Headache in children; Symptoms, causes and treatment

HEADACHE IN CHILDREN 

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Headaches are a common problem in children. Most of the time, they are nothing to worry about but you should consult a doctor in following conditions. 

🔹 Acute severe headache 

🔹 Headache associated with fever

🔹 Headache associated with cough or cold

🔹 Headache associated with vomiting 

🔹 When the headache are frequent 

🔹 Headache are interfering with daily life. 

Remember... Guidelines are there for your benefit.

❇️ Causes of Headache 

There are a lot of causes of headache, the commonest cause.....

🔹 Vision problems 

🔹 Infection in ear, nose or throat. 

🔹 Migraine 

🔹 Headache due to stress 

🔹 Head injury 

🔹 Brain infection or swelling 

Consult a child specialist for the cause of headache. Except Migraine and headache due to stress, headache due to other causes can be easily diagnosed and treated.

Remember... Proper evaluation and diagnosis is key in the treatment. 

🔴 Migraine in children 

Migraine is moderate to severe headache that lasts more than 1 hour and may continue for 48 hour and usually occur two to four times in a month. It affects around 5 to 10% of children before puberty and around 10 to 15% of teenagers. Half of the migraine headaches are reported before 12 year of age. 

In short... It can seriously affect child quality of life 

⏹️ Types of Migraine 

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🔹 Migraine without aura

▪️ It occurs in almost 60 to 80% of children 

🔹 Migraine with aura

▪️ Also known as Classic migraine, occurs in 20 to 40% of children. 

▪️ An aura is a warning sign that occurs about 30 minutes before headache starts. 

▪️ The most common aura is blurred vision, flashing lights, blind spots, and difficulty in speaking. 

In short... Identify dangerous symptoms to prevent further problems. 

⏹️ Symptoms of Migraine 

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🔹 Pulsating throbbing pain usually affects the front or both sides of the head. 

🔹 Nausea or vomiting 

🔹 Abdominal pain 

🔹 Extreme sensitive to light or sound.

🔹 Loss of appetite 

Remember.... All symptoms may not present 

⏹️ Treatment of Migraine 

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Two types of treatment options... 

🔹 Prevention of headache 

🔹 During headache 

❇️ Prevention of headache 

As we know that prevention is better than cure so it is the duty of parents to focus on prevention rather than treatment.

◾ Trigger in Migraine 

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There are number of migraine trigger including 

🔺 Stress

In last 20 year, we had seen increase in Psychosomatic problems, Migraine, depression and even suicide in children. This is due to increased stress in children. 

▪️ Parental conflict leading to poor environmental condition at home 

▪️ Difference of opinion between family members or parents and children can lead to poor environmental condition at home 

▪️ Poor discipline technique causes stress in children. 

▪️ Lack of playing on ground - leading to poor social & emotional development. Also causes poor logical and critical thinking skills. 

▪️ Nuclear family - lack of quality time for children from caretakers. 

▪️ Peer pressure from close friends forcing children to adopt bad habits.

In short... Children get spoiled when we substitute "Present or gift" for "Presence or time."

🔹 Role of parents 

▪️ Read my book "Bal Sankara 

▪️ Watch all the above reasons in my YouTube channel... "Dr Ashish Agrawal ".

🔺 Lack of sleep 

 If a child is feeling sleepy in school or rubbing eyes while watching TV, it means the child needs more time for sleep. 

🔹 Role of parents 

Make sure child get enough sleep 

Remember... Sleep is best meditation 

🔺 Food

▪️ Skipping meal

▪️ Food like chocolate, chips, sausage, cheese, pizza, Chinese food, noodles or packed food items. 

▪️ Food addictive is found in all packed food

▪️ Caffeine 

🔹 Role of parents 

Avoid such food

In short.... An ounce of prevention is worth pounds of cure

🔺 Screen time 

 The more you are on screen, the more the chances of migraine attack.

🔹 Role of parents 

▪️ No mobile till class 12th

▪️ Even if a child needs mobile for studies, make sure you are monitoring daily. 

In short... Mobile has made children from volcano to immovable object 

🔺 Busy child syndrome

Maximum children are too busy... 

▪️ Get up at 6.30am

▪️ Go to school around 7.30am and come back around 3pm

▪️ Refreshment for 1 hour, sometimes children are forced to study during this time also. 

▪️ Go to Tuition from 4pm to 7pm

▪️ Play video games or watch TV for 1 hour 

▪️ Self study for 1 hour and go to bed after dinner and use mobile around 11pm. 

🔹 Role of parents 

It is the duty of parents to find balance between school, activities and play (Not mobile). It can mean the difference between a well adjusted child and a stressed out one. 

🔺 Changes in regular routine 

 Such as traveling, family function or illness can trigger migraine problems. 

🔺 Menstruation 

Hormonal changes during menstruation can trigger migraine problems.

🔹  Role of parents 

Consult pediatrician 

Remember.... Trigger differ from child to child

◾ Drugs for prevention of repeated attack 

🔹 Consult pediatrician 

🔹 Avoid self medication

Remember.... Prevention is better than cure 

◾ Lifestyle modifications 

🔹 Make sure child spend time at playground daily 

🔹 Yoga

🔹 Management of emotions 

Remember... There is nothing wrong with change if it is in right direction 

❇️  Treatment of Acute headache 

◾ Drugs

🔹 Consult pediatrician for drug which can be taken during severe headache without consultation. 

🔹 Consult pediatrician if headache persist even after rescue medicine. 

In short.... Avoid self medication, it can cause more harm than good 

◾ Lifestyle modifications 

during a severe headache...

🔹 Drink lot of water

🔹 If you are hungry, eat food 

🔹 Go into quiet place 

🔹 Switch off the lights 

🔹 Cold compression on the head 

🔹 Do breathing exercise like take slow deep breath and focus on nostrils air inhalation and exhalation. 

🔹 Try to sleep, avoid sleeping pills

Remember... Follow guidelines to get best results

🔴 Headache due to stress

Stress headache is a common problem seen nowadays.

⏹️ Symptoms of headache FC

🔹 Non pulsating headache may affect all side of head. 

🔹 No other symptoms like nausea, abdominal pain, flashing of light 

🔹 Usually associated with neck muscle pain.

In short... Early diagnosis prevents a lot of complications. 

❇️ Causes of stress 

There are a lot of causes for stress headache, few common causes had been discussed here.... 

🔹 Parental conflict 

🔹 Difference of opinion

🔹 Poor discipline technique 

🔹 Over ambitious parenting 

🔹 Comparison 

🔹 Bullying 

🔹 Fear of failure

🔹 Set back 

In short... All these factors are related to parenting 

❇️ Treatment 

◾ Drug for Acute headache 

🔹 Consult doctor 

🔹 Avoid self medication 

◾ Management of stress

It is not only important for headache but for overall development of the child. 

🔺 Reduce the amount of stress

🔹 Parental conflict 

▪️ Avoid parental conflict as it causes a lot of emotional problems in your child. 

▪️ If not possible, it is advisable to avoid conflict in front of the child. 

▪️ Watch video- Parental conflict on my YouTube channel "Dr Ashish Agrawal"

In short... Parental conflict is like a slow poison. 

🔹 Difference of opinion  

▪️ Avoid discussion in front of the children if there is a difference of opinion between family members. 

# Watch this topic on my YouTube channel "Dr Ashish Agrawal"

▪️ Difference of opinion between parents and teenagers is a common problem. 

# Read my blog on this topic "Positiveparenting1208.blogspot. com

In short.... Difference of opinion is opportunity to teach the teen

🔹 Poor discipline technique 

▪️ Scolding, threatening or beating the child is poor technique. 

▪️ Watch video- proper discipline technique on my YouTube channel "Dr Ashish Agrawal "

In short... The difference between punishment and discipline is a powerful child. 

🔹 Over ambitious parenting 

▪️ Parents are worried about their child's future so they pressurized their child to excel in education. 

▪️ Watch video - over ambitious parenting on 

my YouTube channel "Dr Ashish Agrawal"

Remember.... We are worried about the child's future but we forgot he is someone today. 

🔹 Comparison with other children 

▪️ If parents compare their child with another child for academic excellence, lifestyle or any other activities then it can cause stress in their children. 

# Watch video- Stop comparison on my YouTube channel "Dr Ashish Agrawal"

▪️ Some children compare themselves with other children. 

# Read my blog- comparison on my website "Positiveparenting1208.blogspot.com

In short.... The only person with whom you should compare is yourself. 

🔹 Bullying 

▪️ Most kids tease each other at some time but when teasing becomes unkind, constant or hurtful then you should interfere. 

▪️ Read my blog on the website...  Positiveparenting1208.blogspot.com

In short... Courage is fire and bullying is smoke. 

🔹 Fear of failure 

▪️ It is a common problem in teenager where they are not able to perform as per expectations and fear failure in future academic exam. 

▪️ Read my blog on the website.. Positiveparenting1208.blogspot.com

In short... Fear kill more dream than failure ever kill

🔹 Set back 

▪️ If your child has failed to achieve desired target then it can cause a stress headache or Migraine.

▪️ Read my blog on the website... Positiveparenting1208.blogspot.com

In short... Every setback is a stepping stone to come back. 

🔺 Build positive coping skills 

It is an important aspect of life. Whenever there are emotional problems in a kid, how parents handle the issue will be learning platforms for the future. 

🔹 Lead by example 

▪️ Children learn by observing family members so whenever there is a difficult situation - how you handle yourself will be a learning platform. 

▪️ Watch my video - lead by example on YouTube channel "Dr Ashish Agrawal"

In short... Don't worry that the child is not listening,  worry that they are observing you. 

🔹 Emotional nurture 

▪️ When ever your child is upset or depressed, it is time for emotional nurture by parents. 

▪️ Watch this topic on YouTube "Dr Ashish Agrawal".

Remember... Nothing is more important than emotional well being. 

🔺 Get the stress out

Finding a way to get out stress will help in reducing stress. 

🔹 Playing at ground 

Play helps in physical, emotional, social and intellectual development of the child.

🔹 Yoga

This includes breathing exercise or meditation, very effective in management of stress

🔹 Develop hobby in the children 

It creates fun in their life, and can help your child to relax.

In short... The greatest weapon against stress is one's own thought

Dr Ashish Agrawal 

7057551985,8888126037

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