Update on Talia’s Headaches & Intro to Issues With Avalyn #NaBloPoMo

Some of you may remember me mentioning Talia’s headaches over the last couple of years… When she was barely 7, she started having frequent, recurring headaches that pretty much incapacitate her the same way my migraines do me (and have since I was about her age…) She will be 9 next month and she’s still experiencing them. When we were in Louisiana, they didn’t do a whole lot. Basically, “Wait and see if it stops. Give her Motrin/Tylenol. If it doesn’t, we’ll do an MRI at some point and see if it’s anything serious.” Gee, thanks.

So when I took her to the doctor in Mississippi, they actually DID an MRI, bloodwork, and a host of other tests including vision, etc which reflected absolutely nothing. That is both good and bad. Good because there’s nothing apparently wrong with her. Bad because we still have no idea why she’s having the headaches. They finally diagnosed them as being Migraines and prescribed her Elavil (Amitriptyline). She takes 5mg each night before bed and that made the headaches dwindle in intensity and frequency which was great. I was hoping that she wouldn’t have to stay on the medication so when she ran out of her prescription, I gave it a few weeks to see how it would go.

For the first week or so, it looked promising… but then, BAM! They started hitting her again so we scheduled an appointment here in Georgia — they gave her another prescription for Elavil, same dosage and regimen, and they also referred her to a neurologist in Atlanta. I will be scheduling an appointment there for her during the time Barry’s home so he can come with us sometime in early January. That’s all I have to share about that but I will keep you all updated. She started taking the Elavil again last night so we’ll see if she ends up having to visit the school clinic anymore before the holidays for headaches.

Avalyn has severe dry scalp… think cradle cap on a 6 year old. It’s really bad and I’m afraid if they don’t figure out what’s going on she will start losing her hair :( This started over a year ago in Louisiana and they gave her some medicated stuff to wash her hair with — we did that for several months with no results, so basically I just started washing it, conditioning well, moisturizing her scalp, and using a comb to scrape the patches off as much as she’d let me (it was a bit uncomfortable for her), hoping it would resolve on its own. It hasn’t.

Her doctor prescribed another medicated shampoo and also gave us a referral to a dermatologist with instructions to schedule an appointment there if her condition hasn’t improved within the month. We have to use the medicated shampoo three times per week between now and the first of the year and we’ll see how that goes. Hoping it helps…

#NaBloPoMo:

For the entire month of November, I’m participating in National Blog Posting Month. Read more —>