Daily headache 5 yr old

[Riseandshinemom]

My little girl, 5 has been experiencing daily headaches since February. They started when we were on a trip overseas(India) and have continued. They usually don't last very long, they come on very suddenly, she's fine one second and the next having a full on meltdown about her head. They happen atleast twice a day, and lasts just a few minutes, she'll bang her head with her hands and moan and get distressed. the pain is always at the front of her head. She is unable to describe the intensity of the pain but has never cried because of the pain. I can usually distract her and sometimes she's fine within 2 minutes - playing and eating normally. She is otherwise a healthy and happy girl. If asked about the headache at a later time , she says it happens every-time i ask her. We have got her blood work done , eyes checked and XRay for sinus and adenoids which was all clear. ENT specialist found grade 3 tonsils and grade 2 adenoids but no infection. We have been given steroid nasal spray which we have started using. Has anyone experienced something like this? I have health anxiety so i get so stressed out about it . I would love to hear anyone’s thoughts and experiences regarding this. Thank you in advance.

Has she had any scans to check her brain? MRI or CT scan?
Does she drink enough during the day? Could be simple dehydration.
Is there anything she's doing or eating that seems to trigger a headache? Is it roughly at the same times each day? Do migraines run in your family? All things to consider

@ILikePistachios thanks for inputs.
The GP’s I have visited (I went to 3 different gps) have not referred us for an MRI. They feel the headache is too mild and have seen no issues with her otherwise. I have got a paediatric neuro referral but it might take us months to get an appointment for that.

She is not great with water but we have been keeping her encouraging her to drink more. Once she is back from school we keep pressing her to drink more water. The headaches have been there on weekends too where we watch her water intake.

The headaches happen at random times of the day. Could be 5 mins after waking up in the morning or at 3pm after her bus ride from school or later in the evening. She has mentioned she always gets one in a bus or car ride. But they can happen at home too.

Me and my husband both do not have any history of migraines. Nor does anyone in our family.

She needs a scan.
It's probably nothing, but occasionally it is, and it's best to be sure. Heads are too important to give the benefit of the doubt to.

Have a look at these graphics from a brain tumour charity as to when a scan is needed.

I'm forever grateful that I pushed for a scan for my toddler, and that I listened to her despite her age. It quite possibly saved her life and almost certainly saved her from quite significant lifelong consequences.

Best of luck.

The rest

@Somuchgoo Thank you for sharing this. I will try to push for one.

This was my DD at 4 years….I ended up taking her to a&e when she had a particularly bad one and they gave her a scan there and then

@Kitkat1523 I hope your DD is well. If you don’t mind asking me, what did you end up finding as the reason for her headaches?

vascular migraine…..she’s 30 now still has migraine but much better managed these days……the Ct showed a narrowing of an artery in her head

Thank you everyone for your inputs. After a lot of chasing up we got the mri done and by gods grace it has come back all clear. We visited Pediatric neurologist who did some checks on DD and didn’t seem concerned. We also went to an ENT specialist who said he can’t guarantee that tonsillectomy/adenoidectomy would fix the headaches. The headaches are still happening daily. Still fleeting in nature but there. Me and DH feel very helpless as we don’t know what more can we do to help DD.

Has she had her eyes tested recently?

I was having daily headaches very similar to your child and booked an eye test and I needed glasses, I’ve not had a headache since I got my glasses in March.

Based off some advice on other posts we also visited a dentist as I did notice DD grinding her teeth in sleep and was wondering if they would be causing the headache. But the dentist said teeth grinding is considered normal for a 5yr old and would cause headache in the temples and not frontal headache. Should I go to another dentist for a second opinion?

Yes @2chocolateoranges . We got her eyes checked just last month. No problems reported.

Just wanted to post an update here for anyone on a similar boat. The headaches did eventually subside. She still has them but occasionally now and hydration helps. We had another consult with a Pediatric Neuro who suggested they might have been triggered after the first episode of viral fever which we all caught back in India. He said some viruses just take longer to go away and have some residual symptoms. What me and DH have concluded is that they do seem related to her catching a cold and seem like the usual headaches accompanied by a cold.

thanks again to everyone who took out the time to reply to me with their suggestions.

Before I forget, one more thing that seems to have helped is the sinus rinse. We used NielMed for 3-4 days and did see a significant difference.

Dehydration?