Any ideas on son's viral headache?

[Claz12]

DS (8) is in his 5th week of illness- glandular fever has been ruled out but symptoms are similar with lack of energy and constant headache- he's getting really down with it- calpol/ neurofen don't provide much if any relief- any ideas for alternative pain relief/ speedy recovery?

I wish I knew. We have a very similar problem with DD (13) who has had the same sort of thing since, I'm afraid to say, the beginning of September.

Can you pinpoint when your DS's condition began? For DD she had a violent allergic reaction to something or other (no idea what - have drawn a blank)and came out in hives. Emergency overnight trip to Out of Hours docs and was given intravenous anti-histamine and steroids. She has been ill pretty much since then. She has some absolutely normal days where there are no symptoms at all, and then, from nowhere, she'll develop a bad headache. Early mornings and bedtime are the worst times, although she has missed some social activities during the day too.

She loves school, but her attendance has dropped to 76% this term! We have taken to dropping her in later on bad days, once she has perked up. She's technically old enough for tablet pain relief, which I thought might be more effective than Calpol/Nurofen, but she's always struggled with tablets and gags on them. Currently we're insisting that she drinks loads of water, which seems to help a bit.

What does your GP say? DD has been referred to a consultant paediatrician and seen him twice, but no real help, to be honest. He's suggested ways of managing her routine and says that we can't do any more tests (bloods/urine etc all been normal since Day 1) until 6 months, whereby it'll be clearer to see if she has ME. In the meantime, we have to persevere and apparently it's "not uncommon." He's offered ideas that are used with ME sufferers, such as not overdoing things when she's well, yet not collapsing into it when she's suffering, sort of following the middle path.

We are now wanting to look at alternative remedies - massage/food intolerance/whatever, so I'm very interested to watch this thread. Don't really know where to start. We're all fed up to the back teeth with it, as I expect you are too. How much is it impacting on your DS's life?

I was very interested to read this as our son also had a serious allergic reaction to some cough medicine and had full A&E treatment with adrenaline, nebuliser, steroids etc. He had been ill for several days before this but developed dizziness after this attack. He has been in hospital again as he has been so poorly with such a violent headache. They have done a CT scan and more blood tests. He had very low platelet levels which have now come up to a minimum normal level. We are left with a very poorly child with a terrible headache and who does very little. He was a child who never sat down before, totally heartbreaking. We have another visit to the hospital in a a couple of days but fear there will be no answers. It seems we have to sit this one out and they have said he could be ill for sometime. No hope for a return for school. Anyone with pain relief remedies? The hospital are very reluctant to offer higher pain relief.

Have they ruled out sinus from the scan.

DS was not well from about June to December one year with headaches in the morning. He was not himself at all and crying at school. He was 8/9 at the time.
They gave him and ecg (because he was still having febrile convulsions) and eye tests as well as an MRI scan. They found sinus infection on the right side.
GPs had ruled out sinus because he when he looked up his nose it was clear, but the scan did show up the infection and was finally given antibiotics.
Ibrprufen did help him though and it was better than paracetamol. He was a big boy so could take quite a large dose.

We took DD along to an alternative health clinic the day before yesterday. Had a long session with an acupuncturist who was very interested in her condition. He reckons he can help, so her first main session is Tuesday. He also recommends some cranial osteopathy, as the base of her skull was extremely tense and congested - she yelped when he touched it.

Could be a load of bollocks, but frankly we're willing to have a go. Can't be worse than "waiting for the body to heal itself" which is pretty much how the conventional medics have left it.

bruffin - not checked for sinuses - although her headaches are in no particular place on the head - all over and varied. Would be happy for an MRI scan, even if we have to pay for it.

claz - the allergy thing was of interest to the acupuncture guy, as was the fact that when much younger she suffered with HSP (Henoch-Schonlein Purpura) which was her auto-immune system violently reacting to a common virus. She then developed kidney problems, and in addition to the headaches she also has pain in that region now. GP and consultant have dismissed that -but acupunc reckons there's highly likely to be a link.

Praying that 2012 miraculously "cures" her! Same goes for all your DCs!

clam, I have had that base of skull painful stuff sorted out by an osteopath, so should work for your dd too :)

OP, in absence of anything else, I would try anything antiinflamatory, coz some of those symptoms suggest inflammation. Stuff like mint tea could help (or even polo mints). There is a rosehip tincture that I got a while back in a health food shop that is apparently strongly antiinflammatory.

OP, just seen the mention of autoimmune connection, my ds had to go gluten free as he was reacting to gluten in a similar way; gluten is strongly linked to autoimmune anything and causes persistent inflammation, all this could have been triggered by the virus as you say