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

Cheers yeah we have a massive diary so far.....its quite a boring read! It feels like we are definitely at the demanding a preventive to try stage

Yes his migraines were frequent and they'd wipe him out, sickness etc .

Now he gets them but very infrequently, a few times a year rather than every week!

Nothing that stopped them from starting in the first place but once they have started the following can help:
Full sugar can of coke extra cold even better if over ice
Drinking very icy water
Icing head, face and back of neck
Going for sleep as soon as pain coming on

One friend gets headaches migraine from corn 🌽 so Doritos Etc , cereals, and corn on the cob

Another friend from eating eggs.

As I have chronic cluster headache with chronic migraine I sat up to your repeated comments that oxygen helps her.
Whilst it’s rare cluster headaches can begin at your DDs age. If you are keeping a diary try and note down the times the pain is at its worst for her, where she describes it hurting her and any other facial symptoms she may show even if they seem small. CH often cause horners syndrome. In adults that mimics the look of a facial stroke but is far milder in children. It’s also often missed by paediatric neurologists simply due to migraine being more common and CH being much rarer in children under 16.

I cannot recall but it MIGHT be linked with Chiari malformation aggravating a genetic predisposition. I sincerely hope your lovely DD does not have this as its horrible to live with but the prime treatment is oxygen therapy which helps you to notch down the pain levels.

Be wary of removing food groups from your daughter’s diet without medical advice and oversight from a paediatric dietician. A couple of families I know through chronic migraine groups unintentionally caused malnutrition by going too far in their efforts to stop migraine effecting their child. Whilst some foods appear to aggravate migraine it’s often the incoming migraine causing you to crave a food group rather than it causing a migraine.

The Migraine Trust Has a helpline you can call, they can signpost and give advice with possible migraines in children as well as adults.

Thanks for such a detailed message. They did mention cluster headaches at the hospital although she doesn't have any kind of eye watering blurry vision in one eye. The oxygen did seem to help but didn't make the headache go completely. Does the oxygen normally make the headache disappear completely?

We are keeping a pain diary alongside a food and activity diary. We are only trying the restricted diets for a week and making sure she is well fed with fruit and vitamins.

I will ask about horner syndrome at the next appointment

TBH I have never known oxygen at 15 lpm or under to abort (as in stop) a cluster headache. What it often does is reduce the pain level from a want to die to stop it hurting to a more cope with level. IF a cluster headache is diagnosed then it becomes possible to access ultra high flow oxygen using an on demand mouthpiece valve. My home oxygen can deliver up to 160 litres per minute on demand. That level can abort an attack.

It might be worth checking out the OUCH UK website and maybe call the helpline. Whilst the website is written with adults in mind OUCH UK can signpost to the teeny handful of paediatric hospital clinics able to help with cluster headaches in children. If you have a good reason to suspect CH remember not every paediatric neurology department has a doctor who is aware of the gold standard management.

Diet does not impact on CH, alcohol and smoking most certainly can set off attacks as can some air borne particles . That al so includes alcohol based hand sanitisers. Some find any extra pressure around the nerves most affected sets off attacks.

My severe headaches started when I was eight. I used to have a lot of motion sickness just sat down before that (migraine) To begin with it was simply pain on one side around my eye. I did not develop Horner's as a symptom till I was in my late teens. By that point both myself and doctors were mistaking daily migraine as daily headache and cluster headaches as migraine. Being female did not help as unlike migraine more men than woman have CH. Children are still growing and developing so it may take time to gather enough of a pattern to say this is or is not CH.

This is the link to OUCH UKs website. https://ouchuk.org/

Did you resolve this my 9 year has been complaining of headache at front above eyes on and off since Friday

Hi @SheffDad sorry you are still dealing with this. We now have a working diagnosis of chronic headache/migraine and daily medication plus rescue pack. MRI last week but only precautionary. It's pants. Poor kid is struggling.

Try to eliminate all dairy products, meat, refined carbohydrates, sugar.
I had my eldest son with the same problem and I learned to eliminate all the above food, no more headache.
Please, try to book a visit with Ophthalmologist too, sometimes children can suffer continuous headache due to a vision problem wich can be resolved with the correct Glasses.

Sorry to hijack but has any experience of migraines lasting more than a few days?

DD has had the same headache for over 2 weeks. It's there when she wakes and she also has some dizziness

Did you get to the bottom of this? My 9 year old dd currently having daily headaches.