Headaches

[baileyj]

Hello all.

 

Hope everyone is doing OK. I haven't posted on here for a long time, but always find if I want to find out anything, this is the best place to come, so here goes.

 

My son Max is now 9 and ASD, lately he keeps complaining of headaches, saying his brain hurts. On Saturday he fainted, but not sure if thats linked as jumped up quickly from a hot bath.

 

Ive taken him to the doctors and they can't find anything.

 

I honestly don't know if its a ploy to get out of school (this has happened before with tummy aches), or if there is really something wrong. He assures me he isn't pretending.

 

Its always a guessing game, he just says "my headache is increasing to xx%". If I ask questions he will latch on to whatever I say.

 

Has anyone else had this?

 

Help please, as I'm quote worried.

 

Jo x

[justine1]

Hello all.

 

Hope everyone is doing OK. I haven't posted on here for a long time, but always find if I want to find out anything, this is the best place to come, so here goes.

 

My son Max is now 9 and ASD, lately he keeps complaining of headaches, saying his brain hurts. On Saturday he fainted, but not sure if thats linked as jumped up quickly from a hot bath.

 

Ive taken him to the doctors and they can't find anything.

 

I honestly don't know if its a ploy to get out of school (this has happened before with tummy aches), or if there is really something wrong. He assures me he isn't pretending.

 

Its always a guessing game, he just says "my headache is increasing to xx%". If I ask questions he will latch on to whatever I say.

 

Has anyone else had this?

 

Help please, as I'm quote worried.

 

Jo x

Sam,6,does the same thing.He hasnt fainted though,but if it was a one off,as you say could have been from the hot bath.But he does seem to get headaches more than his brothers.I am not sure they diffenatley headaches cause sometimes he says it doesnt hurt he just feels strange and like he is not here.Sometimes it passes quickly and he is fine.Other times it can be for some hours.

He also said there is a sensation like pins and needles that goes all around his head.I havent been to the paed in 6mths and he is due for his check so I will mention it then.

Sorry I got no suggestions <'>

[oxgirl]

My lad started getting lots of headaches at the age of 10. In fact, we didn't realize he had headaches, he'd just start vomiting and end up lying on the couch for hours and then have to go to bed without dinner. This got more and more regular and it turned out he was getting migraines, like his dad. He used to take a preventative medication twice a day to lessen the headaches but stopped that a couple of years ago. He had a good run last year, when we thought he'd outgrown them, but lately he's having four or five headaches a week requiring Nurofen most days. He uses a 4Head stick, which he rubs on his head most days, it does stink a bit though. GP referred him for a CT scan a couple of years ago just to make sure nothing else was going on. It's worth looking into the possibility of migraines for your lad, especially if he does vomit or have visual disturbance or if there's a family history. Keep a record of how many he's getting each week to take to your GP to show him.

 

~ Mel ~

 

[chris54]

Just a point in general to remember, and this may seem obvious but make sure that your (all of us) child is drinking plenty as dehydration causes headaches.

This is especially important in hot weather.

[call me jaded]

I would keep a note of when and if there's a pattern. Oh, and get his eyes checked.

[JsMum]

 

I agree with the Dehydration thing, J didnt like the taste of the schools water, and so we had one of those bottles with a ice cube in the middle to keep it cool.

 

How is he coping at school, is there possibly any changes such as plays, concerts, sports days, revision for SATs, that could be increasing his stress responce.

 

I get headaches when I am stressed, is he sleeping oright, getting enough sleep could be another one.

 

Also is he eating regularly, low blood sugars such as Hypoglicemia can cause Headaches, espec Migranes.

 

I use to take anti medication to for Ms, but in the end they where actually causing them so look into what your son eats, a common causes is Cheese, chocolate and the biggy, CAFFINE and SWEEETNERS.

 

I would for a short period keep a headache diary and note down his diet, sleep and hydration.

 

I would maybe look at ways to reduce his stress levels if school is hectic and weather it would be a good idea to reduce his days or pick him up early.

 

Justine 1 picked up another good possible cause, Body tempreture, we now have a cooler in in Js room, its a fan and other things too but keeps the room at a tempeture that keeps them cool.

 

I would double check to see if he has had any accidence at school maybe he bumped his head or something simialir, I didnt want to post this one, but its worth just double checking he hasnt knocked his head lately.

 

If at anytime you are worried about him, get him checked out with his Gp, or A+E.

 

NHSDIRECT are a great service to just go over any of your concerns and they can send you further information on how best to help and support your son.

 

JsMumx

 

 

[trekster]

Just a point in general to remember, and this may seem obvious but make sure that your (all of us) child is drinking plenty as dehydration causes headaches.

This is especially important in hot weather.

 

Thanks for the reminder, i keep forgetting that, with me irregular eating patterns and my specs can cause headaches. A cold compress helps.

Could he be reacting to bright light? That used to be a problem for me.

 

Pins and needles could be a blocked ear as for me it was the main symptom for a waxed up ear.

 

HTH

[justine1]

Thanks for the reminder, i keep forgetting that, with me irregular eating patterns and my specs can cause headaches. A cold compress helps.

Could he be reacting to bright light? That used to be a problem for me.

 

Pins and needles could be a blocked ear as for me it was the main symptom for a waxed up ear.

 

HTH

Just had his ears checked,its very clear and healthy!

 

I do agree with the hydration and eye testing.My eldest NT suffered for 3 mths with headaches but they only appeared to come in the afternoons so I took him for an eye test and he got glasses,he only had to wear them for 6mths and is fine now.

Edited June 24, 2010 by justine1

[Lynden]

I'd agree with eye testing too, and making sure they drink plenty. However, my NT daughter is 8 and has had headaches on and off for years. At the start of this school year though they got more and more frequent to where she was having 4-5 a week and we knew she wasn't faking as you could tell by looking at her, she got all pale and just didn't look right. She also missed out on activities she really enjoyed, and a party or two (you know they are ill then! haha).

 

We thought migraines, because they are hereditary through the mothers side. I get them, my sister gets them and my Mum gets them. We went through lots of testing, eyes, ears, MRIs etc to rule out anything awful and thankfully it all came back clear so they started her on preventative medicine. She's been on it for 6-7 months now, and since we stabilised the dose about 5 months ago, she's had maybe two headaches and one of those was when she was ill with something else.

 

I don't like the idea of long term meds, and they do have side effects (she's gaining weight) but she's back to her chirpy happy self and is headache free.

 

Lynne x

 

 

[baileyj]

Thanks everyone.

 

Youve given me lots of food for thought. I will start a headache diary. He doesn't like it when its hot, but does drink plenty of water, in fact he won't drink anything else, again with food, he's very restricted with what he will eat, and theres been no changes, except introduction of sausages, so will stop them for a while as a test. I'm thinking his fainting at the weekend really frightened him, and he's been worrying about that. Yesterday, I pretended the doc was on the phone, and had spoken to a specialist (Max very into doctors at the mo), and said calpol and fresh air would be good for him. He was very interested in that convo and repeated it back to me. He's gone back to school happily today, we really played it down, and just stuck to normal routines.

 

Fingers crossed, Jo

[JsMum]

except introduction of sausages, so will stop them for a while as a test.

 

Sausages are bulk food, no real carbohydrates or protien there also HIGH in salt, which causes dehydration if excess salt is consumed.

 

Look at foods that are high in carbs and energy, my son is clinically underweight and has homemade fruit milkshakes, such as banana and strawberry, this gives a nice smooth consistancy but also packed with slow release energy and vitamins, bananas are especially high in magnesium and patassium, Js also now prescribed energy nutritional drinks and this has really helped his appitite because the drinks make him feel hungry, something that never happened before, if your lad does have headaches, tummy pains, anxiety, then his digestive system is going to switch off, because his body is preparing for flight or fight and the body wants muscles and energy to be supplied straight away, so eating is going to be last on his adgenda, as time goes by he will feel nausia and headache because the body has depleated its supply and so the cycle goes on.

 

I would look at smooth textures and once with lots of energy, complan for a period to give him a boost, and added vitamins and minerals, we do lots of finger foods too, salad cut up so he can eat with his fingers, Im lucky J loves salad, fruit, vegetales, fish, he loves fish, and chicken, so usually they go in the oven steam bags for 30/60min.

 

WHSmiths have a meal reward planner all set out, and a fruit and veg reward, with it all designed in colour and attractive what about something like that.

 

We had a specialist dietition and a childrens disability centre supporting Js selective diet and we had to do it slowly and graduly, we started by visiting food stores to just look at it, then we bought some, then took it home, cut it, smelled it, then licked it, to then tasting it, to the point he is happy to eat it.

 

We do lots of buying the ingredients, preparing it and then cooking it so he is more inclined to eating it.

 

If he is having a very selective diet it could be he is getting headaches from not eating enough.

 

If he is anxious and stressed he wont feel like eating, the cycle then goes on.

 

JsMumx

 

[Sally44]

My son started with abdominal migraines as a baby. They were very painful affairs, and he was in alot of pain. When he was old enough he was given calpol and ibuprofen and it would take about an hour before they began to work. This is apparently typical of migraine type pain because the body takes longer to absorb the painkiller and for it to begin working.

As he grew up the stomach pains died away and he began with headaches. He gets at least one a week. It can be triggered by a hard day in school. But generally there is no real pattern other than it happens in the early evening.

Last year the migraines did develop into a vomitting syndrome - again there is a common connection with this. Again it is stress/anxiety related, and he was checked out at the hospital and they said it was related to the headaches/anxiety.

 

We do have a home school diary and if he has had a headache I write it in the home/school book. If something has happened the previous day that school think is relevent they usually tell me. But the day after a headache he can be quite pale and tired.

 

So I would keep a record of it, and I would make an appointment to see your GP so that he can rule out any other medical cause. Calpol and Ibuprofen usually gets on top of it. The next step after that is stronger migraine medication. But also be aware that it may develop into other physical symptoms of either stress of anxiety - especially as he has already had tummy ache.

[baranigirl]

pins and needles is also a sign of panic / anxiety attacks, not sure about them in the head, will ask DP later if he had them there as well. Deffo get eyes and ears and hydration levels checked.

 

DD3 complains often about tummy aches, demands food 2 seconds later and stuffs it down and then has another tummy ache later, I have assumed hers are psycho-sematic and I take little notice as tbh they do not cause her much irritation. There is no way she is actually hungry at the time she is asking for food, but there is definitely a pattern of more tummy aches if I refuse her food or snacks becasue she didn't eat her last meal and she needs to wait until the next meal time

 

Sausages cause me migraines as do similar foods, we did an elimination diet when I was 11 or 12 and discovered I cannot tolerate preservatives used in meat products, so I became vegetarian (was pleased anyways as I hate the texture of meat) and I have not eaten meat since then which is almost 30 years and I rarely get migraines now and if I do it is generally stress related

Edited June 25, 2010 by baranigirl

[rustysaddle]

Hi , J age 10 has been ill every night since she started school. I used to let her have the day off, only to find she was happy and well during the day off. Now I send her to school with whatever ailments she has, which include, crackling ears, blindness, dizzy, headache / migraine, feeling sick, feeling itchy, constipation the list goes on... After 6 months she has stopped complaining everyday, and only complains on the days she has PE or we have to go on a car journey..... This is infact one of her obsessions I think...

 

I must say she had me over for 5 years... Clever girl!! I hope I don't sound like a horrid mother or to make light of your childs pain, and I hope that your child gets well soon..

[Sally44]

Hi , J age 10 has been ill every night since she started school. I used to let her have the day off, only to find she was happy and well during the day off. Now I send her to school with whatever ailments she has, which include, crackling ears, blindness, dizzy, headache / migraine, feeling sick, feeling itchy, constipation the list goes on... After 6 months she has stopped complaining everyday, and only complains on the days she has PE or we have to go on a car journey..... This is infact one of her obsessions I think...

 

I must say she had me over for 5 years... Clever girl!! I hope I don't sound like a horrid mother or to make light of your childs pain, and I hope that your child gets well soon..

 

I hope you don't mind me saying this, and I am not trying to judge at all. But I just wanted to point out that many children with an ASD have sensory issues. And those sensory processing difficulties can make it hard for them to tolerate certain environments or sensations and can cause them to have many of the symptoms you have listed. And your daughter may have stopped telling you because it made no difference when she did.

Or she might have said those things to try to get out of school because of other problems or bullying. (I've mentioned bullying because I think you've posted about her being bullied on another thread?).

Just to rule out any real sensory issues have you looked at sensory integration disorder and do you feel she does have any sensory issues?

I'm not saying that sensory issues are the root cause every time. But that they should be considered.

[Karen A]

Hi.It would certainly be worth making an appointment for an eye test.It is free on the NHS for children.Headaches can often be an issue if a person is short sighted and has eye strain.

Karen.

[Sally44]

Yes, I forgot to mention the obvious!

My son has problems with binocular vision (convergence) and problems with tracking and his eyes tend to jump rather than follow a moving object smoothly. If he spins round or dances his eyes appear to 'wobble'. And he has Irlen Syndrome and other visual perceptual problems.

All these can cause headaches and mean that the childs endurance for visual work is lower than other children.

The OT has said that his eyes wobbling and spinning is due to a poor vestibular/proprioceptive processing. So problems with one sense means the others should be looked at as the whole sensory system may not be functioning as it should and could be causing all kinds of other problems.

[Karen A]

Yes, I forgot to mention the obvious!

My son has problems with binocular vision (convergence) and problems with tracking and his eyes tend to jump rather than follow a moving object smoothly. If he spins round or dances his eyes appear to 'wobble'. And he has Irlen Syndrome and other visual perceptual problems.

All these can cause headaches and mean that the childs endurance for visual work is lower than other children.

The OT has said that his eyes wobbling and spinning is due to a poor vestibular/proprioceptive processing. So problems with one sense means the others should be looked at as the whole sensory system may not be functioning as it should and could be causing all kinds of other problems.

 

Headaches related to problems may not even be related to ASD.When I posted previous post I was thinking of my elder son who is NT.He went to the optician on Saturday.He has been having headaches.He needed slightly stronger lenses as he is short sighted.He has also now reached the point where he needs to use glasses all of the time rather than just for reading the blackboard.He is nearly 15 and had been avoiding the issue and hence the headaches.

 

Children with ASD can be short sighted too.

Karen.

 

 

[trekster]

Thanks everyone.

 

Youve given me lots of food for thought. I will start a headache diary. He doesn't like it when its hot, but does drink plenty of water, in fact he won't drink anything else, again with food, he's very restricted with what he will eat, and theres been no changes, except introduction of sausages, so will stop them for a while as a test. I'm thinking his fainting at the weekend really frightened him, and he's been worrying about that. Yesterday, I pretended the doc was on the phone, and had spoken to a specialist (Max very into doctors at the mo), and said calpol and fresh air would be good for him. He was very interested in that convo and repeated it back to me. He's gone back to school happily today, we really played it down, and just stuck to normal routines.

 

Fingers crossed, Jo

 

Sausages could be nitrates which certain people can be sensitive to, hope you can find the trigger soon.

 

[trekster]

Headaches related to problems may not even be related to ASD.When I posted previous post I was thinking of my elder son who is NT.He went to the optician on Saturday.He has been having headaches.He needed slightly stronger lenses as he is short sighted.He has also now reached the point where he needs to use glasses all of the time rather than just for reading the blackboard.He is nearly 15 and had been avoiding the issue and hence the headaches.

 

Children with ASD can be short sighted too.

Karen.

 

i was and didnt realise it until recently, my specs gave me headaches for sometime but im used to them now.

[Morgado]

Does he have any particular sensory difficulties (particularly certain sounds/sights)?

 

I have some difficulties with some sounds (in my case, loud and/or high-pitched) and prolonged or regular exposure can give me splitting headaches. I've also found that, if I'm engaged in prolonged or particularly fast/intense verbal discussions, the sheer concentration involved in trying to process everything can give me a headache. Think of it like a computer - if it's only doing small, simple tasks it's fine, if it's doing more intensive tasks then it copes ok for short periods, but the more it needs to do and the longer it needs to do it for can eventually cause it to crash and cause problems.

 

Try and identify when he is having the headaches and look at what he was doing at the time or immediately before and you might be able to find the cause. If he always gets them after a busy day for example it could be that all of that processing of information has become too much - we've all heard the expression that thinking too much can make your brain hurt!

[baileyj]

Thanks all. Max does have sensory issues, he has very sensitive hearing, think its called hypercausis, he is sensitive to high pitch particularly, and if very bad wears his Peltor Kids headphones, which he's had for about 5 years, they are brilliant.

 

Ive cut out the sausages, and the headaches are less frequent, he did have a bit of bacon at the weekend, and again a headache, so maybe a link to pork products.

 

I do also think its stress related, often in the mornings before school he says he has headache or tummy ache. Weve only had 1 headache this week, he said his head felt sticky like a jam sandwich, which confused us, and he kept twiddling with one piece of his hair. Will continue to monitor and try and find the patterns. Thanks so much for your help so far.

 

Jo

[trekster]

Thanks all. Max does have sensory issues, he has very sensitive hearing, think its called hypercausis, he is sensitive to high pitch particularly, and if very bad wears his Peltor Kids headphones, which he's had for about 5 years, they are brilliant.

 

Ive cut out the sausages, and the headaches are less frequent, he did have a bit of bacon at the weekend, and again a headache, so maybe a link to pork products.

 

I do also think its stress related, often in the mornings before school he says he has headache or tummy ache. We've only had 1 headache this week, he said his head felt sticky like a jam sandwich, which confused us, and he kept twiddling with one piece of his hair. Will continue to monitor and try and find the patterns. Thanks so much for your help so far.

 

Jo

 

Bacon can be preserved with nitrates. Locks is one company that does nitrate free foods.

[puffin]

A couple of things that I can throw in for consideration

 

Around the age of 9 or 10 many kids start to get some of the puberty hormones which can lead to headaches - my NT child developed headaches at this time as well

 

Another thing was that DD1 (14-AS/ADHD) is prone to headaches as a result of muscle tension - especially in the neck and shoulders

- when she had a really stressful time at school at age 10-11 she got these nightly

- she also gets them if she has been doing sports that involve a lot of arm and shoulder movements - swimming for example - or more recently when her SEN unit had Archery lessons

[trekster]

A couple of things that I can throw in for consideration

 

Around the age of 9 or 10 many kids start to get some of the puberty hormones which can lead to headaches - my NT child developed headaches at this time as well

 

Another thing was that DD1 (14-AS/ADHD) is prone to headaches as a result of muscle tension - especially in the neck and shoulders

- when she had a really stressful time at school at age 10-11 she got these nightly

- she also gets them if she has been doing sports that involve a lot of arm and shoulder movements - swimming for example - or more recently when her SEN unit had Archery lessons

 

i get headches due to lack of sleep or my fibro playing up.