Accomodations for a migraine-prone student

<p>My D had the mother of all migraines this week - and we thought that she had outgrown them. Which got me to thinking - do any of you have a child that has a history of migraines, and if so, how do they deal with them while away at college? I wouldn’t go so far as to try to get medical clearance for a single room, but how would one deal with a roommate and a need for total darkness and/or silence during an attack? I would assume a campus infirmary would be the first option, but are there any other ideas? She will be at PYT at Purdue next week, so I will be keeping my fingers crossed that she does not have another attack while there.</p>

<p>Roomates just need to communicate the need when necessary. Mine suffers from an occasional attack too. She just goes to bed. Roomate adjusts and visa versa. Most schools have places to go where a roomate can study or hang out. </p>

<p>Now if your D is having frequent migraines, different issue.</p>

<p>Consider hormonal manipulation, if it works (birth control pills). It might give your D the year or two she needs to grow out of them. It worked for me, it worked for my D. (Note that in my case, menopause was a *****. They came back!)</p>

<p>I totally understand your concern! My d has severe migraines and I think it may be hereditary since my husband and mother-in-law also get them. My mil’s are so severe she ends up in the ER fairly often. My d had her first migraine as a 2nd grader at a Girl Scout camp…became violently ill…scared the scout leader to death.</p>

<p>It’s a tricky thing for a college student. My d’s roommate didn’t take the issue very seriously and at one point became passive aggressive insisting on having ALL the lights in the room on until 2 or 3 in the a.m. while she did homework. Since fatigue is one of the triggers for my d (other triggers are hormones and certain foods with fermented ingredients), it was pretty bad situation. ldgirl knows exactly what she must do to prevent a migraine from ‘going to the bad place’ which is …get good sleep, eat right and take medicine at the first sign of headache, which for her is blurred vision and a metallic taste in her mouth. So she doesn’t often get into a situation where she needs total darkness and silence…but she did have a couple of instances where she needed understanding from her roomie and didn’t get it.</p>

<p>Mine tried for a single this year, but didn’t push for a medical waiver. (She refused to even consider sharing her medical history with housing.) Maybe we should have. But her new roommate seems extremely sweet and caring from her facebook…so maybe everything will be better this year. (Had a bad vibe about the last roommate from day one…similar to zoosermom’s situation. Turned out to be very moody, or ‘emo’ as ldgirl put it, perfectionistic and overly obsessed with the bf…so good riddance…lol!)</p>

<p>I’d talk things over with the roommate at the beginning so she understands it is truly a medical situation and you can get a feel for whether she is going to be comfortable with it.</p>

<p>Has she tried Imitrex? It works pretty well for a lot of people.</p>

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<p>Why not try for the medical single? It’s a good idea.</p>

<p>I had a college roommate who had severe and frequent migraines. Fortunately, our “room” was actually a suite in which three people lived in three tiny rooms. She could go off by herself in her own room when necessary. </p>

<p>She was one of my closest friends, but I have to say that the limitations that would have been placed on my life by trying to meet her needs in a conventional double would have been very hard on me (especially since our dorm had no lounges or public space). </p>

<p>As the former roommate of someone with migraines, I say PLEASE go for the medical single.</p>

<p>Also, please see a **neurologist<a href=“not%20family%20practice,%20internal%20medicine,%20or%20Ob/gyn”>/b</a> who is familiar with the latest daily migraine preventatives. There’s been a lot of progress in the past few years.</p>

<p>MaryTN has an excellent point.</p>

<p>Neurologists are the best sources of information when it comes to migraine.</p>

<p>I didn’t mention it above, but I have a daughter with a history of migraine. She had frequent migraines during middle school (around the time of puberty), but only two during all of high school, so we didn’t consider the issue when planning for college (though, as it happens, she will be living in a single her freshman year anyway). </p>

<p>My daughter was referred to a neurologist when she was having frequent migraines, and I think it was a good idea. Neurologists see a LOT of migraine patients, so they keep up on the latest ideas in terms of both preventative drugs and drugs used during migraine attacks. It seems as though the list of drugs is always changing, so the patient needs to be working with an expert.</p>

<p>Yes, I vote for the medical reason for a single- one of my Ds has horrible insomnia and it would be miserable to be her roommate some weeks- just ask her sisters. It was a lifesaver to have that single, and she was the room to which every one else came to nescape their roommate when needed- so had a constant stream of dorm friends visiting- when she left her door open.</p>

<p>Having a single might allow your D to indulge her migraine needs fully at the first moment, hopefully avoid a bad series of days!</p>

<p>My daughter has had migraines for as long as I can remember - when she learned to talk, she would tell me she had a hole in her eye, then she would get pale and nauseous. She had them all through preschool, elementary, middle and much of high school. She is 17 and they are just starting to wind down. I think she would probably discuss it with a roommate prior to arrival at college, but she has gotten to the point that a sleep mask works for her and she likes quiet but can deal with some noise. More recently, she gets aura and a shorter headache than before and doesn’t get as nauseous so they are easier to work around.</p>