Medical treatment for migraines

Child Neurologist Jane Tavyev Asher, MD, shares advice for parents of children suffering from migraines on what medical treatments are available to help their child
Medical Treatment Options For Children With Migraines
KidsInTheHouse the Ultimate Parenting Resource
Kids in the House Tour

Medical treatment for migraines

Comment
25
Like
25
Transcription: 
If we've looked at lifestyle factors and we haven't been able to improve a patient's migraine frequency, then we might need to look further. First I make sure that it doesn't seem there's another cause for the headaches. I make sure I get a good neurologic exam on the patient including looking in the back of the eyes to make sure we don't see signs of increased pressure. it's very rare that we actually have to send someone for neuroimaging in migraines. We can usually tell from the history that these are simple migraines based on the description. But occasionally we do get worried about the possibility of something else going on and we may need to do more testing, like an MRI of the brain, or sometimes get a lumbar puncture. If medication is necessary, which it can be in patients who have migraines more than about 2-3-4 times a week, and they're causing them to miss school, we might recommend a daily medication that they take. The advantage of taking a daily medication is that it can reduce the frequency of your headaches by 50% and hopefully also reduce the severity by 50%. We hope that this keeps you from having to take as many over the counter medications, because what sometimes happens is people take many over the counter medications for their migraines or headaches and they fall into what we call medication overuse. So they need more medication to keep the headache symptoms away. We want to avoid that. So sometimes a daily prophylactic or preventative medication is necessary.

Child Neurologist Jane Tavyev Asher, MD, shares advice for parents of children suffering from migraines on what medical treatments are available to help their child

Transcript

Expert Bio

More from Expert

Jane Tavyev Asher, MD

Division of Child Neurology - Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Dr. Jane Tavyev Asher is a board certified Child Neurologist and Director of the Division of Child Neurology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.  Upon attaining her medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine, she completed residency/ fellowship training in Child Neurology and Neurodevelopmental Disabilities at Baylor College of Medicine/ Texas Children’s Hospital, where her clinical training focused on behavioral neurology, specializing in autism and other developmental disorders, and her research focused on epigenetic factors in autism.  She currently maintains a clinical practice at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where she sees patients with a variety of neurologic conditions such as Autism Spectrum Disorders, developmental delay, ADHD, learning disabilities, tics, headaches, and cognitive/ behavioral management in neuromuscular disorders.  She holds an academic/ research appointment as Assistant Professor at UCLA in the Departments of Pediatrics, Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences.  Her current research interest remains in the area of autism.  Dr. Tavyev Asher is proud to contribute to the training of the next generation of physicians including those specializing in Pediatrics, Child Psychiatry, and Child and Adult Neurology, and she enjoys giving talks on various neurologic topics locally and nationally.  She is a member of the Child Neurology Society, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, UCLA CART (Center for Autism Research and Treatment), and The Help Group-UCLA Autism Research Alliance.  She also serves on the Advisory Board of Healthy Child Healthy Child Healthy World.  She enjoys art, music, yoga, skiing, and relaxing with her family.

More Parenting Videos from Jane Tavyev Asher, MD >
Enter your email to
download & subscribe
to our newsletter