Migraine

Hello all,

I'm 41 and can not remember not being in pain....chronic sufferer, to say the least. I have the typical story of not being diagnosed as a child....was actually in my late twenties. My neuro diagnosed me as being in the worst 1% of migraine sufferers! Been through many of the meds over the years and have been settled into the Elavil/Imitrex regimen for the past 12. I guess you could say it works, since I have not killed myself yet!! Made one attempt to use Topamax a few years ago with scary results.

The reason I came to this site is because my 9 yr. old daughter has become chronically ill with migraines too. She has had them occasionally since about the age of 4, but is now in the life-altering stage. I refuse to let this happen to her without a fierce fight!!! We are seeing a ped. neuro. with no good results yet...only been a couple of weeks. I am mainly trying to find insight to deal with her school situation. We are trying to make the decision whether to try to keep her in public school with a 504 plan, or just pull her out and do online or homeschool. (I would have to quit my part time job.) Her school doesn't quite know what to do with her, but are trying their best.

I have already looked around the site and found some helpful information. I'm sure I'll have plenty of questions as I go thru the nightmare of watching my pain-filled childhood lived-out all over again thru my daughter. Hopefully, she will not have to even think about this issue with her own children.

Looking forward to learning more,

Jo

Hello, Jo, we're so glad you found us. Welcome! I'm so sorry for all that you and your daughter have been through.

You may already have looked through the folder on Children and Migraines. If not, do take a look. You will find several discussions of 504 plans there, and parents of other children who have had migraines will be along to share their ideas with you.

I'm going to link our article on Patient Recommended Migraine and Headache Specialists. Click on the blue words to access the list. It is mostly organized by state, but at the end you will find a list of pediatric headache specialists. Many of our forum members travel long distances, even by air, to see their specialists.

Please let us know what else we can do to help, and keep us posted on how you and your daughter are doing.

Hi Jo, and welcome. So sorry to hear that your daughter is stuck with migraines (and you, too!). You've done a great service for both of you by coming to this website and getting on our forum. I should mention that the moderators work very hard to keep this a family-friendly place, so you may want to consider letting your daughter read along with you so she can learn about our disease.

We have quite a number of parents here who have 504 plans for their children or who homeschool them. I'm sure they will be happy to answer any of your questions.

If you haven't already, take a look around the rest of the site. You won't find a better collection of reliable information anywhere on the internet. Let us know how we can help you and your daughter. And welcome again!

Jo,

Hello and welcome! I can sympathize with you. Two of my granddaughters have Migraines, and I've had them myself since I was 6.

I created a shortcut to this thread in our Children and Migraine folder to help it been seen more readily by other moms.

Welcome again!

Welcome to the site Jo!

Sorry to hear that you and your daughter suffer from migraine disease.
Looks like you've already been given some links.

Please feel free to ask questions and let us know if we can help you out.

Welcome again!

Hi, Jo! Welcome to the forum!

Kids shouldn't have to suffer from this icky disease. Plain and simple. I'm glad your daughter has you and your ferocity on her side, though. That and your ability to really understand are huge gifty items.

Do look through this folder. We've had tons of threads where we've talked about 504 plans, and quite a few moms that can show you the ropes.

Hi Jo

Welcome to the forum. I'm so sorry to hear about your daughter. It's an awful thing for kids to have to suffer through. My son is 14 and he has been having migraines since age 5. They became severe about a year and a half ago during 8th grade.

We do have a 504 plan at school. If you have any questions, please let me know. I'll be happy to help in anyway I can. I think that we have been very lucky with our school situation. Next year my son will go onto high school so I worry about how things could change there.

During 8th grade we put him on a half day schedule, but he was in too much pain to continue like that. Also, the stress of trying to deal with school and get the migraines under control was difficult. We made the decision to have him on homebound instruction. The school provided a tutor up to 5 hours per week. That was sufficient during that time.

My son did miss school and being with his peers. We wanted him in school and he wanted to be in school rather than cyber school. But, if things get awful again, we will have to consider the other options.

Our 504 plan seems to be working well. It's difficult since he is still having many migraines, but he is able to keep up. His grades are still good, but he misses out on a lot of schooling. He often goes in late so he misses part of the day.

Good luck. I hope your dr. will find something soon that helps. What has the dr. given your daughter so far?

Jean Ann

Hi Jo! Welcome to the forum! Im ss both you and your daughter suffer from migraines.

I too have migraines and it is becoming more and more obvious my son has them too. He is 9 also. I have homeschooled my son for 2 years now. We didnt pull him from school due to migraines, rather due to his low immune system, and frequent serious illnesses. He was missing so much school. He also had headaches all that time, but it was hard to tell if all his head pain was from all his illnesses or from migraines. The last 6 months have been much healthier virus wise for him, and it now appears he has migraines just like mom.

Anyway, I find that I much prefer homeschooling him. I am able to have much more flexibility as to when he does his work. If he is having a bad day, we stop and let him sleep. or whatever. It helps keep his stress down not having that pressure of needing to go to school and not missing classes etc. He dosent miss out on pertinent things like he would in public school. I find it really helps with not getting learning gaps. You are in full control of when he needs a break, and when he(she) can work.

With the good, there is always the other side of the coin. It takes a large commitment for the parent, and lot of work. Also it takes respect on the childs part, and to be able to set school time seperate. IE. Mom is THE TEACHER during school times. If your fighting and struggling to get your child to cooprerate,and do his/her work, homeschooling is not going to work. Does that make sense? I really think its up to each individual parents and child.

Well theres my 2 cents! Hope it helpes!

Tawsha

I'm lucky -- my son didn't inherit my migraine disease, but he had ADHD, so I understand school problems.

But I did want to welcome you. I keep up with almost all the threads, and I'm so impressed with what moms do for their kids with migraines.

Looking forward to seeing you around!

Gretchen in Mississippi

Hi Jo, welcome to the forum