Daughters headaches--have questions

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Hi. I would appreciate some advice. My daughter is 10. About 4 months ago, she started having a bad headache. Advil, Tylenol--nothing would get rid of it. She said it did NOTHING to relieve the pain. I took her to the Urgent Care Center after two days and no relief. No other symptoms. No n/v, dizziness, photophobia, etc. Well, needless to say I was not thrilled with that visit. So I took her to her pediatrician's the next day. She ordered sinus xrays--neg. and a CT-also neg. Wanted us to try Naproxen and Allegra. We did--did not help. Eventually after about 3 days, the headache went away. Now it is back. For two days now. Nothing is helping. The Naproxen helped she said--"for a little bit." She rates it about an 8 or 9. She also complained earlier of a "weird pop" that intensified the headache. She has no other symptoms. Just a headache over her entire head-it is not localized. Any suggestions! Help! I can see in her eyes how much she is hurting. She is not faking this--unlike what the Urgent Care Dr. tried to tell me. When should we see a Neurologist???

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NOW.

Neurologist, ENT, you name it... see it.

You have 10 years invested in that child. Don't let anyone else decide what is going on with her.

A "pop" can happen with migraines, can't it? Also, prepuberty issues--hormones??

No idea here... except...

You know best.

Good luck.

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No typical migraine symptoms--but I guess I just want reassurance that I am not jumping the gun here. If the meds helped--I can understand, but the concern for me is that they don't help. She is a tough kid too. She does have asthma and allergies and feels lousy alot of times but I think is so used to it that she dosen't complain!! I am planning on seeing her Pediatrician in the a.m. whether they like it or not!! Actually her doc is very good and very understanding.

NOW.

Neurologist, ENT, you name it... see it.

You have 10 years invested in that child. Don't let anyone else decide what is going on with her.

A "pop" can happen with migraines, can't it? Also, prepuberty issues--hormones??

No idea here... except...

You know best.

Good luck.

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I would make sure I saw the pediatricain. I would also suggest to him/her about a neurology consult. I know migraines, and it is possible specially with her age and hormones starting but I do not like the "pop". I would have it intensely investigated.

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A 'pop' to me sounds like it could be sinus pressure, inner ear pressure. Curious if it has happened at times that the weather is changing (barometric changes).

Glad you are taking her to the doc tomorrow. Poor kid!

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho.

I understand your concern but have you questioned her about school? My daughter started the worst time of her short life at about 10(4-5th grade correct?). Stresses of puberty, trying to fit in, others who have to demean people to make themselves feel better about themselves can do strange things to a 10year old. Kids about 10 start getting really vicious sometimes. I wouldnt want to discount the medical approach because it does warrent keeping a close eye on, but you might ask for a conference with her teacher without her around or knowing and see if there is any input concerning her social interactions at school. And it never hurts to have someone keep a closer eye out for things that might be troubling her. Hope things get better.

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The "pop" did freak me out for a second. After she said it I watched her and did not see anything abnormal. Of course in my head I'm thinking "ANEURYSM!!!" Can someone have a migraine with no migraine symptoms?? Does that make sense?? The one and only complaint is that her whole head hurts. No aura, no photophobia, no nausea, etc. She dosen't want to lay in a dark room, etc. She will watch TV and read and I think when she goes to the doctor, they think, "Gee, she looks okay to us." but she is truly hurting. Just because she isn't laying in my lap dosen't mean she isn't hurting. I think she just got to the point where she thought, nothing is going to help this, so I'll just have to live with it! But as a mother, you know by looking at your child when they are hurting. Tonight she tried to refuse Motrin because she said, "It's not going to help anyway." It is SOO frustrating.

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She will generally share with me any problems at school. She actually loves school. She is the only child I know that was excited to go back to school. She has had some problems with one girl, but she tells me about them and it dosent bother her.

I understand your concern but have you questioned her about school? My daughter started the worst time of her short life at about 10(4-5th grade correct?). Stresses of puberty, trying to fit in, others who have to demean people to make themselves feel better about themselves can do strange things to a 10year old. Kids about 10 start getting really vicious sometimes. I wouldnt want to discount the medical approach because it does warrent keeping a close eye on, but you might ask for a conference with her teacher without her around or knowing and see if there is any input concerning her social interactions at school. And it never hurts to have someone keep a closer eye out for things that might be troubling her. Hope things get better.
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Poor thing. :o I have an almost 10 y/o little boy so I know how helpless you feel when you can't do anything to help them. I used to have headaches all the time when I was right around that age. I think a lot of it had to do with eye strain because I was too bull-headed to wear my glasses. I have always been a perfectionist as well and had a lot of internal stress and tension. Plus, I always had headaches during allergy season, now days, when is it not allergy season, right? It could be a combination of many things. Maybe it will be something she outgrows, but if it doesn't correct itself after awhile, I would keep pushing for answers. At the very least, they could find something that would help ease her pain.

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Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

help is on the way by visiting a pediatric neurologist.

they can best diagnose and treat your daughters symptoms. my oldest son started with migranes at age 12 during puberty growth spurt. he had a "my heard hurts" headache lasting for almost 9 months before definitive treatment.

cat scan and sinus xrays also negative; has allergies too and was starting on allergy shots at the time. had the talk with school psychologist too as concerned school problem not being discussed--"well adjusted child"

our neurologist stated 10-15 % children have migraines during puberty growth spurt. we kept a food diary and was able to see that having caffiene and chocolate almost always induced headache --he reads labels and minimizes both in diet.

treatment to break his headache initially involved drinking a box of juicy juice before arising out of bed each morning, carbohydrate snack every 3 hours along with gatorade; benadryl and ibuprofen around the clock. took about three weeks of this treatment to stop his headache cycle.

he's had episodes of orthostatic hypotension, occular migranes where vision lost color and only saw black and white (talk about getting that phone call at work) and knows he must drink juices/gatorade at least every 4 hours to prevent dehydration/migrane trigger.

at almost 19 now, he watches what he eats, reads labels of all beverages to minimize caffiene intake and carries juice box/gatorade bootle when expecting to be away from home for hours along with carb snack. migranes are about every 2-3 months now.

here are some links with helpful info:

http://www.emedicine.com/neuro/topic529.htm

pediatric migraine

http://www.medceu.com/course-no-test.cfm?cid=939

http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/internet/neurogram/neurogram3_4_peds_migraines.cfm

http://www.loftusmd.com/articles/migraine/migraineoverview.html

google search will list more references. good luck. pm if needed.

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Insist on an MRI--It can show more than a CT scan, and I have a friend who was having bad headaches, had a negative CT, insisted on an MRI and it was found that she had an aneurysm which was operated on and repaired before it burst. I don't want to scare you, but you need to insist on an MRI immediately.

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Now, don't go crazy !!! take a deep breath... an aneurysm that "poped" would mean certain stroke and untreated... death... hasn't happened.

My 11yr. old has had sinus headaches and migranes since 4. Calmly, ask the pediatricain for the full NEURO work up, knowing that the purpose is to rule out the worst so you can focus on the minor.

get a EEG, and cat scan, than an MRI through a neuro. But consider, as only a mom can in your case.. the least invasive ENT approach, if you feel comfortable doing this first. Allergies and sinus pressure are so SEVERE that when included with the inner ear seem so very severe and life threatening in symptoms that it's so EASY to loose your cool as I have done. Only you can know your comfort level in proceeding and you need to follow that maternal gut instinct and decide whats right for you both.

My son, 11, with severe, dibiliatating HA's is treated now only with motrin, he know's when they're comming and in 30 minutes with motrin the pain is gone. His HA, are passed from me to him. Many are generational. So please know that this may be easily treatable, although passed through our families genes.

also be prepared to go full force, if you're not comfortable with your plan of treatment, and tell your family practitioner, you're not satisfied and need more testing, even if it includes changing primary physicians.

Thinking of your little one

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