Shooting/Ice pick headaches in 7yo

[Reindear]

My 7 yo dd has been complaining of shooting/stabbing pains in her forehead the last few weeks. They stop her in her tracks, she shouts ‘ow!’ and clutches her head and then as soon as that happens they are gone and she’s fine again! It’s really bizarre. It happened a few times a couple of weeks ago, then she was fine. Then yesterday she had one and again today. She says ‘ow mum, the pain just shot me again’. I can’t give her calpol because once it’s gone she’s fine. I’m going to contact the gp in the morn. She has no other issues. No vomiting, visual issues etc. has anyone else experienced this and knows if it’s a cause for concern? Thanks

My 10 year old has been getting exactly these headaches for about a year now. I had a phone call with the gp when it all started, but they were not concerned as no other symptoms. Sometimes he gets several shooting pains a day for a few days in a row and then nothing for a few weeks. He seems fine otherwise, so the gp is probably right that it's just "one of these things".
I am interested though to hear what your gp says! I tried to google, but didn't get much useful information at all other than that it's really uncommon.

Not sure if this helps but people often get the same pain ascending or descending in a plane when their sinuses are blocked - the air pressure builds up in the sinus and has nowhere to go - it's exactly like she describes - Ive had it - really painful. Obvs she's not in a plane but could point towards a sinus problem.

I had them from around age ten all the way through to mid 20s, havent had one for ages now. I would get them several times a day for a few days and then nothing for ages and then they'd be back again. No rhyme or reason to it.

Any update from your GP, @Reindear ?

Sorry for delay. She carried on getting the headaches and then recently they became more frequent and she complained of blurry vision in one eye so I took her to the optician. They did a thorough eye test and scan of the eyes and all was ok. Took her to gp who did a neuro check and all was fine. But she’s getting the pains a few times a day now and says she gets blurry vision in one eye and she has to close and open her eye for it to go away. I’m not sure if I’m being paranoid or if I should push for more checks. She’s otherwise healthy so it’s hard to know

I'm like a broken record with these checks, but I'd push for a scan. My 2yo had similar headaches (though for the most part milder - but definitely getting worse) and with her it was a brain tumour and she was rushed for emergency surgery. She's mostly okish now thankfully.

Here is the information of headsmart on redflags. Whilst it's probably something else for your daughter, she has enough flags thay they should be scanning her as a priority.

Here are the two remaining screenshots.

Fingers crossed that it's not anything major, but best to get it checked out.

Somuchgoo - you and me both... my son was diagnosed with a brain tumour at least a year later than he should have been. I can't ignore posts like this. Push for an MRI.

My daughter had this a few years back, very brief, very intense headaches, at one point several in an hour. No pattern of reason we could find. No other symptoms. Gp did neuro checks, all clear so discharged. She grew out of it eventually.

It's not a fun club to be in, and I feel like the harbinger of doom in mentioning it, but I cant not!

Could she be having visual aura and migraine? Not all migraine involves massive radiating head pain, especially in children.

I get ice pick headaches as an adult in between migraines. Long family history of migraine here, mine started aged about 12-13. My dad's migraines started when he was 7 and my brother's when he was 9. Both of them had stomach pain rather than head pain until their teens. I always had head pain.

https://www.nationalmigrainecentre.org.uk/understanding-migraine/factsheets-and-resources/migraine-in-children-and-adolescents/

Thank you- I think I will. I’m sorry to hear your 2yo had a brain tumour- can’t imagine how terrifying it must have been.
did they have any other symptoms at all? My daughter has nothing else at all and is full of energy, eating well etc. but these headaches are now multiple times a day

this sounds very similar. No pattern here either- totally random times of day. And sometimes spread out, other times 3 shooting pains in half an hour. Always in her forehead but not always the same place on her forehead

I don’t know- she seems to clutch her head for a second, wait a few seconds for the pain to subside and then is totally fine again. Could that be a migraine? The bubble in the eye could be a visual aura maybe?

I’m really sorry to hear that- it must have been so scary. Did your son have headaches like this?

Looking back there were subtle signs*, but very non specific. It was mostly just daily complaints of a headache for about 3 weeks. She'd look sad and I'd ask what was wrong and she'd say 'my head is ouchy'. It woke her up in the middle of the night crying once about 4 days below admission. The day before admission she had an ice pick headache, but that passed within about 10m. The day of admission she sobbed in my lap and vomited once. Basically nothing more then what seemed like normal but frequent headaches until a couple of days before. It was the size of an egg and required emergency surgery. She should be ok long term with a bit of luck.

• Increased clingyness, still being clumsy (to the extent it was a family joke about how she could injure herself in an empty room), getting grumpy waking places and preferring being carried. None of which i thought were anything other then being a typical 2.5yo. Also being very small for her age, which may be linked.

My son was 3.5 when diagnosed - I remember him saying he had “quadruple” headaches, after diagnosis. We had a two month wait for surgery as the tumour was in complex position and the hospital was waiting for a specialist neurosurgeon to join. He had surgery then we were sent to the US for proton beam radiation.
Tumours are rare but they do happen. The UK has had a v bad track record of brain tumour diagnosis in a timely fashion. (I hope it has improved). Bottom line is if it’s your kid and you are worried - you have to be their advocate.
Signs and symptoms can be different from patient to patient.
My son’s symptoms were not recognised by drs as being typical. He had a head shake which was unexplained and worsened over a year/year and a half. In fact - it worsened in the year after an initial MRI which missed the tumour. So he could have been diagnosed at 2.5. At that time the tumour was v small. I kept taking him to neurologists showing them the scan - a year later one neurologist’s radiologist recognised the anomaly and ordered a new MRI. It was of course bigger a year later. It was a nightmare.
You have to trust your instincts & if you’re not satisfied with answers you have to keep going back until you’re satisfied.
DS is 13 now and on multiple hormone replacements but is mega bright & a wonderful kid.

@Reindear Can your little one draw on her head exactly where the shooting pain is? The reason I ask is I have a condition called trigeminal neuralgia which is the nerve in the face (includes forehead) which misfires. It is like an electric shock running through the nerve and stops me in my tracks. Between the nerve misfiring, there is no pain and no other symptoms. What is your little one doing when these happen? Triggers can be eating, talking, change in air temperature (door opening etc), something touching the face etc. sometimes it just happens.

as a child, I was misdiagnosed as having migraines. As an adult, I had recurring headache and went to the doctor and described them. He asked specifically where the pain was and when I described it, it followed the line of the nerve. An mri scan showed it was the result of a blood vessel pressing on the nerve and nothing more sinister (in rare cases it’s a tumour). I’d definitely argue for an mri to rule this out.

My daughter has migraines with aura. She has had them since she was about 8. It sounds a bit different to what your daughter gets though. Dd will get what she calls the lights in her eyes, then the headache starts about 30-60 mins later. Often it is so bad that she faints/vomits. Then she will be exhausted for the rest of the day, sometimes the next day too.

She has had two MRI and a CT scan to check it was nothing worse than migraines (they found a problem with her sinuses which could be contributing). I would definitely push for the tests. Do you have any private medical cover through work? That’s how we got our daughter seen so quickly.

Thanks so much for all the replies. @BlackSwan and @Somuchgoo im so glad your children are on the mend now after what must have been an awful time
@121Sarah121 she says it’s just her forehead. It’s not always the same spot on her forehead- sometimes it’s above her right eye (most common) but other times above left. She clutches her head when it happens. She says it doesn’t move.
@FedUpToTheBackTooth my dh has private cover with work so I’m going to go back to the dr and ask for a referral for a private scan

Honestly, you want the NHS with this. Take the information from Headsmart, and the NICE guidance (which lists red flags) . If they still refuse, then go private, but if the NHS decide to scan, it will be done very quickly, quicker then private. We went from playing on the farm to neurosurgery in 48hrs - it would have been half that is she'd responded to sedatives (long story). When the NHS gets concerned about kids it can act amazingly quickly.

Hopefully it's nothing serious, but she does need a scan to check what's going on.
Good luck

Ok thanks so much I’ll do this. Really appreciate your replies

@Reindear hi hope your DD is fine now and all good. I was wondering if you got to know what or why it was ? As my DS has sharp shooting pain in one side which lasts for a few seconds and then he is fine. Was wanting to check with other moms any info would help. Thanks

Could be an ice pick headache.

@justjudy even I am thinking it could be was hoping the OP had any further testing or scans on her DD case. Trying to get some answers