My DD is 11 and started secondary school in September. She had a tricky time at first and showed real resilience going in every day especially when she ‘hated’ it, we had tears, physical signs of her being stressed, anger towards me ‘making her going in’ she still doesn’t love school but has come to terms with having to go in. The problem we have now is continuous tension headaches, I’ve been so worried that we’ve been to the emergency out of hours doctors and we are now being seen by Bupa. We have changed routines, made time for old friends which is hard as she doesn’t always want to go (from primary school) we’ve been to the opticians for an eye test and all is fine. We’ve even tried to get her to an appointment with a private counsellor, but she refused to go on the day. Bupa have advised an MRI scan to make sure her headaches aren’t anything medical. I’m so worried about her. Home life is becoming more tricky, she’s extremely up and down. At times curling into a ball crying uncontrollably. DD is sensitive and finds change hard and I feel I’m failing her. Sometimes she appears to be fine then she’s wiped out with her head. Calpol and nurofen make her feel worse. Dr has advised tiger barm white to rub on her temples to help with the headaches and it’s still early days but initially doesn’t appear to make any change. We are trying desperately to get her out and about more but she’s not a foodie or a shopper so it’s hard to excite her to go out and do something worth while. It’s a constant negotiation at home and I’m worried about the long term outcome of this on her mental health and physical well being as she grows.
Happy to answer questions and any advice you can offer would be really helpful.