and (this is strange) if I eat peanuts or things with nitrites in them, I don't get migraines right away, but I'll get them with my cycle. If I don't eat peanuts or nitrites, no cycle-migraines.
Triggers then: the weather was a big factor -- barometric pressure.
Praying that you can figure out how to help Carter!
__________________ Janette (4 boys - 22, 21, 15, 14)
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