ds1 with daily headaches, any suggestions?

[gigglewitch]

He's a couple of weeks off 9yo. Going to the opticians tomorrow - not that I'm sure eye problems would give him the sort of headaches that he gets.
Anyone been here?

[twoisplenty]

Sort of. My dh gets headaches every day for a while. Nothing serious, just stress he thinks. But the solution for him is that I do reflexology on his feet. Then the headaches go for ages, months. When they come back, I do his feet again!

Could reflexology be something to consider?

It may not be the solution you were thinking oof, but worth a thought.

[BackUpYourPhotosNow]

No, however my sisters osteopath actually became one because he suffered from severe headaches as a child which the gp couldn't help with but the osteopath did. Get him checked out by the gp too and if no-one can find anything find a good osteopath

[gigglewitch]

twoisplenty, interesting - that's exactly what I do, foot massage [I can't call it reflexology, I've only done a basic course] and also a face and head massage which he finds really relaxing.
Osteopath worth thinking about - mil uses one.

[missmama]

Also make sure he is drinking enough water

[Bodenbabe]

Are you medicating him for it? Some meds can cause headaches (they're rebound headaches). Though any meds suitable for a 9yo probably wouldn't cause that, I guess - I think it's codeine that's the main culprit?

My DD was the same and my GP said that stress or anxiety is definitely a cause of headaches in young children. Also agree with missmama about drinking lots of water.

[SexOnFire]

Eye strain? Perhaps get his eyes tested?

[SexOnFire]

sorry sorry, you mentioned opticians

[gigglewitch]

today's update - eyesight perfect
Stress / worry is presumably what it is. He drinks plenty at home, unfortunately can't guarantee this being the case in school hours. We send him with plenty - water and juice etc, but whether he actually drinks much of it is debatable (pita)

[purpleduckUnderTheMistletoe]

My ds gets this too >

He has had osteo treatment after getting squashed at Rugby - I think we need to go back.

How is the lighting in his class? My ds has also said that there is a flickery light in his class which seems to give him a headache sometimes.

[BackUpYourPhotosNow]

erm hello! Lights that flicker are supposed to be switched off immediatly and there is an imposed time limit on how long it can be left that way before it is replaced.

I would complain to the school, what is their risk assesment if an epileptic student needs to use the classroom?

Flickering lights can be very bad.

Gigglewitch, I get stress related headaches and I can help them if I get myself in the right frame of mind. I write down all the things that are stressing me( usually a case of to many things that need doing) and then go down the list resolving each one.

Do you think this approach might help him? It partly helps me to have it all out of my head, I don't have to remember all that stuff any more I can just check the list, so I don't need to focus on the mental list any more iykwim?

Don't know if that really helps much...

[gigglebells]

backup, it's a fab idea. Will tell him about it - I do think it would appeal. We'd never understand it, mind, he is very dyslexic and writes without vowels most of the time - but hey if he can read it that's all that matters. I think the dyslexia's a big cause of the headaches, because the thing that goes with it for him is a lot of frustration and a fairly hit-and-miss short term memory. Which naffs him off, understandably. He knows his recall of instructions is a bit rubbish at times, which makes him stressed.
We also do the pastel coloured paper and I've taken a load of it in to school, in case that's causing him the problem (black on white contrast) but afaik they're not able (?) to use it all the time.

[gigglebells]

and meant to say in last post, thank you all for coming back to this thread, it is an enormous help. A good few ideas that we can try out, I really do appreciate it.

[alypaly]

get him checked out at dentist,incase he is a night time tooth grinder as that can cause very bad headaches. DS2 suffered with headaches and was referred to a consultant and put on pizotifen for a while. he has now grown out of them

[BackUpYourPhotosNow]

Hi gigglebells, My sister has dyslexia and she needs to use blue paper in specific, no other colour helps her and the yellow side of the spectrum makes things much worse for her.

A few years ago she did a degree in spite of it >. She piled the blue paper into the photocopier and copied all the handouts onto blue paper before reading them . Her optician supplied her with blue lenses to view books and anything unphotocopiable. She did tell me that having the glasses and paper meant that it was much less concentration effort to get the same result and she had less headaches as a result, but it hadn't occured to me until you mentioned dyslexia. I think the school should be copying all of his stuff onto helpful paper for him really, can you speak to them about it? Has your ds been checked to see if there is a specific colour that helps him?

Also if he does have regular things that are on the to do list in his head and adding to it all, (i'm thinking stuff like when to take gym kit into school etc) could you have a chart on the wall to remind him? possibly with pictures as well as the words, just to try to reduce the amount of "stuff" he's trying to remember every day? I have done something similar with my children as not all of them can read yet and it seems to really help as a memory trigger.

Love your xmas name btw

[bruffin]

Is there a chance he could have sinus problems. DS had headaches and it turned out that it was sinus, although it did take an MRI scan to diagnose it.

[gigglebells]

thank you again girls! Aly

[alypaly]

gigglebells...night time gnashing is one of the biggest causes of migraines. You should make an appt for dentist too as he will be able to make a night bite thing for his mouth. I used to have one when i was little and it helped mine.