My son has a prescription for Periactin to block his headaches. I went on the web for info and it scares me a little. It sounds pretty heavy with all the side effects that are possible. Is there any body who's child is using this drug?

I would suggest that the best way to treat your sons headaches is to try and discover and then treat the cause of them rather than just giving him heavy duty meds to treat the symptoms.

At a young age, headaches in kids can be due to stress or bullying in school, if they are not very happy and headaches can also be related to food allegies/intolerances.

Get to the bottom of them and then go and see an ND and get some more natural treatment. Kids respond far better to natural treatment as they don't have so many drug layers imposed as adults do.

Good luck

By the way, is this the same son who was diagnosed with the recurrent tummy aches or a different one?

Do you have a history of migraines in your family?

Sarah: It is the same son. We are kind of digging in the durt with this boy. The ped. Neurologist is the one who gave the prescritption. This during the wait for the MRI. But, he also mentioned "sleep disorder". That would or could cover both problems. Abdomen and headaches. I hate to use any meds. so that is the reason for all my questions. We already covered the psych. problems. School is great, he loves his live and everything. He is a hyper little man with lots of friends and fun. But since Christmas he is changing. Scared to feel miserable after being sick. He likes to be in charge of his pain and misery. Thank god, he is not sick every day. The pain is real, he wakes up with it.
Thanks for your reaction though. I did check out the abdominal migraines. The neurologist doesn't think it fits the pain.
We will see.

If you go and see a Naturopath as I have suggested, then you will not have to give you son any meds at all, only possibly homeopathy or herbs, which are natural and have no side effects whatsoever. Kids respond very well to homeopathy, as they have really good vitality and you son could do very well on this.

Don't discount the thing about food allergies, intolerances. It is a really possibility for tummy ache and headache.

Also, if you go and see a homepath, there is a lot of talking involved and it may be easier to get to the bottom of the problem. Most other docs either do not have the time or a clue about this kind of thing and do not make enough time to talk.

If you do not like or want to give your son meds and I am sure that his pain is real, then take him to see an ND who can treat him naturally.

Good luck

Periactin is a multiduty medication that is an antihistamine often used for cyclic vomiting aka abdominal migraines.

My 2 yo was hospitalized a year ago for 9 days with unexplained uncontrollable vomiting and dehydration.

The Docs put him on Periactin. It helped but he vomited through the med. I know others that have done quite well on it. The Docs were considering a feeding tube for him when I decided to go the path of possible food allergies. Why?

I myself have debilitating migraines. Most of my migraines are triggered through food allergies. Our allergist stated that 85% of migraines, abdominal or head. I pulled all foods from my 2 yos diet that trigger migraines for me. Viola! His vomiting tappered then stopped last summer. The Docs aren't satisfied that food sensitivities were the trigger. He is too unstable at this point to perform a trial where I give him the suspect food to see if it triggers another episode. The last time I did this, he was in the hospital for 4 days with Rotavirus. No the food didn't cause the Rotavirus, just lowsy timing on our part. The GI asked us to wait a year before we try again.

Sooo, we have the Periactin for backup in the event he gets into out of control vomiting again. It happens from time to time out of the blue since he has other neurological problems. At this point, they are still considering a neurological issue behind the vomiting. We are also considering vaccine injury as the cause of the vomiting. A big sign of Encephalitis is excessive vomiting. Some of the Docs think the reason the vomiting disepated (sp?) was bc the brain swelling was subsiding. No real answers.

I agree with the other respondent to look for possible food triggers. You may want to see an allergist for help. If you do, please remember that skin and blood allergy tests are only 70% accurate at best. I underwent skin and blood test as well as elimination diet. In my case, the skin and blood tests missed my biggest triggers; corn, soy, sugars, and cellulose.

Why? Bc these foods have to build up toxins in system before I have the HAs. If I had relied soley on the tests, I would still have daily migraines.

Other things you may want to consider would be antidepressants. For some reason, some of them may block headaches. This didn't work in my case bc I get migraines from one of the ingredients in the meds. http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/frown.gif

Have they performed a MRI on your son to ensure the HAs are triggered by something unfriendly inside his brain? My Doc performed an MRI to rule out unfriendlies.

Good luck,

Bec

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Mom to 2 beautiful children. A 2 yo with global developmental delay from vaccine injury. A loving 6 yo. And myself a migraine survivor, dietary managed.

BTW, I am ALWAYS a fan of Moms that question the Docs and their action plans. Trust your gut.

I would not gone down the antidepressant road with a kid of that age by any means. A lot of antidepressants are not suitable for kids either.

There are lots more natural ways to control this and yes, the food allergies/intolerances are a good first step. Then go and see an ND for more natural help.

Sarah the nautural path may be the way to go but you also need to look at the poster address if one is posted and take that into consideration. Many of the posters on here do live near any larger city that is going to have a naturopathic person nearby that they can go to. I just felt this needed to be pointed out since I was not sure if you might be aware of this fact. I know if I still lived in my hometown in WI I would not have access to someone like that without driving for about an hour or more one way.