Daily headaches 9 year old girl

[SheffDad]

Hi just posting to see if anyone has been through anything similar and if anyone has tried any therapies with any success.

My daughter started with daily headches last April which seem to be getting worse and are now keeping her off school a few times a month.

She has had an MRI and blood tests all clear apart from a slight chairi malformation which the neurosurgeon didn't seem to think was related.

We have seen numerous gps and paedatric consultants which all seem to say monitor the situation.... none seem willing to try medication which obviously we wouldn't either butits now really starting to affect her life.

So far we have tried
Magnesium
Iron supplements
No chocolate/cheese
Less screen time
Eye tests

We are starting some accupunture this week so fingers crossed that makes a difference.

I have read of a condition called new daily persistent headache which may be related to a bad case of tonsillitis she had last year

Anyway if anyone has been through this let me know!

Thanks

It was a very constant level for around 10 months but over the last couple of months it seems to spike fotlr around 4 days every 3 weeks. We haven't noticed much of a difference with exercise but it's hard to tell because she is generally quite active anyway

We’ve just had a review with dd’s paediatrician and he’s suggested after 9 months we reduce and trial coming off of the pizotifen. He said the idea is to break the cycle so we will try that in about four months. If she’s getting peaks every three or so weeks now it could be hormone related?

That's good I hope that works out ok. Yeah they did mention hormones but I'm still not sure why there were always be a headache in-between.

Was there any particular side effects with the pizotifen?

No it would make more sense if it was just there for a few days a month, maybe they’re exasperating it though?

No side effects that we’ve noticed, she takes 1mg at bedtime.

How were her headaches before the pizotifen? Were they constant or did they come and go? Did she have any sickness with them? Our daughter has nausea but only when it's really bad.

Not upset, was just concerned you might not consider it when it's proving such a huge factor in so many "mysterious" new onset conditions. Kids are no exception, and the misinformation/lack of public health has convinced most people that SARSCov2 poses no risk to healthy children, in either the acute or chronic stages, when the opposite is true. It's worth sticking your question on the Long Covid Kids group on FB, in case it resonates with anyone. I hope you find something that helps, anyway.

No you're right we aren't ruling anything out. I'll have a look cheers

It was a constant migraine and pressure in her head when standing (the pressure is the PoTS though). She would wake up with it and go to sleep with it, sometimes it would be a 4/10 and others an 8/10. She had some nausea but I think it was low down on the list of symptoms. Unfortunately she also has chronic fatigue and has been out of school for months but at least she doesn’t have migraines anymore…

My son was prescribed Pizotifen aged 7 for migraines. He continues on it now aged 10.

Does it work for him? How were his migranes before? Were they pretty constant ?

I haven't read the replies but have you considered a visual processing assessment. It won't be picked up in an eye test as it's a neurological issue rather than vision, in my experience opticians don't know much about it. Our NHS orthoptics dept does visual processing assessments. Might be worth looking at if any if the symptoms fit.

Have you had her ears checked? My DD had problems with the pressure in her ear drums, but at 9 just described it as headaches and sometimes feeling sick (balance sometimes went a bit, it was like travel sickness).

She got grommets and it was fixed overnight, so a nice simple check.

We've not checked ears actually I will bring it up at the next appointment. Thanks for the suggestion

Yeah it's definitely worth double checking her eyes but the hospital seemed to rule that out. We've had a full eye test with the drops but maybe that's not enough

not a doctor but had my sister like this when she was 10-12,

earlier bedtime- my sister would go to bed at 7pm and up at 7:30, helped quite a lot

off school for the maximum of a week and half at most.

no sleepovers where you don’t sleep. She was allowed but in bed before 8:30pm.

drink!

tea in the morning along with paracetamol

Migraines are often hormone triggered, and at 9 it's absolutely possible that her hormones are starting to kick in - it can be a shock to the system. It may settle, but getting the right combination of painkillers is key, whether prescribed or OTC.

Are you absolutely certain there isn't something she's worried about at school? Just a thought. My best friend at primary school always had a headache when there was a class she didn't want to do, for example. She was very convincing.

But it's great that the doctors are doing tests to rule things out. Fingers crossed something will come up soon.

Following as my primary school girl is having similar issues and it seems to be getting worse

I suffered from migraines and headaches my whole life, worsening during puberty. I had to give up dairy for another reason and it helped massively with mine. It has to be to the level where even things like crisp flavorings containing dairy etc are eliminated too though. Hard to track through a food diary as the effects could last days and days for me after eating dairy. It took around a week of no dairy to eliminate it all the effects and then I felt so much better

Yeah seems a bit crazy that it could be hormones because she's only just 9 but it does actually seem possible.

We are as sure as we can be it's not school but it's impossible to know what really goes on. She has an identical twin sister in the same class so we've been trying to get inside info off her. All reports from school are great and she has a good group of friends. I know what you mean though kids can be devious
..

It's rubbish for them isn't it. I feel for any kids going through grown up type illnesses at this age. They have their whole adult lives to have headaches ! I'll let you know if we get anything to work

Thanks for the idea. We are trying gluten free this week if it makes no difference we will try dairy but maybe give her a few weeks of normal eating in-between. Did you try any other therapies that worked?

Has she had a pressure test on her eyes @SheffDad

For anyone following that's interested we had another appointment with neurosurgery today. They are still saying the headaches aren't being caused by the chairi malformation she has as the fluid around her brain and brain stem are normal. They have said they would do another mri to check for any other abnormalities which may have occurred since the last scan but only if she's still in pain in 6 months.

I'm obviously pleased they don't think there is a problem with her brain causing the headache but frustrated that we still don't have an answer.

There is almost an endless list of possible causes and everyone seems to have a different trigger. We will keep eliminating things one by one I guess but I wish there was an easy test ! We do have another paedatric appointment 26th April so we will be trying alot of the suggestions you have all suggested so far.

Thanks so much for all your replies it really makes me feel like it's not just her going through this

Referral to headache clinic
Keep a headache diary see the gosh headache diary
Insist on trying a preventive

They did a very thorough eye exam at the opticians and checked for pressure behind the eyes which was normal. They did the test with drops so I think they had a good look around. All clear apart from the astigmatism which we already knew about