Migraine

Hi Everyone

Andrew had a really good month in April. He only had 5 migraines. I know that is a lot, but it is an improvement. Unfortunately, since May has began he is having more and more.

(His behavior is back to normal. He is like a different person than he was a month ago (since going off the neurontin)).

The main problem right now is that he cannot fall asleep at night. Sleep is a HUGE trigger for him. Since he can't go to sleep, he can't get up at a decent time. He used to go to bed around 10pm. We had been waking him around 8am since he is not in school. We would never let him sleep in due to the trigger factor. Now we don't have a choice. If he is up half the night, waking him at 8am will surely bring a migraine.

I'm just not sure what is going on. My ex husband and I are beginning to think that Andrew has ADD. I have been researching that. He is disorganized, forgetful, can't concentrate, can't focus, easily distracted, makes careless mistakes.

I don't think he has ever been like this before. He just went off neurontin in March. That drug had a very big effect on him in so many ways. Do you think the drug could have anything to do with this?

I contacted my doctor to update him on the migraine situation. I told him about the increase in migraines and a couple of changes we have noticed with the migraines (vomiting and postdrome).

I asked him to advise me what to do about the sleep. He prescribed ativan. I gave Andrew .5mg tonight. I hope it helps him sleep before midnight.

I didn't mention the ADD because I hadn't considered it at the time. I asked Andrew what he thought was wrong. He thinks all of it is from the lack of sleep. I am going to give it a week to try to get him back on schedule. If nothing changes I will email the doctor again.

Interested in any thoughts you may have.
Thanks
Jean Ann

Hi Jean Ann, I'm sorry to hear Andrew is still having such difficulty.

I would say, if you've noticed a behavior change in him since his med change, *definitely* mention this to his doctor and ask if this could be related to the meds.

It is also possible it's just related to the lack of sleep, like you mention. In that case, it's still very important to mention it to his doctor, because if he's having this much trouble it's that much more important to straighten out the sleeping problems.

Another thing to keep in mind, is that the longer his sleep schedule is out of whack, the harder it may be to get on track.

My heart really goes out to you both. I've had some very long bouts with insomnia that made my chronic migraines that much worse - really, made everything that much worse!

If the Ativan doesn't work (it didn't for me - very bad side effects), you may want to ask his doc about melatonin supplements. Quite a number of our members take them to help with sleep. I finally got mine in the mail today, so starting tonight I will be too (with my doctor's ok).

Hope this helps - I'm sending you some hugs in the meantime.

Hi Jean Ann,

I am new to the forum. I don't have a son with migranes(at least it hasn't been diagnosised). But I do have two middle schoolers with the diagnosis of ADHD and Asperger's.

My 14 yr. old son has a lot of problems that require him to take medicine, and other things that make me understand having a child with major medical problems and school issues.

One of the problems we have dealt with is my son's major insomnia. We have lost the battle over enforcing a decent bedtime--8:00. We gave up after his sleep study and the research we found that it is common in early teens for teenagers to be insomminiacs. We give him Seroquel before he goes to bed. It helps him sleep but it maybe 10 0r 11 before he goes to sleep.

If you are looking into ADHD also look at Asperger's. Asperger's has a lot of issues with it that actually make migranes a comorbidity.

Mary in NM

What would make Asperger's and migraines comorbid?

My son has ADHD but we had him tested for Asperger's and while he tested negative, I'm not so sure. And he has migraines.

Thanks.

quote:

If you are looking into ADHD also look at Asperger's. Asperger's has a lot of issues with it that actually make migranes a comorbidity.

Deb

Asperger's Syndrome is a form of autism because of the social issues and development can be similar to all the other forms of autism. My son wasn't diagnosised with asperger's until he was in 6th grade. He was diagnosised with ADHD when he was three years old. Our child psych. told us he also was brilliant--IQ hard to nail down but above average.

He has medical issues of severe GRED that has led to strictures and he has had 3 endoscopies to fix them. He has a lot of times when he can't and won't eat.

He has alot of senosry issues with lights, noises, smells, sounds, crowds and such. In fact his issues sound so much like migranes, that I am going to be having his doctors look at this as another diagnosis for what is going on with him.

We had to take him out of normal classrooms--he doesn't handle large groups. He has periods where no matter what he tries his head hurts. School is very hard for him, he tires very easy. Even though his IQ is high he struggles so much with school t

Asperger's is a strange diagnosis to get doctors to give. I was told by one doctor that you can have a hundred kids with Asperger's and everyone of them would be very different. I have discovered that how some doctors define Asperger's depends on whether they are mostly familar with classic autism and the lower functioning part of the spectrum. Or whether they are dealing with ADHD, bipolar disorder, and OCD. My son's Asperger's is inherited on both sides of the family--my husband, my FIL, my father and some siblings.

I have a good friend who took her 9 year old son to the main center for autism in New Mexico and they told her that he didn't have it. The same group told me that my husband would be diagnosised with HFA and not Asperger's because of some speech delay he had when he was 3 yrs old. The psychatrist that diagnosised my son used detailed family history to make the diagnosis.

Only last summer my friend went over to Tuscon to see a Autism group over there that made the diagnosis for her son.

The diagnosis a lot of times is made in the middle school because that is when educational, and social issues really point to the differences these kids have. My son is 14 but most of the time he acts like he is 10. Most Asperger kids act about 2/3 their actual age.

There is an interesting book written by Diane Kennendy called the ADHD Autism Connection that explains more about Asperger's and Autism

Hi Jean Ann!

I know that this would be the super simple "let's hope it's just this" reason, but could it just be that Andrew is getting used to not being in school? And now with it being lighter out later at night, its getting harder to fall asleep??

Just a thought???

I know for me, I'm staying up wayyyyy past my bedtime, because it is still light out later, so I feel like I should be up later....make sence at all???

Oh I wish it were this easy!!!

Thank you, I'll look into this.

The incidence of autism spectrum disorders is so high that I wouldn't be suprised if Nikoli was eventually diagnosed with it. It's just a gut feeling I have even though he has tested negative for it.

quote:

There is an interesting book written by Diane Kennendy called the ADHD Autism Connection that explains more about Asperger's and Autism

Mary

I don't think my son has any symptoms of Aspergers. He is very social. He gets along well with other kids. He easily makes friends. The only people he has issues with are his parents.

His lack of attention and focus is what made me think of ADD. Actually, I had been thinking about it for awhile. My ex husband mentioned it to me as well. We were both thinking the same thing.


Eileen

I have thought about the fact that it just maybe him staying up late, but I am aware of nights when he went to bed and laid there for a couple of hours trying to go to sleep. I think it could be what Mary said about teenagers clock changing. It's hard to get it back on track though.

Now he is getting used to this. I think this was happening once in awhile. Over a week ago, he had a pretty bad migraine that kept him up until 1am. That's when this became an almost every night thing.

MJ

I actually asked my doctor if melantonin would be a good choice. His only response to that is that he was calling in the ativan.

Thanks for all the input.
Jean Ann

Again, I'm late chiming in.

My son has ADHD. More the inattention symptoms than the hyperactivity. He was diagnosed in the first grade. He had problems in kindergarten, a very long story that isn't related to your son's problems, and we ended up moving him from the kindergarten at our church to the public schools. He did fine in K, but in the first grade, the classroom was set up in centers, and he had a horrible time keeping up with his supplies, which were supposed to be in his belly bag. That setup is about the worst you can have for ADHD.

We took him to the pediatric developmental specialist at the medical school, and she was the one who diagnosed him with ADHD. Ritalin helped greatly. He had to take a dose at lunchtime, but so did several other kids, so he really wasn't different there.

His regular pediatrician was ready to prescribe Ritalin without a prior evaluation. He said if the Ritalin worked, then he had ADHD. Kind of backwards. DS's godmother is a pediatrician (great how that worked out!), and she got him in to see the developmental specialist. She was doing a fellowship in childhood cancer, so she knew the specialist.

DS went off his meds in his junior year of high school. I think he'd benefit from meds, even though he's now 21, but he doesn't want to take any, so that's that.

If you think ADHD is involved, get him evaluated. Treatment makes life much more normal.

Gretchen in Mississippi

Jean Ann,

It doesn't sound like your son is my like my son. He sounds like he is blessed to get along with people. I understand what you mean when you say the only people he doesn't get along with is his parents. Some of that is just dealing with middleschoolers in general. Understanding that they are teenagers and what is "normal" to the process of growing up sometimes is hard to do.

I agree with Gretchen in Mississippi that having a diagnosis of ADHD and being on medicine can make a huge difference. The difference between my son on his drugs and not is so significant that he doesn't like to be without them.

My daughter on the other hand has refused to take her ADHD meds, or even acknowledge the Drs. diagnosis for her. My daughter is 12 years old, loves her friends and seems to get along with everyone--except for me somedays. She usually comes home from school with one of two moods-angry or hyper. Most days she goes and takes a two hour nap if I let her. Her doctors think it is her way of coping with the overstimulation she experiences.

Being a mom is hard enough without being a mom of special need kids. Happy early MOTHER's Day

from another mother,

Mary in NM

My youngest, who is now 17, has ADHD. She's been on Adderall XR for about 4 years. She doesn't have to take it at school, so they don't know she has ADHD. There's a world of difference in her on and off the med.

I probably have ADD - I'm not organized, & never have been. I'm forgetful and daydream constantly. I was a social outcast until I went to college, where I finally fit in with all the other nerds.

My daddy was classic ADD. When my philosophy class was discussing Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, I astounded them with tales of Daddy's forgetting to eat, yet holding 5 patents.

2 of my students are autistic/have Aspergers. Both are quite social and friendly. Both are prone to verbal outbursts during class. Both work hard at making and keeping eye contact with me when we are talking with each other. Both are 8th graders.

Get Andrew tested, I say.



Rebecca

I think I figured out the sleep problem. Andrew has been taking zyrtec for over a month. The light bulb finally went off yesterday. I did some research. Guess what one of the side effects is? Trouble sleeping.

I gave him a half an ativan 2 nights ago. It had no effect. I gave him the other half. It had no effect. I was a bit surprised.

Last night he did not take the zyrtec. I gave him half an ativan. He was totally wiped out and went to bed at 9:30.

I hope we can get him back to normal sleeping times again. I'm going to have him use the ativan one or two more nights and then see if he can get to sleep at a normal time on his own.

If the allergies become problematic we can try a couple of other things or even try the zyrtec in the am. I had him taking it just before bed due to the possible side effect of drowsiness.

Thank you all for your input on the ADD. I am going to give it another week to see if his attention increases because he is getting more sleep. If not, I am going to mention it to the headache specialist and see what his opinion is.

I will let you know what happens.
Jean Ann

Oops. I guess I spoke too soon. He was up in the night with restless legs. That must have been from the ativan. We won't be using that anymore. I'm glad he only got a half a pill.

We'll have to come up with a new plan for tonight.

Jean Ann

hi jean ann,
you definitely need to discuss the ADD possibility with your neurologist. I also think lack of sleep and adolescence are contributing factors and may not be ADD but obviously you and your ex know andrew best and it's worth a discussion with the doc.

just wanted to chime in about melatonin... I give it to my kids when they have trouble sleeping and have taken it myself. they are 12 and 14yo i give them 1.5 milligrams, i take 3 milligrams. it seems to work well with them and there is no grogginess or drugged feeling with it. the only concern is to make sure he could take it with the other meds he's taking, that there wouldn't be any adverse interaction/reaction.

also, if he's been on zyrtec for awhile and it doesn't make him drowsy then maybe it's a good idea for him to take it in the a.m. some meds that make some people drowsy make others hyper. i'm not so familiar with ativan but someone suggested it to me when we were going to fly (i'm afraid to fly) and the xanax i had taken did nothing.....my husband never saw anyone cry for seven hours before lol.

good luck with figuring it all out, bet you didn't know you'd grow up to be a Dr. And a detective