Need advise from Mom's of a teen girl...

[bigfish2215]

DD is 14 and having a horrible time with her "monthly monster" as she calls it. For the whole week she's in pain so bad that she is missing school, throwing up and has the chills. I think the chills are from her bloodsugar dropping. (She does have hypoglycemica.) This started about 3 months ago, they have increased in pain each month. I have an appt with the Gyno in two weeks. My DH found her in our bathroom curled up and crying b/c of the pain. That was the breaking point of YOUR GOING to the doctor, no questions! My heart goes out to her. Do any of your girls have the same problems and if so did the Dr. give her anything? We do give her midol but that only seems to last a little bit. Any advise to help her before we get to the dr. Thanks!

 

[clarabelle]

You have an appointment right? I think there is a good chance she will get Birth Control pills. It is very common and may really help.

Also -have you tried advil (ibuprofen) for the pain? Get her to take two as soon as she starts having even the mildest pain. And keep it going every 6 hours. (I take more than two -but you would need your Dr.s permission for this)

Try a heating pad and hot drinks they may offer some comfort.

There is no need for her to suffer like this. Good job getting her into see someone

 

[Jsme]

DD is 14 and having a horrible time with her "monthly monster" as she calls it. For the whole week she's in pain so bad that she is missing school, throwing up and has the chills. I think the chills are from her bloodsugar dropping. (She does have hypoglycemica.) This started about 3 months ago, they have increased in pain each month. I have an appt with the Gyno in two weeks. My DH found her in our bathroom curled up and crying b/c of the pain. That was the breaking point of YOUR GOING to the doctor, no questions! My heart goes out to her. Do any of your girls have the same problems and if so did the Dr. give her anything? We do give her midol but that only seems to last a little bit. Any advise to help her before we get to the dr. Thanks!

Welcome to the club. Sorry that sounds ugly but I am with you on this one. I had the same problems as a teen and now my soon to be 16 year shares the issues. However, you baby is 14 and the same options are not always good.

First and foremost as a teen you need to stress to her the importance of a balanced diet. Do not expect her to listen or remember to do it though. Which means you need to make sure she is eating well. She needs to drop the carbs...right, a teenager drop carbs? Well it probably will not happen unless you stop buying them and bringing them in the house and then that is no promise. I bring a variety of things home for my children to chose from. Actually my son has more issues with his sugar than my DD does. He passes out at least once a year at school from the sugar drop. He is a teen as well and does not listen to me or remember to eat right.

Anyway bring in complex carbs. She will have to have some junk carbs because she is a teenager but you can watch what she is eating and encourage her to make good choices. Yes that is going to be very hard. I feel for you because I am with you on this.

As far as the other...the diet will help alot but you need to get her taking a good B complex along with a good over all rounded vitmain. I have found Aleve works wonders for the mentrual cycle. However, that will only help with the pain. It is going to be a combination of various things to work. It still might be a hard long road. As a teen I went on a drug trial...not really but the doctor and I called it this. She prescripted me medicine until we found what worked. Finally we found Naproxen which is the name brand Aleve. Back then it was only given as a prescription.

You really need to talk to your doctor. They will have some good ideas. I just took my daughter Tuesday for her first GYN appointment. Yes, she is only 15 (16 in less than 2 months) but they would not help her unless they did a pap and pevic exam on her to rule out any other causes of her issues with her menstrual cycle. My DD is going on the pill. Not something I wanted but something that needs to be done. Of course this is another concern of making sure she takes it every day at the same time. Thank goodness we have a great dr and she lectured my child on sexual activies as well. 14 is a litltle young for that but still call your child's doctor and get their opinion.

My daughter also has her own heating pad.
Good luck.

 

[ComplicatedPink]

Well I'm not a mom but i have been through something similar to what your daughter is experiencing. I know just how awful and debilitating that pain can be! I tried midol and other pain killers too but they had the same effect; work for an hour than back to pain.

I don't know if this is an option you and your daughter feel comfortable with but the gyno may suggest starting on the pill to help with the pain. I tried this for a long time but found it gave me no relief whatsoever! The only good thing was I could predict when it would be coming and i could prepare myself somewhat better.

Now I'm doing packs of pills back to back so I skip for three months-I only have to deal with that time of month 4x/year. So although it doesn't eliminate the pain it makes it much less frequent.
One thing I have found that helps with the cramps and back pain is naproxin. I found made the pain go away almost entirely for the whole day.

Be prepared to try different options to have mixed results. I wish your daughter the best of luck in finding something that makes life easier for her!

 

[mjkacmom]

I was put on bcp's when I was 15 for the same reason. I expect I'll do the same with dd12 - she's gotten her period every 26 - 28 days since the first time she got it, it lasts at least 7 days, and she's miserable.

 

[Justanopinion]

I'm older now and a mom, but when I was a teenager I had horrible pain. I would miss at least 2 days of school every month and would just lay in bed and rock and cry. It was awful.

Doctor tried medicine after medicine. Nothing touched it. Until ibuprofen. Yep. That did the trick. Back then it was prescription...like 800 mg. but that was the only thing that worked.

Best of luck.

 

[LisaR]

My DD, who isn't quite 14, had years of this. She started right before turning 11. It has been a horrible journey and she was really wishing she was a boy at one point!

The only thing a doctor can give is birth control pills. She tried two different brands and both made her violently vomit. The doctor tried to convince her to continue taking them and said her system would get used to them after a week but try telling a 12 y/o to swallow a pill that is guaranteed to make her puke.

Thankfully, we have an herbalist in town. She concocted a tea that she used when she was a teen with the same problems. After years of pain, vomiting and lying on the sofa unable to move for an entire week, she was finally "normal."

I hope you find something that will work for your DD. I know it was horrible watching my DD go through that.

 

[jsmith]

Man i feel for her-it sucks-i am 48 and have the same issues-and no signs yet of aunt flo leaving me. One caviat to something an earlier poster said-if she has issues with heavy bleeding do not giver her advil-NSAIDS aggrivate bleeding issues.

 

[Darsa]

Advil is the only thing that works for me, 4 every 6 hours along with a heating pad. And Advil is the only thing that works for DD13, 2 every 4 hours, who appears to have the same "set your watch by it" period, complete with debilitating pain.

I hope you figure something out for her; my sympathies DEFINITELY are with her!

 

[tink_n_pooh]

I feel for her Add me to the list who suspect she will get BC pills. They helped me and I hope they will help her too.

 

[DWGal210]

I so feel her pain - that was me up until about 3 years ago. I tried it all - exercising before, increasing my dairy intake, any and everything I heard. I was up to taking 13-16 ibuprofen a day, which I know isn't good. I found a great doctor and he also gave me birth control. It took a few tries to find one I liked, but I'm on Depo now and that's worked the best for me as it stops it all together.

Do you have an family history of endometreosis? (I'm sure I spelled that wrong). My doctor said that was a factor in my case. In any event, taking your daughter to the doctor is the best thing to do.

And make sure they understand how in pain she is. I went to 4 OBs before I found one that believed me and didn't say it was "normal" and that every girl went through that.

 

[JVL1018]

You need ibuprofin-Advil, Motrin, whatever.
4 Advil is the same as prescription strength, so I use up to 4...but 2 is what she should be taking unless the dr. tells her she can take more.
I haven't had cramps like that in years, but when I was a teenager, it was AWFUL!
I remember when Advil first came out OTC, it was honestly like a miracle drug for me with the cramps. The Midol didn;t do anything for me back then.

 

[DVCLiz]

Motrin was a miracle drug for me, too. When I was a teen I was on Darvon and it made me so druggy and sleepy. With prescription Motrin it was like a miracle - no pain but no impact on my life, either. I had my daughter's doctor prescribe it for her as soon as she started having the same bad cramps. My younger daughter doesn't have them so severely, so a couple of regular Motrin work fine for her.

Ask your doctor about endometriosis - I wonder if that is part of the problem??

 

[Darcy03231]

This was DD before the OB/GYN put her on birth control pills. Its been like the wonder drug for her. It used to be every month she'd miss 2-4 days of school between the migraines, vomiting, cramping, etc.

She's been on the pills for two years now and hasn't missed a day of school or work due to her period. There was only one month that she had a migraine and had to take the migraine medication.

 

[~disneydiva~]

Ask your doctor about endometriosis - I wonder if that is part of the problem??

Thats what I was wondering....

 

[MsAmerica]

I have endometriosis and unfortunately, my 19 yo was dx with it at 16. She was put on BCP's and what a difference it made in her life, especially with her grades.

My dd was always a straight A student three weeks out of the month and a C student one week a month. I told her specialist this and he said the pill would make her an always straight A student and thankfully, he was right.

She started the pills at the end of her sophomore year of HS and had a junior school year full of all A's which is the most important year when applying to college. She also did great on her SAT's and got into her first choice of schools and it is an extremely hard school to get into.

Personally, I think one of the most important things you can do for her is validate her pain. So many people think one should just endure the pain and live in misery with it. Letting your daughter know you will do anyting to help make her better is essential.

Good Luck, you have my sympathy.

MsA

 

[ChelleinNC]

You have an appointment right? I think there is a good chance she will get Birth Control pills. It is very common and may really help.

DD15 has been going thru the same thing for several years now. After taking her to the DR, who did not put her on birth control pills (due to her hormones fluctuating enough as a teenager, they didn't want to make it worse). Instead they put her on prescription strength naprosyn (naproxen sodium, otherwise known as Aleve) and Ondansetron, which is an anti-nausea medication that's commonly used for cancer patients. It's helped a lot! She has not missed school due to her cycle since she started taking these pills. She doesn't feel great (who does at that time of the month), and it's not all better, but it is a significant improvement.

 

[horseshowmom]

Same problems here as the others.

I had severe menstrual cramps as a teen, but I could take paragoric, and it helped. That doesn't seem to be an option anymore.

DD's were more severe than mine. She had the severe pain and the vomiting as well. Pain relievers didn't help at all. After a couple of times of having to get shots to control the pain and vomiting, our family nurse practitioner put her on birth control pills. She actually had to try 2 or 3 to find the one that was best for her (although all of them were a vast improvement over her previous condition).

Good luck, I hope she's better soon!

 

[bumcat]

I so feel her pain - that was me up until about 3 years ago. I tried it all - exercising before, increasing my dairy intake, any and everything I heard. I was up to taking 13-16 ibuprofen a day, which I know isn't good. I found a great doctor and he also gave me birth control. It took a few tries to find one I liked, but I'm on Depo now and that's worked the best for me as it stops it all together.

Do you have an family history of endometreosis? (I'm sure I spelled that wrong). My doctor said that was a factor in my case. In any event, taking your daughter to the doctor is the best thing to do.

And make sure they understand how in pain she is. I went to 4 OBs before I found one that believed me and didn't say it was "normal" and that every girl went through that.

This happened to my daughter. Age 12 horrible pain missed a lot of school. Age 14 I took her to my ob-gyn. She had endometriosis really bad. They removed as much as they could but unfortunately could not remove all for various reasons. She had to get on something to stop her periods for a while. This solved her problem. Unfortunately it is on her ovaries and she may have a difficult time getting pregnant. She is now 22 married and trying to get pregnant.

 

[NeverlandClub23]

When I was in 8th grade I lost so much blood I passed out in class. My Dad had to come pick me up from school (yeah, that was an uncomfortable car ride home ). I also was nauseous or throwing up a lot and had horrible cramps. Since then I've been on a low hormone B/C to regulate my periods and lessen the bleeding/cramps and it has helped A LOT. That and extra chocolate and Excederin