Gp or wait and see? Worried about DD

[SugarandLime]

Hi,

So I know it can be quite frustrating seeing people asking for medical advice on here, but I just wanted to see if this was common in teenage girls.

Dd who's 15 has been becoming very headachy recently, but then so am I and I think hers are usually hormonal or stress related.

She came down this morning and said her whole body felt achy and didn't have an appetite at all. She's missed a few days of school this term, so didn't want to keep her off unless really needed to. She said her head felt funny and was getting a headache. She had one only a couple of days ago. Been getting messages from her all day saying how awful and exhausted she's feeling, but doesn't want to miss lessons as they'll be revising for the exam.

She had covid a couple of weeks ago and is also probably ovulating, so maybe that (?) She feels like she has covid again, but assuming you can't get it again this early, surely!

Anyway, I don't know whether these symptoms need checking out by the GP or whether to just see how it goes for a while. Could it just be a mixture of ovulation mixed with post viral fatigue? If it wasn't for the increasing headaches beforehand, I'd probably just wait, but I'm feeling a bit worried now.

TIA

I would bring her to Gp. No harm in getting bloods done etc

Do you have a carbon monoxide alarm? this sounds like that.

It could be anything, just take your kid to the GP.

Think she would need some bloods done.

This isn't down to ovulation.

@KittytheHare , yes I think that is probably wise. Not sure how that will go down. Took hours in hospital last time. She was a fair bit younger though, so don't want to assume it's a full blown needle phobia.

@shoehornartth , we do actually, but thank you.

Probably not want you want to hear, but any chance she could be pregnant?

@JemimaTiggywinkle , I'm almost certain. Never had a bf and doesn't really socialise very much. Likely on the spectrum, so finds socialising difficult.

Good - I'm glad OP. I did have similar at your DDs age and it was all stress related. I've felt exhausted since having COVID last month and not snapping out of it yet.

On the carbon monoxide, we have an alarm but turns out I was still getting small side effects because my fire place wasn't sealed. Not enough to be detected by the alarm (due to where it was) but enough to make me groggy.

I'd get her eyes tested
Make sure she gets enough sleep (no phones overnight) and outdoor excercise
Eats a heathy diet.

If she's still unwell a month later,. take her to GP

If the covid infection was relatively recent, unfortunately I think it could still be playing itself out. I didn't feel right for a long time, although there were better and worse days. It did play havoc with my cycle - made it very delayed, about 8 days overdue, and after that I am pretty sure I had double ovulation for several months on and off, but that's only with hindsight. That kind of hormonal upheaval may well be a factor in head and joint aches. I used to have regular headaches before the covid and jab years - glad not to have them so often now, but the joints feel about 10 years older, especially fingers and wrists.

@shoehornartth ah, that's interesting. Our alarm actually didn't go off about a year ago and we had someone come round to check our fire and they said it was a false alarm, as everything looked fine. Hopefully that was accurate! Regarding covid, yes I was wondering if it could still be lingering. Not the actual virus, but the after effects.

@2bazookas I was looking into that actually. No screens after bed time. She said she's getting plenty of sleep, but obviously the amount you need at this age goes up doesn't it, so maybe not. Probably doesn't get enough exercise tbh. Diet is pretty good.

She is also 15 so important exams coming up - could some of it be stress?

@Ormally I actually had it at the same time and I was really quite poorly, but dd seemed to have it reasonably mild, although she had a rough couple of days where she needed to be in bed and kept topped up with painkillers.

@Mariposista could well be. She's really thrown herself into revision this week.

I remember my periods actually stopping during exams due to stress, felt awful, headaches, insomnia. Got back to normal over the summer. I agree with 2bazookas, make sure she gets downtime, exercise, a good diet and rest, plenty of time outdoors and not too much time swapping exam horror stories over WhatsApp

I would think stress as well tbh.

definitely worth a GP visit if you can get one, but if she’s studying hard for exams that’ll likely be making her stressy, she might me grinding her teeth in her sleep if she’s waking up with a headache. I know I definitely get stomach upsets and headaches when I’m stressed!

might she be open to a mindfulness or meditation app or something? If she doesn’t want to miss school it might be better for her to try some ways to mitigate how she’s feeling because if it is stress, then not being able to attend school probably won’t make it better.

I can't see why she would need to see a doctor for that. Just see how she goes. However, I am a midwife and ex nurse and tend to have a very high threshold of what needs to go to the doctor. Or maybe I am a bad mother. I have only ever taken two of my four children to the GP (once each)!