I am not panicking but am just a mum and not a doctor so would appreciate some advice please

[ItalianLady]

DD is 7 and has just come and said she has a headache. She has been telling me she has a headache every night since Thursday night. She never complains in the day and comes down after bedtime to tell us she has a headache.

I will worry myself stupid if I google.

TIA.

Is she worried about anything? Does she want attention?

Have you had her eyes tested? Does she read a lot, or use computer/tv/nintendo?

Not a doc either, but that is what I would check first.

1. could it be behavioural - sudden aversion to bed or bedroom?

2. Could it be some sort of low grade lurgy - not enough to make her ill, but enough to exhaust her and spring symptoms late on?

How does she seem the rest of the time? Bright-eyed? Eating and drinking normally? Doing her usual activities with usual energy levels?

Eye strain. Has she been playing computer games a lot? Or watching telly?

She does get quite bothered by bad dreams and wakes up crying some nights. No amount of me saying it isn't real and think about nice things settles her and then she goes off in a huff sometimes. Her eyes are fine, she has glasses for reading if she feels she needs them. No computer time today. I don't think she is playing us up, DS2 can develop aches surprisingly quickly if he thinks Calpol is on offer but DD doesn't.

I will see how she is in the morning. Thanks.

She has been at my inlaws today and nothing has been said. Her bedroom is lovely, she says, and she is never any trouble at going to bed other than sometimes asking why she has to go before her older brother.

I wouldn't panic as I'm almost certain there are no illnesses which involve a headache at bedtime but not during the daytime.

Just a thought, but if she's only complaining of a headache at night, could it be sinus related?

When my sinuses are playing up, I get an instant headache as soon as I lie down.

If it is, ibuprofen/calprofen will probably help more than calpol.

Has she told you where exactly the headache is?

Sometimes just taking time to have a wee cuddle is enough to disperse DD's "ailments".

could she be thirsty? i sometimes get into bed, sit back, headache ensues and i realise i have hardly drunk any liquid, or i might wake a bit later with the headache and realise it. Does she have a drink by her bed?

Actually cluster headaches can present at the same time each day but it's unusual and she's quite young for them.

She has no sign of a cold and it is above her eye.

When a doc diagnosed me with migraines he said DD probably had them too because she talks in her sleep at times. Her has never seen her. Fuck, I should have taken her to see the GP shouldn't I?

She has a drink before bed and takes a bottle of water to leave by her bed too.

I feel a bit rubbish now tbh.

My DD has had so many doctor's examining her as she has had many issues that I didn't really want to believe he was right about migraines and didn't want to go there .

Above her eye could be either sinus or migraine. It would be unusual for a migraine to come on every night when she goes to bed though.

If its just above her eye and not spreading over one side of her head, or affecting the eye itself, its less likely to be migraines.

Could you maybe ask if everything looks normal to her, to get an idea of whether she has any visual disturbance or not?

I suffer from bad migraines and ds1 (8) also gets them, but his are very different to mine and initially presented as abdominal migraine. He now tends to go very pale and tired and gradually goes downhill for a couple of hours before the actual migraine pain hits. He also tends to be sick when he has one.

There's a website specifically aimed at children that suffer from migraines here.

Thanks for the link, moosemama. I will look now.

I have a doctor's appointment booked for 7 tonight as she is now saying the headache has been continually there.

Having had DH google what an earlier diagnosis of bruxism is it appears that could be the reason for her headaches.

Any knowledge of bruxism and ther resulting headaches and then treatment would be much appreciated. Thank you.

I've googled on the wiki page for this condition.
One very non invasive/non worrying treatment described here:
"Ongoing management of bruxism is based on minimizing the abrasion of tooth surfaces by the wearing of an acrylic dental guard, or splint, designed to the shape of an individual's upper or lower teeth from a bite mold."

Thanks for that. I did ask the dentist but he said she was too young for any kind of guard.

DH and DD just home. Dianosis is migraines so now I feel crap as I have them too. Are they hereditary? Have to give her ibruprofen for 3-4 days and then see a GP for a referral if it doesn't help.

Hi, sorry I missed your later posts.

How is she now, since having the ibuprofen?

Yes, migraines can be hereditary. They are on both sides of my family and one side of dh's.

If it helps, when migraines start at such a young age, they are often outgrown by adulthood.

Ds tends to get them when he is stressed or anxious about something, if he hasn't eaten or drunk enough or if he gets overtired. So they are manageable/avoidable to some extent.

The trick is to get in with the ibuprofen as soon as she starts to show signs. We no longer wait for him to tell us he has a headache, as we've learned the impending signs and can sometimes stave off a full blown attack with a dose of calprofen and some sleep.

I have never heard of bruxism, but interestingly my ds also grinds his teeth. I wonder if this could be connected, in as much as teeth grinding can be a sign of stress or anxiety and those in turn can lead trigger migraines?

Hi, she hasn't complained of pain tonight but is going to the GP tomorrow and then for an eye test on Monday. I don't know what brings them on or what to look out for.

Glad to hear she hasn't got any pain tonight.

It takes a while to work out what the triggers/signs are. It might help to keep a brief diary of what she eats and anything significant like being overtired, upset or stressed about anything.

With ds, he starts to look pale and tired, then goes a funny green colour in a wide stripe down the centre of his face (I've never seen anything quite like it to be honest). There's often lots of yawning, and he seems to screw up his eyes a lot - he's also abnormally quiet. If it gets that far, he then tends to lose his appetite and just wants to go to bed.

The signs would probably be completely different for your dd though.

Keeping a diary did help us to identify the triggers, although to be fair, we were keeping a diary for other reasons and noticed the patterns emerging.

Good luck with the GP and eye test. You never know, it could be something as simple as eye-strain, in which case you could have it all sorted by this time next week.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

Thank you.

She just appeared and made me jump and then argued with daddy about it being time to bring the Guinea Pigs in .

God help me when she is a teenager as she is a stroppy madam now!