9 year old with almost continuous headache - really worried

[WannaBeWildCosMyLifesSoTame]

Since she went back to school after Easter my DD has been suffering with bad headaches. She wakes up with one, has it all day and it's still there when she goes to bed at night. I booked her staight in at the optician and she does need new glasses but her prescription had only changed slightly so I'm not convinced that is the reason. She is drinking plenty of water, sleeping well and doesn't appear to be worried about anything.

I don't see any point taking her to the doctor until she's got the new glasses as they are likely to want to rule that out first I imagine but in the meantime I am really worried about what can be causing a headache that just doesn't go away.

Anyone had any experience of this?

I'd see the GP now anyway
Is she taking any painkillers?

there was a child on a tv program who had migraines and they discovered they were caused by food intolerances
has she changed her diet at all?

If the specs don't work then straight to GP and don't give up until you have an answer. My brother suffered headaches for years - turned out he had a brain tumor.

HI

My DD2 had this and it turned out it was glandular fever - it took a night in hospital and some dissmissive doctors but we finally got a diagnosis. It may be worth asking for a blood test. Good luck !

Straight to the GP.

In the meantime, please tell me that you are giving her pain relief?

Feeling a bit scared now so have booked GP appointment for this pm - probably nothing to worry about but would rather get it checked. Means taking her out of school but just relieved I could get a slot at this short notice.

PS Yes she's having Calpol but it's not helping much. She's not in terrible pain or anything but I think any continual symptom is a cause for concern.

Try alternating the Calpol with Nurofen syrup - different drugs. Calpol is paracetamol and Nurofen is ibuprofen - and you can have the two together. That will at least help with the pain.

Good luck with the GP. It must be worrying.

Just got back from GP, he gave her a very thorough examination but doesn't seem to think there's any cause for concern. He suggested it might be tension due to going back to school - she's not actively worrying about anything (or at least she says she's not) but maybe it's getting back into routine, getting up early, homework etc. Can't see why that would be giving her headaches but they have coincided with her going back to school so maybe it is that. Will keep a close eye on her and hope they don't persist.

Thanks for all the advice earlier, glad we did go to the GP even if it didn't get us an answer to what's causing the headaches.

Glad to hear you have been given some reassurance

Even though I am in my forties my glasses prescription has never been the same for. more than a couple of years and I get headaches from really quite small changes. Could well be the specs.

My Ds was having constant headaches at that age. I remembered the same thing happening the year before. Took him to the gp, I wondered if it was sinus but gp looked up his nose and dismissed it. But because Ds had a febrile convulsion recently, he referred us to a paed.
After an mri scan, eeg, full eye tests at hospital over the next 6 months, it turned out that the mri scan showed up infected sinus, two courses of antibiotics later he was better.