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justine1

"Brain Pain"

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Hi

 

Ok this may sound strange but Sam(9) has been complaining about having brain pain,not necessarily a headache its more connected to when he has to do work at school. He just started year 5,he attends an ASD unit attached to mainstream,I believe they are trying to increase his integration as we are due to start looking at secondary schools this school year.

 

Anyway,this week he appears to be very anxious at school and beginning to be very argumentative and rude to adults,he is like this occassionaly at home and its usually connected to a problem or change of some sort. I am wondering if the work has become more challenging as well as the integration,as he sat with me tonight and said how his brain hurts alot at school.

 

We do have his annual review in two weeks time and I will bring this up,but just wondered is this common at this stage of schooling?

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Hi Justine

 

Is it maybe just simply that he is concentrating very hard on the work he is trying to do and that perhaps the feeling is similar to having a headache? I know that when I concentrate very hard (trying to understand something which I find difficult) I can start to get quite sore eyes and I find myself 'slitting' them and if I don't I experience a lot of tension in my temples, I suppose in essence a tension headache. Maybe he is being argumentative because he feels frustrated that he can't understand?

 

I can remember feeling exhausted when doing maths homework because it made no sense to me. I can remember the feeling of my brain 'whirring' as I tried to look at the sums so that they made sense and although my mum was very patient and kept trying to explain so I could understand, the 'not understanding' made me very upset and angry.

 

I'm not quite sure how else to explain but I suppose it's almost like a motor working overtime...

 

Lynda :)

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Yes my son used to say similar things.

He just found the work too hard in some ways and too boring in others.

He did not 'get' things.

He didn't learn as the other kids did.

He became very anxious and stressed and eventually refused school.

 

Is he having any other symptoms of anxiety such as tummy ache or feeling sick.

 

I think it would be sensible to rule out anything medical, and when that is proven to be okay, I would get a referal to Clinical Psychology.

 

Although my son was mainstream, he was in a class of 21 children that was classed as 'enhanced resource'. But they still could not meet his needs there.

 

There could also be sensory/environmental things that are overloading or overwhelming him too.

 

Does he understand his work. Can he do it. Can he understand it. My son was copying alot of the time and recognised that he found things very difficult when other kids did not. He often tried to go out into the corridor to do his work because he could not concentrate with the background noise in the classroom.

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Sometimes I can feel parts of my brain working when things happen, when I feel certain emotions for example, I feel a sort of pressure or sometimes pain in different parts of my head, but the feeling is not a surface thing in my scalp or anything, it feels like its my mind.

Edited by darkshine

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Thanks all for your replies. Sally he seems ok generally,I would'nt say he is anxious(my two younger boys display alot of anxiety) it's definaley just when he has work to do. I am hoping to find out more when I go for the review. He is on the waiting list to be seen by either camhs or a paed,as he has not seen anyone since we moved two years ago.

 

Darkshine that sounds exactly what he means! It is never one particular part,like with a headache you can say whether its a cluster or tension by where the pain is coming from,also if untreated(i.e pain relief given) it becomes worse, this pain he gets is just when concentrating,like what Lynda experienced with maths.

He does say it is his brain,he also says its like there is too much information in there.

 

Thanks again its good to know he is not alone.

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i can understand how your son is describing /explaining it as i get tension headaches when worry,stress or get anxious or had busy overloaded or i am over tired / concentrating alot seems to effect me everyone seem to experience headaches differently with what signs you get! so i agree with what the others have said here! is probably the easiest way to explain it describe it to you as 'brain pain' i even had to go hosp as kept going docs complaining of constant headaches they referred me for MRI scan which can back normal also had reflexes checked some of test was impacted by my dyspraxia have you thought of taking him docs and explaining to docs? i take tension headache tablets when pain gets too much for me! i try bear it without taking tabs!

 

XKLX

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I wonder if there's a name for that Justine, I almost posted about it months ago but felt it might sound weird - but I wondered back then if its an actual thing, or if people would think I was mad. I can definitely feel stuff though, pressures, pain... Guess I'm not the only one though :)

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Thanks Smiley,but its not a headache he is getting,he can differentiate between this feeling he gets and a genuine headache. He actually very rarely gets headaches,usually when he has a cold,hayfever or occassionaly when he goes swimming. This "brain pain" is not a headache and as I say its short lived,for example if he is doing work he will have the pain and feel "mudddled" but then if you say he can have a 5min break he will go off and play and have no pain,whereas if it were a headache it will still hurt even when he plays. I hope that makes sense.

 

I do wonder Darkshine,it may not be all that common but I am certain some people with or without ASD do experience this. I do actually have an idea of what he may be feeling,but on a lesser scale,like when I am doing essays or studying for exams I get to a point where I just cannot go on like nothing more could fit in my brain(he decribes this same feeling) I then either have to take a break or just quit altogether. Last year when I was due to write my exam I did not study two modules as I started reading it and remembered it all so did not feel it was worth focusing on and I passed that section with 75%

 

The thing that worries me is that at the ASD unit they do give Sam 5min breaks during work he finds difficult and I am thinking prehaps they are not doing this when he goes over to the mainstream part or prehaps they are trying to phase it out in preparation for secondary school.

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