6 year old headaches - worried

[Ljd401]

Hello
I am a very anxious mother. My son, who is 6, said around a month ago on two separate occasions that his head hurt. The pain didn’t last long so I tried to put it to the back of my mind.

He also woke up crying complaining of ear pain a week before he started to complain of head pain. He had been swimming during the day so we wondered if it was linked to that and the next couple of days he said it hurt his ear to touch on the outside and inside. Unsure if this is related to the head pain. Me being me I’m panicking that they are.

I had been very anxious and worried about the head pain so I took him to the GP who said to keep a diary. I’d started to stop worrying as he hadn’t had any headaches in almost 3 weeks but then he complained of head pain yesterday. He had a proper headache and said it was throbbing. He said it made it throb when he walked up the stairs. It lasted a few hours so I gave calpol and he went to sleep. This morning he said his headache had gone. I should add that he does have a bit of a cold and a cough so again I know this could be why he had the bad headache. He’s also well in himself otherwise.

I now feel very worried. Do children get head pains like this? My older son has never complained of headaches.

I have booked an eye test for tomorrow and have filled in an online consultation for the GP. Tempted to book a paediatrician appointment too.

Thanks in advance.

I'm really sorry that you are both suffering from this awful anxiety. This is the study I mentioned earlier Serious neurological disorders in children with chronic headache | Archives of Disease in Childhood (bmj.com) - it shows how unlikely chronic headaches without other worrying symptoms are to be caused by serious disease in a child. There is also a lot that GPs can tell by doing basic neurological exams, which I am sure that they will have done and found non concerning in both your cases. I'm also surprised about the MRI @Ljd401 - are you in the UK? If so, are you going private?

I'm glad your son is having an MRI but I hope you can keep your emotions in check. Drs will say things like 'common things happen commonly' or 'there's fine print diagnoses it could be, but that's unlikely'. Better to have an actual test and find out.

My son was diagnosed with a brain tumour aged 3.5. Getting to a diagnosis was ridiculously hard - I won't go into it. Trust your gut until you're satisfied with the answers. Good luck.

@BlackSwan oh my goodness I’m so sorry to hear that your son got diagnosed with a brain tumour. How is he now?

Thank you. I’m trying to keep my emotions in check but it’s so hard. He doesn’t have any other symptoms being displayed so hoping that’s a good sign.x

@Tholeonagain thank you for sharing this. I’ll take a look at the article.

Yes, I asked to be referred as we have private insurance & are in the U.K. The GP wanted us to keep a diary and come back if he had more, which he has had so we probably would have been referred on the NHS by now.

I should have added, he is doing really well now. He had surgery and proton beam therapy (a kind of radiation) but so far so good.

@BlackSwan very pleased to hear that he is doing really well now. Goodness you’ve al been through so much.

I know you mentioned that getting a diagnosis was ridiculously hard. How long did it take? I took my son in the middle of August and again at the beginning of September and the NHS doctor only referred because we had private although he did say he’d speak to paediatrics if he experienced more headaches, which he has since we’ve been.

I managed to sleep better last night and mostly slept through so that was good for my mental health. I just need to get this week out of the way as hoping to get the results on Friday. It’s just constantly on my mind. So hard to switch off. x

Hi everybody. Thank you so much for your support. He has blocked sinuses but did have croup just before the MRI so consultant said it could be that causing the blocked sinuses. He’s been very unhappy about school so she said it could also be all because of anxiety. I’m so relieved. Thank you for all being so kind and helpful.x

Thank you for the update - so glad all ok x