I have been getting terrible stress induced migraine headaches. I have been told to see a neurologist for this. Does anyone else have problems with this and what do you do to get rid of the headaches?

My daughter is 16 and gets migraine headaches. Most people think that a kid can't get them, but she's had them since she was seven years old. It's very common. Her doctor says they are mostly stress induced and she gives her prescription for Immitrex. She takes it when she feels one coming on. It's the first and only thing besides narcotic drugs that she has used and has worked. I am in no way a medical professional, so see your doctor, but maybe suggest the Immitrex.
Hope this helps.

To both wildflower & puppyblues, especially puppyblues since you have a child with this problem...

When I was 16 years old I was suffering stress-induced migraines. Now mind you, this was almost 20 years ago...I had a headache ALL OF THE TIME, and by the time I got home from school I had to lay in a darkened room with a cool washcloth on my face. Light and noise both bothered me, along with nausea.

I had braces at the time, and luckily my orthodontist recognized some TMJ symptoms and referred me to an oral surgeon. The oral surgeon did some tests and discovered that I had severe TMJ. Mine was kind of a rare type where my jaw bone actually grew, but regular TMJ as a rule is caused by teeth grinding, clenching, etc.

The jaw muscles are among the strongest in the human body. My surgeon told me that if your teeth could withstand it, your jaw muscles could allow you to bite through a steel pipe. I used to grind my teeth in my sleep, and would wake up with the worst headaches!

Before I had my eventual surgery to correct this, I had a plastic night-guard provided by my orthodontist, which caused me to bite down on my front teeth rather than my molars - the molars are where the tremendous pressure can be applied. If you are forced to bite on your front teeth & your molars cannot connect, the pressure is a fraction of what the molars would provide to your jaw.

It's been 21 years, and I still have no problems. I would definitely recommend asking your dentist if this could possibly be the source of the headaches.

In MOST cases, just the night guard can work wonders!

Good Luck! Giz

gizmogram, can this TMJ cause a bubble type growth on your gums? I have asked her dentist about this and he says that it is also stressed induced, but he won't elaborate.
Thanks for the info, it's something I will def. look into for her.

Hi Puppy, sorry I haven't been here for a couple of days!

During my troubles with TMJ, I don't recall any problems with my gums.

If your dentist is saying that her "bubbles" are stress induced and he can't do anything about them, I would defintely recommend either getting another dentist or visiting an oral surgeon.

To me, with all of the problems I've had over the years, a "bubble" on my gum would indicate an infection - I would defintely check into this!

Yeah, her dentist is a jerk, but our area is so small that there's not much to pick from. The bubble is from grinding her teeth at night and the dentist says that she just needs to reduce the stress in her life. It's very painful for her and can reduce her to tears after a bad night of teeth grinding.

He'd probably be a lot nicer if we had better insurance! lol

my mom has been getting migranes for 20+ years. I've only had them for maybe the last 6.

My mom has been seeing a neurologist also for many years. She takes Propoxyphene Napsylate (the generic equalevelant too Darvocet), Vicodin, & Naproxin. She takes several of each at a time.(not at at the same time. She rotates as to when she takes them.)
Well, let me put it this way. 1 Naproxin is equal to 3 ibuprofen. She usually take 4-5 at a time! If she has no presription stuff left then she takes 5-6 ibuprofin.

Myself on the other hand cannot take more than 1 Darvocet or 2 Naproxin (Darvocet is considerably stronger thab Naproxin)

But both my mom & I get migranes that can last 3 days or more. My mom gets them more than I do but last week I had one that lasted 5 days. I was miserable. But my mom gets the ones that last several days, several times a year.