It's been said loads, but just to add that you absolutely did the right thing and the system worked as it should.
Emergency departments are not designed to admit everyone that attends. Your daughter presented with symptoms that to any lay person are serious and the medical professional did their job.
You did the right thing, 100%, well done. <br /><br />
I had a hemiplegic migraine aged 41, it was terrifying. It was exactly like the stroke ads on the telly, I couldn’t form sentences and my arm went all weird. I was admitted to the stroke ward via A&E. The long and lonely night before an MRI will never be forgotten. I could have hugged the consultant who told me it was a migraine, not a stroke. Everyone told me I’d done exactly the right thing going to A&E and I fully agree with them.
The second time around it just… happened. I was sat playing World of Warcraft and got a weird visual disturbance, a zig-zag pattern at the edge of my vision. Over a period of, idk, 20 minutes maybe it drifted to the centre of my vision and I had to say “sorry guys, I need to stop playing, I’ve slightly gone blind a bit.”
I get those, sometimes just one, sometimes I’ll get a spate of them over several days. Fortunately, apart from the occasional follow-on headache I don’t have any real problems. Which is good, because I’ve had one come on while doing 70 on the M5.
When Jo, my late partner came to live with me, she told me she’d suffered a sub-arachnoid haemorrhage when she was living in Southern Ireland, about fifteen years previously and as a result she’d get seizures, mostly minor ones, but occasionally she’d have a major one, but she’d learned how to deal with them and not to worry and to not call an ambulance.
Predictably, she had one, and I panicked, having never seen anyone have one before. I called an ambulance, and she got rushed down to Bath and put through a scanner, because of her medical history. I went down to see her, and she signed herself out, but the atmosphere was somewhat frosty, shall we say. The people I spoke to at the hospital said I did exactly the right thing, with her history n’all. Bless her, she’d thawed out by the time we got home, and I said sorry, but I’d do it again, just to be on the safe side.
I did, but she never came home that time.
Thank you – I’ve just spoken to her, she feels okay now but hasn’t got full strength back in her hand yet. I wonder if she’ll have the presence of mind to say she’s tired and wants to rest tonight, rather than have her usual Tuesday night maths tutor 🤣🤣🤣
Just in case you might be tempted to think she’s trying it on (kids, eh!?), she may very well not be.
If I have a bad migraine attack, it can take me out for a week. The attack will come on, and then I’ll normally try and sleep through it. So that takes a day. The following day, I’ll still have a headache. It’ll be like the mother of all hangovers, and that can last a couple of days. If I’m lucky, it’ll be gone after that. If not, then it’ll be a ‘normal’ headache for a couple of days.
I just wanted to give her a hug, but she thinks she’s too old for that rubbish now.
Depending on how 'spiky' she is on the teenage spectrum the @cougar and @fasthaggis suggestions may work. You'll know best though (sandwich, a recovering teenaged daughter sufferer).
Thank you - I have got over the 'wanting to hold her tight' thing now. She needs her own space and she's welcome to a hug anytime she wants one. She did try the grip test with me again last night though - and nearly broke my fingers LOL!
FFS - she was at a Halloween party tonight and it’s happened again. I’d had a couple of beers so my wife went to get her. All the same symptoms but didn’t last as long . Grumpy as hell when she got home 🙁
No one gets a migraine just once, at least I have never heard of that, so I guess it was inevitable. And expect more to come.
Hopefully though although never pleasant they won't cause the same level of anxiety as the first one did.
Sorry to hear your lass has suffered another one - I don’t know for sure, but I’m certain I’ve read that migraines can start to appear in teenagers, so these might be an indication, DrP will be able to confirm I’m sure. If so then sadly it’s something she’s going to have to learn to cope with in future. Good though that she’s surrounded by family who can help her to get appropriate treatment and help in the future. A g/f of mine from years ago used to suffer from them starting in her late teens, early twenties, which is when I first met her, and they would knock her for six; being sick, terrible headaches and having to go to bed in a dark room for a whole day. It left me feeling so helpless, because there was nothing at all that I could do for her. 🙁
I’m always so relieved that mine are so minor by comparison that I can work through them, maybe sitting quietly for a few minutes with a *bad* one, until my vision clears.
Good luck to her, and very best wishes.
That's crap news johndoh, at least she was somewhere where people were able to look out for her.
Really sorry to hear this. The mass of hormones released in puberty can start to trigger them unfortunately.
Obviously not a topic for us middle aged men on here, but suggest you keep a note of the incidences vs her hormonal pattern.
My wife's are linked to this, and it's glaringly obvious when you look at the data she collects!
GP has tried various different contraceptive pills which has varying effects. There's also a triptan(I believe it's Frovatriptan) which can be taken at a small dose proactively for a certain number of days every month which helps a lot of women.
Really hope she finds something that works for her. It's a really crappy thing to live with. Do not let the GPp just brush it off as headaches!
That’s crap news johndoh, at least she was somewhere where people were able to look out for her.
Yeah, she was there with her twin sister so she just called and my wife went to get her. We were always going to take her to the doctors' this week (it's half-term here) but we've called this morning and taking her this afternoon now.
And yeah – I understand that migraines can be triggered by teenage hormones and be linked to periods so yeah – I think she will have to learn to live with them, But two in six days - ouch!
Sorry to hear you're going through this. Makes it even worse when its your own child.
I went through this last year, exact same symptoms except I couldn't talk or breathe, very scary for my other half who found me upstairs. Mine was brought on my stress and lack of sleep but I've also heard in teens they can be brought on my hormones, my other half was the same.
The docs at NNN didn't have a clue what was wrong with me and couldn't decide whether it was a stroke or a brain bleed - one tried to prescribe some aspirin but if it was the latter would have most likely killed me. Luckily my sister in law was a nurse in A&E that night who had heard I'd come in and made them see sense (took a further 4 weeks however to get a proper diagnosis thanks to my GP pushing hard for it), spent the night in A&E, CT scan, MRI scan found nothing eventually so was discharged, felt awful taking up an entire bed for 24 hours with what felt like a huge hangover after the initial seizure/symptoms.
I'd spent almost 18 months on the lowest dose of Amitriptyline (1omg I think), this was mainly to quell the constant headaches I had afterwards and to help sleep. Cold turkey'd those around 2 months ago now and feel fine.
One thing to note, afterwards I found I had a huge brain fog, short term memory was buggered and just took a lot longer doing things, felt like my brain had been fried and just needed to catch up. The neurosurgeon who I spoke to in A&E essentially said it was like my brain shut down and re-wired incorrectly, hence forgetting how to breathe and talk and not being able to dial 999 myself, mixing it up with 911 and 199...
So - doctor's appointment done. For some reason they don't think it is hemiplegic migraines (which is a surprise as all the symptoms suggests that is exactly what it is), so the next steps are a whole load of blood tests.
TBH, even if they do think it's a hemi-whatsit, blood tests can't hurt.
not being able to dial 999 myself, mixing it up with 911
I know it's not the point you were making, but when dialling from a mobile phone either number should work (along with other standard numbers like 112). The GSM logic is "contact the local emergency services," not "dial this specific number."
TBH, even if they do think it’s a hemi-whatsit, blood tests can’t hurt.
I guess not – I was just surprised they quickly discounted them as a diagnosis (although they are pretty rare compared to 'normal' migraines) given the symptoms. Still, at least something is being done, that's the important thing.
I know it’s not the point you were making, but when dialling from a mobile phone either number should work (along with other standard numbers like 112). The GSM logic is “contact the local emergency services,” not “dial this specific number"
I totally get your point, I wasn't hitting "call" as I visually could see it was wrong but my fingers were just typing the wrong thing.
a bad headache, some loss of vision, tingling and numbness in her lips/cheeks and down the right side of her body.
And
checked her grip – she could barely squeeze her right hand.
Straight to A&E, everytime
