14 answers

Scared for My Teenaged Son

My 17 yo son has been experiencing dizziness (sometimes accompanied by nausea) & migraine-type headaches (w/sensitivity to sound that last for hours). This has been going on since about early January 2007. And yes, this issue has effected his school attendance. We just saw an ENT specialist (Ear-Nose-Throat) and she ruled out inner-ear problems. She said that "You just don't see inner-ear problems with 17 yo's." I'm still waiting on the scheduling of an MRI and ENG. So, I am looking for other moms - even those in the medical field, who have experienced this w/a child of the same age group. I'm left w/more questions and I just don't know how to help my son or which way to go.

What can I do next?

So What Happened?™

*4/26/07*My son's blood sugar, EEG, O2, blood, urinalysis, MRI, bp, & eye appts came back normal. The pediatric neurologist we met w/had a name for it (it escapes me, now). He basically said that my son suffers from 2 types of migraine headaches, & the neurologist prescribed Inderal LA, to treat the migraines. He recommended this particular website, http://www.achenet.org, for us to look into & to obtain a Headache Diary. We'll be keeping w/the follow up appts as necessary. Thank you all, for your support!! :)

Featured Answers

My 14 yr old daughter has similiar condition. We have done ent, cat scans and mri's but they have still found nothing. The search goes on. If i learn more, I will pass it along.

1 mom found this helpful

More Answers

My 14 yr old daughter has similiar condition. We have done ent, cat scans and mri's but they have still found nothing. The search goes on. If i learn more, I will pass it along.

1 mom found this helpful

Hi H.,
Is there a history of migraines in your family? My ex-husband's family has a big history of them. My daughter who is now 18 has had migraines since about the age of 10. My son who is 14 started experiencing them last year. They both have the light-sensitivity, pain, nausea, and sometimes vomiting. My daughter is on prescribed migraine meds. For now my son uses Excederine, it works well for him. If it stops working then he will go on prescribed meds. I think the best thing you can do is continue to seek medical advice. The MRI and ENG sound like a good plan as well. Another thing you can do is have your son keep a headache diary. He should write down when he gets the pain, what he was doing before it started, anything he ate shortly before it started (food can trigger migraines), and any sensations he experienced before the pain (some people get an "aura" before it starts), the length of the pain, any nausea or vomiting, and anything that helped make it better (pain meds, lying down, cold cloth etc.). This will be very helpful to the doctors, whether or not it is actually a migraine. I hope this helps. Take care and best wishes, C.

1 mom found this helpful

H.
Although I would still have the tests preformed, it does sound like he's having migraines. And as a couple of people have said, nausea and dizziness lasting for hours are normal migraine symptoms. I started having migraines at 12, and they can happen at any age. The good news, there are a couple medications now that are much more effect than any thing that was available when I first had them.
Good luck
D.

1 mom found this helpful

I would suggest seeing a neurologist.I have been dealing with migrain head aches for at least 20 years, since i was about 6. That sounds like hes been getting really bad migrains.i would check that out-Jackie

1 mom found this helpful

Hi H., First, does your son wear glasses? That may be contributing to bringing on the migraine. Also you should know that a lot of people suffer from migraines. When I was in junior high one of my friends suffored from them so bad that she would leave school in the middle of the day all of the time. She had a special med that she took, and could not be in a room w/ light. She would also throw up. I def would see the specialist and rule anything and everything out, but I wanted you to know that everything you described are the symptoms of massive migraines. So try not to worry yourself sick, and see the specialist. Hope this helps. Let us know what happens.

1 mom found this helpful

H.,
I don't have a 17yo but we are an entire family of migraine sufferers. Mine started at the age of 10yo, my husband's started at age 12yo, my 14yo son's started at the age of 5yo and my 11yo son's started at the age of 4yo.
Now, dizziness goes along with the migraine for a lot of people, just so you know.

What Í wanted to tell you was- go with your son to do the tests you scheduled and rule out any other problems there might be, and if there's nothing else, then it's just migraines and their symptoms (dizziness, nausea, changes in vision, sensitivity to sounds and light and there's more). if that's the case, what we do is- take Motrin migraine for the pain (advil is good too) and get into bed in a dark quiet room until it's better or over (in my case it just doesn't go away for days). if the Motrin/advil don't work- see a neurologist and get something stronger for it!
there are strong medications that are specifically for migraines and there are also meds that are given on a regular basis as a prevention measure (they don't always prevent migraines from coming, but they do help getting less of them and less painful ones from my experience).

By the way, known triggers to migraines for some people can be:
not enough sleep, chocolate, whine, cheese, very loud noise, straining the eyes too much in watching TV or reading for too long.

Why migraines can come?
Usually it's a hereditary condition.
here's a url that explain everything you need to know about migraines: http://www.webmd.com/migraines-headaches/default.htm

Hope I helped some,
M.

Hi H.. I had similar problem myself. I had dizziness(which lead to nausea) and frequent headaches and would have migraines often. I spoke to my dr and had all the tests and nothing came from it. I took some meds for the migraines but it did not help either. I talked mith my Aunt she owns a business and is a licensed massage, sweedish and reiki thearpist and she did some work on me and told me to go see chiropractor as well. I went 2X's a week for a month then every other week, then 1 a month. I have not had a migrain since. I go about 1 every other month and I also get a massage every other month.
Good luck to you and your son!

H.,

Sorry I don't have any advise, but I wanted to offer support and say Good Luck and I hope everything works out ok!

A.

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