AIBU? - Headaches=Brain cancer.

[MumofHennHals]

Please be kind,

My 4 year old has mentioned a few times her head hurts. She's fine in every other way.

I suffer with health anxiety so I instantly think the worst.

Is it normal for children to get headaches? And at what point should I worry and take her to the GP?

She doesn't know what I worry about so it's not going to affect her me worrying.

The reason I ask to be kind is my little boy was born and was incubated, with a collapsed lung and it was touch and go.. since then my health anxiety has been born, I'm having support and help from health care professionals, but these things are not an easy fix.

Maybe needs glasses. Also sometimes children say headache/tummy ache because they feel out of sorts and don't know how to put it into words.

My son used to say his mouth was sore when he was a bit anxious

Firstly young children often can't identify the source of pain, so a 'headache' could actually be earache, toothache, sore throat etc.
Secondly, a headache could be dehydration, need an eye test, a slight virus, tiredness etc. In fact far more likely than brain cancer.

How often are they saying this?
An eye test might be a good idea.
Make sure they drink plenty.

When my DC had headaches I tried these things -

1. Make sure they are drinking enough especially in nursery, since dehydration can cause headaches
2. Visit the optician for an eye test
3. Make sure they are getting enough sleep and aren’t getting overstimulated

if no joy then see the GP. It’s super unlikely to be a brain tumour but keep excluding things.

Make an appointment with your GP, and an optician and possibly even a dentist. Headaches can be caused by a whole host of things, it's always worth getting them checked out. Your anxiety is understandable, with what you've been through, and I hope your child is ok.

My DD went through a phase of saying her head hurt. Does the headache stop her actually doing anything she wants to do?

She's recently had her eyes dilated too look at the back of her eye and she's got an astigmatism, she's got glasses.

She doesn't mention it always and it's never a headache that she needs painkillers for she carries on being her bubbly self, I think it bothers me and my anxiety more than her - if this makes sense? Xx

Start making a record of when it happens and I would suggest having her eyes tested if you haven’t already, the GP would tell you to do this as part of investigating, they may ask about doing a food diary. They will try to rule a few things out then the next step would be a scan. Headaches are so common and there are many triggers so just remember the likelihood of it being anything serious is low but it’s definitely important to get it looked into.

sorry, cross posted

Try and work out more exactly what she means by 'my head hurts' as small children won't have the vocabulary to be specific.

It could be dehydration, eye strain or a food intolerance reaction.

A brain tumour? Extremely unlikely.

When do the headaches occur? If she wakes up in the middle of the night with them, or they are regularly first thing in the morning and go after she's been sitting up for a few hours, then take her to a doctor immediately.

I went through a period of a few months when kid was 3 where he constantly complained of headaches. Was referred to local children's hospital but they couldn't figure it out.

Turned out his chronic constipation was causing the headache - once his constipation medication was increased and things moved normally, the headaches stopped immediately.

Definitely worth talking to GP I think.

My 9 year old started to suffer with headaches and we were advised to have his eyes checked first otherwise the GP would just suggest it first. So maybe get an up to date eye health check first.
We ended up being referred to a consultant via urgent care for a different illness. My son was having chest pains and we mentioned the headaches at the same appointment.
The consultant was really thorough so if the optician is happy then visit your GP for a referral.
I was concerned about the same things and I was told the main red flags were headaches which wake them up and or vomiting first thing in the morning.

Are the glasses fitting properly around the ears? My dd got glasses when she was 7 and at first were too tight pressing into her head. Then she'd get sinus pain from the little wing things pinching across her nose.
Took a change of glasses and refitting to ensure they didn't cause pressure anywhere.

Have the headaches happened since glasses or before?
Have they got less?

Have you tried getting her to actually point to the location of the headache?