Headaches in a 6 year old. Quite worried. What can I ask the Dr to do?

[Catsu]

DS is 6 years old. Has never complained of headaches before. About 3 weeks ago he said he had a pain in his head (over the left eye) one evening. It got worse over night, woke him up in pain several times through the night. In the morning he was crying as it hurt so much, then he was sick once and it gradually got better throughout the day.
I took him to the Dr the next day (as he had the headaache on the weekend) and we thought it sounded like a migraine 9I get them too). Dr said to just keep an eye on him and go back if it happens again.
Since then DS has said his head hurts in the same place at least once every 3 days. Not anywhere near as bad as the firdt headache, but he feels a pain quite often. It could be more painful than it appears as DS is a tough nut and very rarely complains (he has Aspergers and very rarely comments when he is hurt). He said yesterday 'my head doesnt hurt today!' in complete surprise when he got up, which makes it seem as though it is hurting him quite a lot otherwise. He has mentioned it again this afternoon.
I have a Drs appt for him tomorrow afternoon. What can I ask the Dr to do/to check for. Should I be asking him to refer us to the hospital for tests or something?
I dont want to get fobbed off with a 'lets keep an eye on it and come back in a few weeks' type answer as I am quite worried.
Any advice?

Have you taken him to the opticians for a sight test?

Yes, he had a routine eye test during the summer holidays which was all fine, excellent vision and eyes looked fine too, he doesnt need to go back for another one for a year

My 12 year old suffered for many years with headaches, had him at GP's many times before we finally figured out he wasn't drinking enough.

Get a lot of water into him, monitor his fluid intake & ensure he drinks a lot every day.

You may think he's drinking plenty, we did, but with monitoring noticed was only a couple of glasses with a meal.

Do you think that the doctor you will be seeing is OK? If you give them as much info as you can about the headaches - triggers, potition, associated symptoms. The doctor will probably want to examine your DS too.
Headaches are common, and sinister causes for them are rare.
Try and get a clear idea of the plan from your doctor, and if they dont think that investigation is needed at this stage then ask them when they would review that if things continue.

Doctors usually have a fairly low threshold for referring children to paediatricians, if that isnt suggested and you aren't otherwise happy with the outcome and plan from the appointment you could request that.

Keep a diary and plot food eaten and time eaten against when he says his head hurts. My DD had abdominal migraines when small - her triggers were chocolate and ham (if eaten after 5.00 pm but OK if eaten earlier in the day), over tiredness and low blood sugar. She used to start being sick at 4.00 am until we worked out that she needed to eat something like toast or cornflakes just before she went to bed. Equally if she didn't eat at regular intervals during the day she would go pale and start being sick. Once we worked it all out she didn't have any more attacks. Hope your DS's headaches disappear soon.

My DS suffered from migraines if there was a longer gap than usual between meals. We noticed that the headaches came on not when he was at school but at weekends and during holidays when mealtimes were not always at the same time. Once we knew this we were able to make sure that, if the time between meals was going to be longer than usual he was given a couple of biscuits to keep him going. We also made sure that if we were out we had a bottle of water so that he didn't become dehydrated. These two simple measures did the trick.

I would ask for a blood test and possibly brain scan if I were you.

What kind of blood test?

Blood test is very non specific and wont really help. Ct scan is not really indicated either.
Couple of things to consider. Is it associated with any eyesight speech problems loss of function or pins and needles. Does anything make it worse or better? Does coughing make it worse? Do bright lights?
If it is always over one eye he needs another examination by an optition to make sure he doesn't have any problems with his retina and it's not shingles. If that's ok and the answer is no to all other questions it could be cluster headaches. In which case he should probably see a paediatrician for advice on management.
Still doesn't warrant a brain scan

I agree, it does sound like migraine. I suffer from it and my headache always starts above my right eye.

However, headaches in children should always be taken seriously. My DS had a brain tumour when he was 8 (he's now 24) and started with the same symptoms you describe. I cannot stress enough though how unlikely it is that your DS has the same and I don't want to scare or worry you. I just want to make you aware of the signs and symptoms so you can keep an eye on him.

Headaches increasing in frequency and severity which are usually worst on waking
Vomiting for no apparent reason - as in not having a tummy bug - and then wanting to eat quite quickly afterwards
Loss of balance, being a bit more clumsy, tripping up, bumping into things
Blurred vision - this was the last of DS's symptoms before he was diagnosed

There are a few of us on MN who have experience of this unfortunately. As I said the last thing I want is to scare you but I couldn't read your thread and not post.

I hope he feels better soon and the headaches pass.

This may be helpful

It does sound rather like a migraine (IANAD)

You might consider taking him to a cranial osteopath. When I started seeing one about migraines, he pulled and poked a bit and said "Oh, I see you were a breech birth" (which my old mum later confirmed)

the head does get squashed out of shape during birth, and can be massaged to help put things back into place

I also had the top few vertebrae squashed together, which he freed off over a few visits. I was quite surprised, when I got in the car and looked back to reverse, how much further my head would turn round.

Some osteos do a lot of baby/toddler work, and it can help a lot if there is that kind of problem. You need to find an experienced one who takes an interest in that kind of work. Some people think small children don't get headaches or backaches, but it isn't true.

My 6 yr old DS gets migraines and has done since he was about 3 though not regularly, they seem to come together or just last for quite a while ie a week or so of 'not being right'
What has helped us, and him, is to get him to grade the headaches from 0-5 depending on how much they hurt. This has given us a much clearer picture of what he is going through, especially as he also seems to have a high pain threshold and will just put up with things.
He also gets 'squiggly eyes' beforehand (as do i) and then nausea so definitely migraine in my book.
GP has only told us to make sure he drinks enough but I am keeping a diary to see if I can see any pattern.

Thank you. Some very helpful advice there, I am not as worried now as I was seeing how common migraines can be in children
I'll see what the dr says today and regardless I am going to start s diary of what and when he eats and see how that relates to hos headaches. The abdominal migraine post rings a bell, I think it could well be related to eating meals later than usual during the holidays etc
Thanks

Catsu - once we worked out what was going on we used to make sure DD always had two small sweet biscuits wrapped up in her pocket. She got quite good at knowing when she needed to eat them. Hope your DS is rid of his headaches soon.