Long story- bear with me!
My 10yo (nearly 11) son has had a constant headache for 6 months. It began following a viral infection, but we had previously been to the Dr after noticing that he appears to suffer from something resembling a migraine every few months - severe headache with sickness. In the last 6 months we have been to the Dr numerous times. He’s been seen by a paediatrician who arranged a blood test (clear) and an MRI (clear for everything other than widespread inflammation in his sinuses). He’s been prescribed a steroid nasal spray (no change) and antibiotics (no change) aimed at treating sinus’s infections. He’s been on pizotifen, but it didn’t do anything for either preventing headaches or resolving the on going headache and it gave him a low mood. He’s had sumatriptan, but again, it didn’t seem to help with a migraine attack. We’ve had his eyes checked, ensured he drinks plenty and limited screen time. There are no issues at home or at school. As you can imagine, 6 months with a constant headache (we grade it from 1 to 10 and most days he scores it a 5) is making him rather miserable. We’ve tried combinations of paracetamol and ibuprofen and now only give it when he asks for it, usually it’s when it’s a 6 or 7. It’s also made him quite anxious as he worries about doing things that will make his head worse. The most recent attack came on when he was at school. His head went from a 6 at the start of the day, to an 8 while he was at school. He was sick and then sent home. After initially having a dose of paracetamol and a sleep, the pain intensified again and he was sick every time we tried another dose of paracetamol.
On my request, we’ve been referred to a paediatric neurologist and are waiting for a second opinion. The paediatrician we were seeing was heading down the route of “well we can’t seem to find the cause, so this might be something you just have to live with” on the basis that it wasn’t impacting his life that much. I disagree and feel that it is impacting his life a lot!
I mainly wanted to ask whether anyone has been in a similar position? Did you find a cause? What treatment worked? I’m worried about the next few months as he finishes primary school (he’s got a 3 night residential trip and has been worried for some time about how his headache will be while he’s away) and the transition to secondary school. I’m also worried that in the last attack he couldn’t tolerate a painkiller that is supposed to be gentle on the stomach.
The paediatrician has mentioned that riboflavin and magnesium can help but hasn’t pointed to any suitable supplements. I feel a bit stuck currently as we wait to see the next Dr, but as the referral was made as “routine” it will probably be a few weeks/months before we’re seen again and in the meantime, we seem to be in a cycle of a severe headache coming on every 5-6 weeks and no let up in the constant low grade headache.
Any advice or similar experiences greatly appreciated!