headaches brought on by mild touch to head

I wanted to know if anyone has experience with this. My 18 year old daughter who has had migraines most of her life can have a migraine brought on by a very light tap to her head. I do mean a very light tap - not even a thump. She winds up in severe pain, tears streaming down her cheeks for hours. She is on amitryptiline everyday for migraine control and it works well except when she receives any mild touch to her head.

Hi,

Welcome to Healing Well! Sorry to hear that your daughter is going through this! Is the pain the same as her usual migraines or is it sharper and more severe? Where is this severe pain, all over her head, on one side? Does it affect her face? Are the tears because of distress or do her eyes water? How long do these severe attacks last?

Sorry to ask so many questions, but just trying to build a picture of exactly what is happening?

Take care

Ann

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Co-Moderator of the Migraine/Headache Forum

Thank you for your reply. The pain is immediate and severe and all over her head when she receives even the slightest bump to her head. The pain usually lasts several hours. The tears are a response of the headache, but often are a result of the amount of pain she is in. Most often she will take Excedrin which does help after an hour or so. She also will usually go to sleep to help the pain go away. While on the amytriptiline, she does not have migraines daily like she used to do. Her normal migraines  come on suddenly and usually begin with pain behind her eyes and are typically accompanied by nausea and occassionally vomiting.  Her face is not affected by the headaches other than her eyes become dark underneath and red. She had a cat scan a number of years ago, but it came back normal.

It's good that the scan came back normal, which is what you would expect with a primary headache. Sounds like you need to take her to see a Neurologist who is a Headache Specialist, as they are best placed to understand what is going on!!!

Sometimes it means a lot of travelling and sometimes at some distance to find a Headache Specialist, but it will be so well worth it!!! The first time I saw one was the first time I ever felt like anyone knew what I was going through and understood how to treat it correctly!!! Let me know how you get on??

take care

Ann

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Co-Moderator of the Migraine/Headache Forum

Thanks. I was already planning to take her.