9 year old DD headaches

[Anxiousmumof]

Hi apologies in advance it’s a long one. I’ll start of by saying I do suffer with health anxiety & I do always think the worse case scenario.
So my 9 year old DD has always been prone to headaches 1 a week maybe. However since may/June time this has increased to 3/4 a week. Took her to gp in June who said to drink more water, more sleep etc & to keep a diary which we did but no pattern noticed. DD is diagnosed with coeliac disease (if relevant). Went back to the GP in August after no improvement & was referred to paediatric neurology, was told the wait would be approx 6 months. In the meantime we’ve had an eye test at the optician & was seen at the eye clinic at the hospital all those tests were fine. Over the past few months there have been random instances of vomiting about once a month, again this isn’t unusual for her as coeliac it’s hard to no if she’s accidentally had gluten. I don’t think the vomiting is related to the headaches as neither has happened at the same time. She has had a headache in the day that’s then gone but she’s vomited later that evening?
Now my DD is an anxious child & does worry about a lot of things so part of me thinks this is probably all down to anxiety and that’s what I need to be getting her help for but the anxious part of my brain thinks this could be a brain tumour! Everytime she mentions her head hurts my heart sinks. So my question is would you wait for the referral for neurology or should I be pushing for answers sooner? The headaches never stop her doing anything she sometimes looks abit tired with them but 90% of the time she’s still happy playing etc.

Has she had an eye test? I had terrible headaches as a child and they were caused by glasses and something about my eye muscles not focussing properly. I ended up having contacts v early and it solved my problem.

Sounds like migraines rather than simple headaches, my sons friend suffers from them really badly she’s only 10 and had them since aged 4, there’s nothing that can be done apart from pain medication but she’s off school with them lots and it causes her to miss all sorts so I really feel sorry for your DD I hope she gets it sorted soon!

I did wonder this but apart from 2 where she seemed in a lot of pain the majority are just fleeting headaches lasting max 1-2 hours & don’t seem to bother her at all. Would migraines present like this?

Yes my DD was getting migraines every day for between 1 and 4 hours. Occasionally dizzy but no other symptoms. GP has rubbish and said they couldn't do anything even though she was missing school every day. We paid to see a private paediatrician and he gave her a daily preventative medication. It took 4 weeks to work but now she gets one headache a month. It's completely changed her life.

I was worried about brain tumours and all sorts. It didn't help that the GP just shrugged their shoulders. I would ask for a referral if I were you. If they won't do it on the NHS can you afford a private appointment?

That’s interesting as she does sometimes complain of been dizzy! We do have a too neurology but they did say can take 6 months! How old was your dd & what was the medication if you don’t mind me asking.

She was 12. The medication is called topiramate.

My 9 year old gets migraines and they are classed as that because he isn’t able to play through them- he does have to lie down, they’re very sore (though he has zero pain threshold) and he gets sweaty and sometimes vomits. I’d say the maximum they last is an hour and then he’s fine- nurofen always sorts him out. I’ve not pursued it beyond the GP (who also wasn’t concerned) as they are very infrequent (the last time he had one was nearly 4 weeks ago). However they are worrying when they happen and I also have health anxiety so just wanted to let you know that you’re not alone! If mine was missing school/ activities regularly I think I’d pay for a private appointment if that’s an option. Not because I think you’ve got anything to worry about but because there may well be a treatment that helps her not miss out on so much. Let us know how you get on x

Keep a food diary. I suffered from headaches as a child and later in life I realised they were caused by eggs and cheese.

Eyes and ears checked first, kids say headache for anything sore in their general head area. Both eye and ear headaches also have quick and effective treatments (glasses and grommets).

Thanks for all the replies so far. We’ve had eye tests at the opticians & hospital all fine. She doesn’t miss any school or activities they don’t seem bad enough to warrant that & she only asks for pain relief id say 20% of the time. There not getting any worse but there certainly not going away either.

OP, our daughter had headaches from about age 7. I avoided doctors. It went on for years, until we took her to a chiropractor friend. After three appointments, she was headache free!