Wednesday, February 06, 2013

Migraines and Teenagers

Daniel experienced his first migraine in November, 2011. At the time, we had no idea what was going on with him. He began experiencing the migraine on the way to a youth group event at the Villa de las Flores Bible church, in northern Mexico City. At first I didn't think much was going on...maybe a bit of car sickness, nausea, etc... But he was really complaining about numbness in his hands and fingers, then his shoulder. He said his vision was affected. We he started saying things that didn't make sense in either Spanish or English, I was convinced something was going on!

I rushed him to a nearby clinic, and they sent us to another hospital for an MRI.   About the only thing the x-rays showed was conclusive evidence that he does have a brain!  I made this observation shortly after his ordeal, and he apparently didn't see the humor in it.

Migraine was the initial diagnosis. He had two more mild episodes during 2012, then a biggie again just last Friday.   Once again, he began to ramble on in an inexpressable language.  He began to see streaks of light. This time reminded me quite a bit of the first time it happened to him.  We decided to see another neurologist, this one recommended by co-worker and migraine expert Jim Cottrill.  Jim suffers from chronic migraines.  He has indeed tried every possible remedy, probably most of the drugs available, and has meticulously recorded every fluctuation in his diet.  He's done this for years. Check out his website: Headache and Migraine News.

The doc in Puebla said that Daniel's symptoms perfectly describe a migraine episode.  Nevertheless, he recommended an electrocardiograph to discount any other sort of neurological problem, like epilepsy. How does Daniel feel?  Just great!  And missed a day of school too!

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