11 year old headaches for 3 years...

[Busymummy50]

My 11 year old first experienced headaches 3 years ago. Took him to gp, referred to paeditrician who looked him over and said it's tension headaches. Have had up to date eye tests and all fine. Fast forward 3 years and he still has it. Said he has it most days and throughout the day. Hurts more when doing work at school apparently. Copes with it most days but every now and then becomes too much to cope. Tried Calpol and makes no difference.

He chews skin on his fingers on and off since 5 which makes me wonder if it's anxiety related or depression ( he s9esnt ever look very happy and hates rules at home so constant battle especially with ps4). Any advice or tips please as the headaches seem to be affecting him more now. School says he seems fine and he seems a lot better at home. Just don't know what to do!

No advise but my 11yo DD has been complaining of headaches and dizziness at school for the past month. She's seen GP who advised an eye check and to watch less TV. Did eye check and her eyesight is perfect so at a bit of a loss. Can't say she watches a lot of TV.

My DD had a few episodes of pulling her eyelashes aged 8 and one episode of pulling eyebrows aged 10. Saw counsellor and we think this was anxiety related. Not sure if headaches are therefore also linked with anxiety, just another way of body 'dealing' with it.

You could see a behavioural optometrist for a full assessment which looks at visual stress and lots of other things related to reading, writing, looking at whiteboard etc

DH used to get headaches frequently - we've only just figured out that it was gluten intolerance. Worth a try to rule out any intolerances/allergies?

Does he drink enough? I was never given much to drink as a child and i had daily headaches till i figured it out when i was at uni! I wear glasses and was also highly anxious and got tension headaches so i think it was hard for anyone to pick out a cause. Even now if i dont drink for a couple of hours i start with a headache

Agree with longdivision check for intolerances. My father used to get massive migraines from eating chocolate and my sister got migraines from apples and potatoes, after cutting them out of her diet years ago she stopped getting migraines. Is it a migraine or headaches? Also if it's migraines could it be hormone related? (I know in women they can get them during pregnancy but no idea about preteen boys)

Also perhaps the lighting? Again if migraines, I had two colleagues at work who would get horrendous migraines (and would be off sick for a week) if they were sat under those fluorescent lights so had to have either natural or floor lamps as otherwise it was too harsh for them, that would definitely correlate with him saying they get worse at school. Plus if I was having headaches/migraines all the time I would be in a foul mood too frankly.

He gets headaches all the time and some times worse. Paeditrician said it's yensi9n headaches. Not heard of behavioural optometrist so will look into that. Will also look into allergies or intolerance but he's been getting it for 3 years now and it's so hard to pinpoint which food it could be if it's food!

Hello, im not sure if this has been mentioned as i havent had time to read all the replies but have you tried limiting mobile device use? Switching off wifi at night? Do you live close to a mobile phone mast, have a smart meter close to bubbas sleeping area? If it happens at the school, is there masts close by? I suffer with EHS and these are all definitely headache triggers.. Its difficult to comprehend that these things effect people so badly as they are so prominent in our lives now but the fact is, headaches/migraines, tinnitus and a whole host of other issues are on the rise at an alarming rate all over the country right now.l, especially in children and studies have shown definite links to radiation exposure. I would do what you can to limit his exposure i.e removing the devices, switching off wifi and see how u go. Good luck!

Thanks. I've heard this too. Yes we switch off Wi-Fi at night. I feel the headaches may be anxiety but not sure. We don't live very close to a phone mast.