First Year Headaches

I am starting to get a little concerned. I just found out that my college freshman son has been missing some classes because he has felt nauseous, sick to his stomach and had headaches. You know what is racing through my mind. He says he has just been sick and is getting better. I know he has had a cold, but I believe this was going on a little longer and a little more sporadic than that.

I know a lot of people who started showing signs while in college. Most of my family members have started younger, but then they are girls and there's my sister Pam who, at her ripening age, has only recently started having Migraines which also seem to be coming more frequently and violently.

I'm not sure that I'm handling his situation correctly, but I don't want to full out alarm my son yet, put things into his head or have him feel like I view everyone as a pending Migraineur either so I didn't come out and mention Migraines to him. I asked him about his symptoms; the ones I stated above. I also do realize that he could just have had a string of colds which I would really be ok with too or even tension headaches at this point.

Anyway, I've asked him to write down how he feels everyday until he comes home for winter break. As you can see, I also avoided using the word diary and especially Migraine Diary or the fact that this is something I have done for my Migraines as I am trying to avoid this connection with him. I don't want to overreact with him in this scenario. I don't want to keep him in the dark about things, scare him or have him start worrying about Migraines. He has enough on his plate right now as finals are here. He has had a lot of pressures during his first semester and he says his grades are good.

I know he is full aware of my Migraines and I've told him about my symptoms in the past especially when I had a talk with my boys about what Migraines are. It was my older son who vehemently warned me that I better not have given him anything when I told them it was a genetic neurological disease. He made me laugh. Now I hope my younger son has just had a couple rounds of colds and will keep up his daily documentation on how he is feeling so I can get a better look at what is going on with him.

While growing up, he never showed any other signs. He was never car sick or anything like that, but within the last few years, he has told me that he has some sensitivity to light especially while driving at night. When I call his dorm room, it is so loud. He is not used to loud living accommodations as you could imagine I would go bonkers if my home were loud and he has had his own room at home for many years. This could be attributing to his headaches as well and his roommate is a night owl; my son is not. Although I do believe he is getting enough sleep, it may not be the quality he needs. Don't get me wrong, they get along very well and it's not my son complaining about these things, it's me but then I'm not living there. I'm only complaining to you guys and I like his roommate otherwise.

I will keep my fingers crossed that my curse has skipped him and that he just has a lot of contributing factors to regular or tension type headaches right now along with some cold symptoms. I would hate to pass this down, but realistically know that even if it were to skip him, it could hit others down the line. I can only hope that as time goes on, there will be more advancement in the treatment and prevention of Migraine disease for everyone.