Okay, I haven't had a bad, bad, bad migraine in years. Had some pretty bad headaches, but none with the spots, laying on the floor in the bathroom for a couple of days or threatening to kill anybody who speaks above a whisper.

I know that E and migraines are shown to have a link, but do you know how common it is for boys? I know migraines are uncommon in boys, but lately Michael has been having really bad headaches, centralized to one side with light and sound sensitivity. Sounds like a migraine to me.

Also, is there any link with Depakote causing migraines? These have only happened since he's been back on Depakote (November) and have really increased in frequency this month.

Julie- My goodness - You've sure had your hands full recently.

I've never heard of Depakote causing any migraines but what's that worth?

And Michael's bad headaches on one side with sound and light sensitivity sure sound like a migraine to me. That describes my migraines exactly. What does his neuro say? I sure have no suggestions. A triptan sounds awful for a child. But a migraine sound WORSE.
Oh dear. I hope this ends quickly. I hope someone smarter than I am speaks very soon .

Well I'm certainly not smarter than either one of you but I just wanted to come in here and offer some hugs! (((Michael & his Mama))) (((Jingle)))

I would suggest calling the neuro. & getting something for the migraines. Imitrex is my "best friend" when it comes to that. If he can't get into the Neuro. go for the family Dr. to get something. Migraines are no fun. They are just torture if they have him on the floor.
How old is he? If he's in his growing stage that may have something to do w/ it. The weather (humidity) might have something to do w/ it.
I would work on getting the migraine stopped & worry about why he's having them later.

I'm going to go ahead and call today. Hopefully our new insurance cards will be here soon. I didn't start having migraines until after puberty. He is ten years old and puberty isn't anywhere on the horizon. His migraine Monday night was particularly severe. I had a gel pack for him in the freezer and was warming up my neck wrap in the microwave. When the microwave timer went off, he dropped to the floor holding his ears. Poor little man.

Thanks for all your replies. Y'all are tops.

Found that in the headache section of the "Dealing w/ Doctors" info. Just because it's approved doesn't mean it's gauranteed. Hope his Dr. helped. Wonder if maybe he was on too much depakote........... Being such a tiny guy & all.





"One of the best ways to deal with headaches is to prevent them. In a new use for a drug that’s been around awhile, the anti-seizure drug Depakote has been approved by the FDA to treat migraine headaches."

I found that too. He's not on a high dose. When he was younger, he was on a higher dose. I read that about Depakote and being used to treat migraines and I was like...oh great if he's getting them and they are using it to treat them, it's not working. Reminded me of being on Neurontin for seizures, and reading people using it for pain management. I thought to myself, if they are getting relief from pain...why do I hurt so much?

Hi Julie,
I was 10 yrs. old when I started having migraine headaches that lead to sz. My neuro did a special eeg on me where they flashed different color strobe lights one at a time and they found that certain colors were triggering sz. and migraine headaches because I was photosensitive. It's also been proven that certain sounds can cause migraines and sz. as well.
I started taking depakote when I was 16 yrs. old and it never caused me to have headaches. I ask myself if all of this isn't hormone related because your son is beginning to go through puberty. You might want to have him start taking vitamin B12 once a day to see if that helps. I wish your son and you the best of luck and May God Bless You and Your Family!

Sue

I did find somewhere else that a "rare" side effect of Depakote is bad headaches. You previously said he had been on them before & no headaches. Drugs can effect you different once out & back in the system. Don't ask me why. So I guess migraines w/ boys are not that uncommon.


Advances in the treatment of migraine in kids - Brief Article
Pediatrics for Parents, Sept, 2001 by Paul Winner
Over the last decade, adults with migraine have benefited greatly from the development of new migraine medications, such as the triptans. But what about kids?

Migraine is a common cause of headache among children and adolescents. Migraine often results in school absences as well as restricting sports and recreational and family activities. Kids need rapid and effective relief without unpleasant side effects.

The FDA has approved the use of ibuprofen and naproxen in children over age 2, but children and adolescents who do not get adequate pain relief with these medications need other options. To date, none of the migraine medications widely used by adults have been approved by the FDA for use by children. But help is on the way. Several recent clinical trials involving adolescents with migraine have shown that a class of migraine drugs known as the triptans can help relieve their pain as well as other symptoms such as nausea and light or sound sensitivity.

How effective and safe are the triptans for use by children and teens? Unfortunately, very little scientific information is available for treating headache in younger children age 11 and under. The larger clinical trials to evaluate the effectiveness and tolerability of the triptans have been conducted in children ages 12 to 17 years.

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Studies of migraine treatment in children and adolescents are more problematic than those conducted in adults. Unlike adults with migraine, kids often have attacks of shorter duration. In some studies, the response rate to placebo at the 2-hour point was 40% to 57% -- almost as high as the response to the medication. Most likely this occurs because some of the study participants had short-lasting migraines that improved on their own within that time period. Nonetheless, these studies have shown the triptans to be safe and well-tolerated in kids over 12, making them an appropriate option to try for adolescents who do not get adequate headache relief from ibuprofen or other analgesics.

A study looking at the long-term safety and tolerability of sumatriptan (Imitrex) nasal spray involved 431 adolescents treating more than 3,000 migraine attacks. This study demonstrated a pain relief rate of 72% for the 20 mg dose. Only 15% experienced a return of the headache within 24 hours of treatment. Sumatriptan nasal spray was well tolerated. The most common side effect was taste disturbance. For all other side effects, the nasal spray group did as well as the placebo-treated group.

In another study of adolescents treating moderate to severe migraine, sumatriptan nasal spray provided pain relief within 2 hours for 66% of study participants at the 5 mg dose and 83% of study participants at the 20 mg dose.

Rizatriptan (Maxalt) 5 mg tablets have also been studied in adolescents with migraine. Two-thirds of patients report pain relief after 2 hours, which is similar to the response rate seen in adults. Statistically significant results were seen in a subset of adolescents treating a weekend migraine, with pain relief at 2 hours in 65% of the children. The rizatriptan 5 mg tablet was well tolerated with no serious side effects. Studies of sumatriptan (Imitrex) tablets in doses of 25 mg, 50 mg, and 100 mg have demonstrated similar pain relief rate in adolescents as adults at 2 hours. Zolmitriptan (Zomig) tablets have been studied at 2.5 and 5 mg dosages. Zolmitriptan has been shown to be effective and well tolerated in a small subset of adolescents.

These various studies do leave some questions unanswered. The fact that the adolescents participating in the rizatriptan study had more impressive results when treating weekend than weekday headache suggests another possibility regarding the high placebo effect seen in these studies. If the adolescents had to go to the school nurse to receive their medication on the weekdays, the resulting delay in treatment might mean that many short lasting headaches improved on their own by the 2-hour time point, regardless of the child received a triptan or a placebo. New study designs for evaluating headache relief are now being undertaken.

For children and adolescents who are not responding to acute treatment or are missing too much school due to frequent migraines, preventive therapy should be considered. Advances in this area have been slow in coming, and very few studies have been done in this age group. Recently, a small study of 31 children ages 7 to 16 years reported a favorable response with divalproex sodium (Depakote). Just over three-quarters of study participants achieved a 50% reduction in headache frequency. Further studies are needed with this and other preventive medications to help guide proper treatment strategies.

Kids with migraine are starting to get the attention and quality care they need. The outlook for meaningful, effective and safe migraine treatment for children and teens looks great!

Reprinted with permission from Headache, Spring, 2001. Published by the American Council for Headache Education (ACHE), 19 Mantua Road, Mount Royal, NJ 08061 www.achenet.org

COPYRIGHT 2001 Pediatrics for Parents, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group

Thank you Flopper for the great article.