My 12 year old son has had migraines for 3 or 4 years now. He takes topamax, and it seems to help. We recently had to up the dosage, as what he was on seemed to quit working until we increased it. He is still on a very small dosage though.
In the meantime, we have done a lot to try to see if we can find a trigger. My husband’s (with aura) were triggered by a change in stress level.... either an increase or decrease. My son’s seem to be tied to chocolate, caffeine or dehydration. It is hard to tell because the chocolate/caffeine deal seems to be about 12-24 hours removed from the headache, and getting him to drink anything at all is like pulling teeth, so he seems to live in a chronic state of dehydration.
The school nurse and I have had a number of long conversations about them. She was recently at a seminar and said if they are not hormonal then they are generally caused by the “3 C’s”.... Chocolate, Caffeine, Cheese.
Well the school nurse isn’t very well informed about migraines. During a migraine, the blood vessels expand/dilate. During a headache, the blood vessels constrict. (They’re exactly the opposite in nature. Head pain vs. head ache, essentially.)
Caffeine causes the blood vessels to constrict. So caffeine is “bad” for headache but “good” for migraines. Note that many migraine drugs actually have caffeine in them.
Not all cheese is bad. Aged cheese is generally bad for migraine.
And not everyone who has migraines is affected by chocolate. I have had severe migraines for years. I drink chocolate milk like a fiend. Everybody said “There’s your problem!” I cut out all chocolate for 6 months. No reduction in the migranes, no increased when I resumed eating chocolate, and no direct correlation to eating it before a migraine.
Each person’s triggers are different. There is no “standard.”