Migraine

My 11 year old son is a migraine sufferer and has been since he was 2 years old. He has always slept alot, even as an infant. I know most kids like to sleep longer when they have a day off or on weekends, but he seems to NEED about 14 hours of sleep daily. This is not due to any meds he is currently on because he has always needed a lot of sleep. During periods when he is out of school like Spring Break, Christmas, or even summer he will sleep that long every day. Does anyone else have a child who needs that much sleep? His doctor suggested a sleep study for apnea but the fact that he doesn't snore makes me feel like that isn't the problem.

I don't have children, but I remember when I was younger, I could just sleep all day long.

I used to need at least 10-14 hours - yeah, a lot! Now, I am good at 8-9.

Ah, in my college days, I could go on 5 or 6, that is long gone!

How is he otherwise from the migraines? Any depression? I know that when I was battling depression on a more constant basis, that ment I would sleep a lot more. And, it's to be expected if he is having constant migraine attacks, being in pain all the time is depressing!!!

I agree, I remember sleeping late all the time on weekends as a kid. As far as depression goes, we are noticing some signs of it now. As parents, when he was younger our concern was always to just make him comfortable physically. As Alex gets older he is realizing that he can't do the things other kids do and it is starting to depress him. He can't go to a sleepover because his sleep pattern will be off if he stays up too late. He also could eat something that might trigger a migraine. He is pretty good about knowing what he can and can't eat but sometimes he doesn't realize what the ingredients are and eats something anyway. Citrus and believe it or not, citric acid are triggers for him. Citric acid is in EVERYTHING! His friends have accused him of not wanting to play with them when in reality, he just can't get overheated playing in the sun. We live in Florida and that's a mighty difficult problem. Our doctor holds out hope that after puberty his headaches will go away. Unfortunetly, so will his childhood.

Alison,

Sleep apnea and snoring are two different problems. They can occur separately or together. Apnea is when someone stops breathing completely. My DH does that, as well as hypopnea - he takes very shallow breaths - and he snores.

After sleep studies, he was put on a CPAP (continuois positive airway pressure) machine. That machine saved his life and our marriage.

Will your health insurance cover a sleep study? Matt makes no sound when he stops breathing. He goes utterly still. He just needs extra hours of sleep because he never goes into REM sleep. The machine lets him go into REM sleep.

I've always needed at least 9 hours of sleep a night. I do better with 10. I never pulled an all-nighter in college.

I'd talk with the doctor some more & look into a sleep study before I'd think about more meds. That's just me.

I'll keep sending good thoughts y'all's way,

Rebecca (curremtly in the end-of-the-school-year-migraine cycle)

I believe our insurance will cover a sleep study. My Mom has apnea and uses the CPAP and I wonder if it can be hereditary?

If your insurance covers it, I would have it done. Lack of sleep is one of my worst triggers. If he is sleeping better he might tolerate other triggers better, I know I do. And for a young man growing like they do at this age, sleep and good sleep is so very important, I would do it.

Take care,

Cindy

Hey there, I'm a little late but thought if you're still around you'd see my post.

I'm 29 and I still sleep anywhere from 10-14 hours a day, depending. I've always been very fatigued. Unfortunately it has never gotten better for me over time, but I have chronic Epstein-Barr's and the PFO in my heart, plus the migraines. The 3 combined aren't a great combo for energy, and some days they are a total roadblock. I've always slept this way, too, since I was an infant.

I do hope you're considering the sleep study, and I'd keep digging for more answers if you can. I know it's not unusual for a teenager or pre-teen to sleep long hours but for those of us with migraine there might just be something else going on...I hope you get answers very soon.

I'm skinny, don't snore & in my mid 30's & have a skinny neck/small head. I don't fit the profile for sleep apnea. I thought for sure I had Narcolepsy or Idiopathic Hypersomnia.

Much to my surprise, I have mild to mod Obstructive sleep apnea. I use an autopap machine. So far, I haven't seen any improvement on my symptoms but I keep trying. When I have an apnea episode, I also get very still (I've been told) & can have additonal neurological stuff. Same thing with some of my asthma episodes (externally, it looks like I am having a stroke... I dread the day it may happen at work).

Much to my surprise, what helped my last migraine (not my current one I am having), was not Midrin -which makes me hallucinate & have light sleep, but sleeping on Ambien.

So it's really hard to say what's going on till a sleep study is done.
Poor sleep can make things worse.

BTW, citric acid does a number on me! I have GERD (which is common with apnea) & since I've had my ulcers, I haven't been able to tolerate orange juice, plain seltzer water & citric juices & fruits & sometimes tomato based stuff.
I have to take medicine & even with the meds, sometimes I get severe heartburn attacks which can trigger asthma which can trigger my neurological symptoms. I had an attack on my way to work & they were like, can't you take meds? I'm thinking "what meds?" cause I would like to know.

Hi there My son who is six has had frequent migraine and one of the things i have continually brouht up with the DR is the sleep. From early childhood he was always sleeping. People would tell me how lucky I was to have a preschooler who went to bed at 7 and got up at 10 or 11 am but i always thought it was abnormal. My 2 other children bounced out of bed every morning at 5 or 6am. I remember the Dr telling me to just "wake him up" but he was constantly exhausted.

He was diagnosed with hemiplegic migraine one year ago and has been on Sandomigrain, a preventative medication. Within two weeks of starting the meds his sleeping dramatically reduced by 2 -3 hours each night. He is now able to get up and get to school on time.

Recently he had a medication "holiday" as per the advice of the Dr and began sleeping excessively (14 - 16 hours) again and within 6 weeks was having the worst bout of migraine yet. This lasted for a month and in the final week he slept 18 to 20 hours a day.

We started him back on the preventatives and his sleep has dropped back to 10 - 12 hours. He is happy and full of energy. For us the sleep is a clear indicator of how well he is or if he is entering another cycle of migraine.

Hope you find some answers.

Wow, I was beginning to think my son was the only one out there who sleeps that much! He would sleep a long time even as an infant and I remeber friends and family asking me what I was complaining about. He was recently taking Topomax and Periactin as preventatives but we changed that last week to Pamelor. I am a little concerned about that drug because just like all the others, it's prescribed off-label and this one is used for depression. He continues to sleep 12-14 hours daily and seems to need that much sleep to function. When he gets up he is a little drowsy at first but soon wakes up and is ready to face his day. We are homeschooling this year because I would literally have to put him to bed at 6p.m. in order for him to get the amount of sleep he needs if he were to go to school. If he doesn't get that much sleep, we are guaranteed he will get a migraine. Does your son see a pediatric neurologist or a migraine specialist? My son has only been diagnosed with migraines but not with a SPECIFIC type of migraine.

Hi

It is great to find someone with the same stuff going on. We live in Australia and so far have not found a Paediactric migraine specialist. We have seen a paediactrian who has been great but is now at the limits of his knowledge and has referred us to a paediactric neurologist. We are waiting for the hospital to mail out the appointment. Apparently the wait is about 6 months as not many specialist neurologists here.

My son was initially given Periactin but it had no effect on his migraine at all. After a 4 month trial he was changed to Sandomigraine which is a seratonin based drug. Nancy Bonk said this was not used much in America as it is a really old drug. (See my share post under Daisy) Anyway this is the medication that has made the huge difference to his sleep. My eldest daughter is studying pharmacy and she says that 80% of this drugs action when taken orally is on the body and little is known about how it actually works.

Like all parents I was not keen on the drug route but it has made a big difference.

Great to connect with you. Got to go now but keep in touch.

Okay, here's a funny question about sleep. Today we went to our pediatrician for a school physical. I am homeschooling this year but I needed one anyway because we are registering with an umbrella school. I mentioned to the doctor that Alex continues to require a lot of sleep. Last school year when he was in public school, school started at 9:40 in the morning and let out at 3:40 in the afternoon. School was 2 blocks from our house so I would not get him up until 8:15 or so in the morning and he still made it there in plenty of time. This year because we are schooling at home he is able to sleep later. The doctor told us today that he should have a bedtime of 8:00 at night! He will be 12 in January! Does anyone else have an 11 year old with a bedtime of that hour????

Hi

My son is 15 now, but I think he went to bed by 9pm when he was 12 years old. I have found over the years that the important thing about sleep for my son is going to bed and getting up at the same time everyday.

My son has always had sleep issues, but his were due to not enough sleep.

When my son was younger (5+ years old) he would almost always get a migraine on Monday or Tuesday. We came to expect it. It was due to a mixed up bedtime and waking time on the weekends. Now that he is a teenager his sleep is a mess, but it doesn't seem to be causing migraines now. Thank goodness.

Sleep problems can be so difficult. Good Luck.

Jean Ann