My friend is a freshman in high school. He only gets migranes at school. Could it be mental?

I really don't think so. I thought that about myself for a long time but when I tried my hardest to think positively and ignore it - still there, still bad.

I often get migraines at the same time of day. If I don't wake up with them...I get them between 1-3. It's weird and I have no idea why, but it sounds like your friend is the same way. I think it probably has to do with what he eats for lunch and how much sleep he gets at night. It is also easy to get into a rebound cycle with too much medication - to the point where your body expects the medication at a certain time. I actually had to quit year round swimming when I was younger because I always got a migraine towards the end of the school day, and it was an after school program.

Try to be supportive of your friend, I really doubt that it is in his head

Hi Donald,

No, Migraine disease is not a mental disorder. It is a genetic neurologic condition. Has he been diagnosed with Migraines? How often is he getting a Migraine attack? It may be time for him to see a Migraine specialist, the expert who treats people with Migraines and headaches. Our patient recommended specialist is HERE.   

Your friend may have Migraine attacks in school for a number of reasons, none of which we can be sure of because we are not medical professionals. Fluorescent lights, weather changes, chocolate, and a poor quality of sleep can all trigger a Migraine attack for some people. If your friend is staying and/or waking up late on the weekends, this interrupted sleep schedule may trigger an attack on Mondays. Our Migraine Trigger page has valuable information you can share with your friend, click HERE for that. On that page there is also a Migraine diary which is a good idea for your friend to keep to see what is and isn't working to help his Migraines. Your Migraine and Headache Diary.

Here is some information to share with your friend: People who have a long history with Migraine and /or frequent attacks are at increased risk of silent brain damage. Yes, Migraines Can Cause Brain Damage.

Why don't you tell your friend about this site and he can come for information and support.

Good luck

Nancy 

I'm understanding your question as not "Is it all in his head?," but rather "Could my friend's migraines be triggered by the mental stress from the anticipation of going to school or from the school experience itself while he's there?"

Now this is my opinion only obviously since I'm not his neurologist, just a fellow sufferer. I would say that the school environment could be a trigger for him that exacerbates your friend's condition. I can relate because I work in a stressful environment myself, and as a result of trying to cope for four years now, I have developed daily chronic headaches that sometimes are migraines due in part I believe to my current work situation.

Hopefully your friend is seeking treatment from a neurologist who specializes in migraine disease. I feel for him because I have the same problem, only mine is work-related. One other suggestion is that he consult his dentist to see if he is grinding his teeth at night or during the day (when concentrating, during stressful situations). I found I was grinding my teeth at night and my dentist made me a night guard to wear with a piece called an NTI-TSS device on it. (Hasn't solved my problem, except for saving my teeth, but has helped other people I know who have migraine disease.)

Hope this helps and I will pray for your friend that soon he won't have what should be the best time of his life interrupted by migraines. God bless, Susan

No I dont think so cause my 16 year old son gets them when he is in school also as he does at home but mostly while at school they run in our family as I have them really bad also

There could be many reasons your friend gets migraine attacks, but please, don't call a suspected cause "mental."  Migraine disease is a real neurological disorder. Stress can play a role in attacks, but lots of people get stressed--only people with our unusually-wired brains get excruciatingly painful migraine attacks. The attacks are bad enough, but you may not undertsand that being told "it's mental" is insulting, belittling and demeaning to the person suffering.

Stress could lower your friend's resistance to an attack, but there may be environmental triggers at school that aren't at home. Is the school lit with old-fashioned fluorescent lights (the kind that hum when you turn them on)? Those lights (with what they call "magnetic ballast" driving the electricity through the tubes) flicker at a rate your eye can't see, but a certain part of your brain can. That part of your brain may be able to 'ignore' the flicker, but your friend's brain can't and gets overstimulated. There might be scents at school (such as industrial cleaners or solvents in carpeting or flooring) that aren't at home. The noise level is different at school. What your friend eats for lunch at school may be different.

If your friend isn't seeing a neurologist, I strongly recommend his family doctor write him a referral to one.

It depends.  Does he react to certain types of lighting, like flourescent.  I cannot be near them.  Also it might start off as a tension headache and then escalate to a migraine.  Does he get nausea.  The bending of his head or the seating can also cause bad headaches.  Does he have any old injuries?  I get triple headaches; sinus, tension and migraine sometimes all at once.  Go to a doctor and get something.

It's difficult to diagnose online.  There are many possible triggers both at home and in school that could set off your friend's Migraines.

For me: I'm sensitive to fluorescent lighting, perfumed students, white-board markers, skipping meals, dehydration, caffeine/sugar withdrawal, etc.  Also studying for prolonged periods of time could bring on head pain.

At home your friend could be suffering from a "let down headache."  But all this is difficult to diagnose without much information.

If Migraines do not run in his family, I would urge him to seek medical attention.  He should talk with his doctor.  It also helps to keep a diary of sleep pattern, diet, exercise, when pain starts/ends and how intense from 1 to 10, etc.).

I think it's very considerate of you to write in to help your friend, and I wish him well.

My daughter has had migraines since she has been in grade school. The noise, lights, smells, the tension and stress bring on her migraines all the time. Also what she eats or drinks often times causes her headaches to come on too. Chewing gum irritates the headaches. So no I do not believe it is mental at all. She even now every now and then will blank out and go into a stare that really frightens me. She doesn't seem to hear anything or even see anything around her for 30 seconds or more. I have seen her be standing and talking, she has stopped talking in mid sentence, stare for a moment, her knees will bend, her wrist will bend from side to side and she may even has a slight drool.  We have been through MRI's numerous different meds and yet she still suffers with them. She is now in her second year of college and coping as best she can. She gets tired of complaining about the pain, but I can see it in her face when she is hurting. So I know that the migraines are real and not just mental. I only wish there was something I could do to help. She keeps going back to Drs but gives up hope that anything will ever help for any length of time.

There are many things that could explain your friend's headaches without them being "mental".  Don't be too anxious to throw that stone...

To me it sound as though they might be stress related or maybe your friend has developed an allergy that is triggering the migraines. 

I think he needs to have his eyes checked.

I'e gotten behind on my reading and see your question was apparently never answered.

My son started having migraines when he was 15, and most often at school.  I suspect stress played a role; one thing I noticed that he wasn't getting the headaches BEFORE the big test or whatever was going on, but AFTER it was over.  Not knowing enough about the mechanics of migraines, I wondered if this was due to the vascular effect following a stressful event.  He rarely had them at home, never missed school because of them.  His pediatrican didn't know what to do with such a young migraine patient.

Eventually I talked an internist into seeing him, and he confirmed the diagnosis of 'vascular headaches', but was also reluctant to prescribe migraine medication for someone his age, and because the attacks were infrequent (every few weeks or months).

He had episodes in college, and at home. They became more infrequent, and by the time he was in Law School, they had stopped altogether.  For want of a better explanation, it seems he 'outgrew them'. He's a practicing attorney now and I haven't heard him complain of a headache in 10 years.

That's not much help to you, but that's our experience, and I know how much he suffered- he had the full complement of auras, nausea, light sensitivity, and pain.

If I had it to do over, I would have taken him to a neurologist or headache specialist while he was still in high school.