What To Do If Child Complaining Of Headache?

Headaches are quite common in school going children and about 90% of the kids going to school report having them. As the child grows older, the instances of occurrence of headache increase. There could be many causes of headache in the children. These could be common causes which may not be harmful or non common causes which may lead to harmful consequences or development of rare conditions.

The child may be facing headache due to some reasons relating to the brain of the child. The child may have brain tumor or other life threatening infection. In case the pain is recurring at short intervals and is associated with other symptoms, a visit to the doctor is a must.

Causes

An ordinary headache may be in children due to any one of the following cases:

• Improper eyesight, it is possible that your child requires putting on lenses to correct the vision problem. When in school, while trying to read something from blackboard he feels difficulty in reading or in case of a short sighted child he may be finding difficulty in reading or writing in note book. This will result in complaint of headache. The child should be taken to an optician and corrective glasses should be got for the child.

• Stress could be another major cause of headache if the child is stressed due to studies. If he is unable to pick up lessons in school, he will develop stress and the first effect of stress is headache. The child may also get stressed if the atmosphere at home is not cordial and there is fight between parents.

• In case the child has head injury, even minor, the child may suffer from headache problem.

• The child may be suffering from migraine or cluster headache. This is severe pain in a part of the head and requires medical attention.

• Headache may be a hereditary problem. Some families have the history of headache, and this genetic disorder continues from generation to generation, in some cases even with a gap in generation. Study the family medical history for existence of some such disorder.

• Headache may also be caused by some medicines which may be prescribed for some disease. Certain medicines induce sleep and when the child is unable to sleep he feels headache.

• Improper diet, long reading hours, continuously watching TV can be a cause of headache.

• In case of girls, hormonal changes at the time of start of menstruation often results in headache.

• Inadequate rest can also be a major reason for headache.

Treatment

To ascertain the reason due to which the child is suffering from problem of headache, the doctor will have to physically examine the child and study his or her medical history. When you take your child to the doctor carry with you all previous diagnostic reports and medical history of the child. You should clearly tell the doctor about the medicines taken by the child and injury, if any, suffered in near past.

For better medical assistance it will be better if you keep a record of the headache symptoms of the child. Keep a note as to what triggers the headache, any particular time at which it starts and time for which it continues. It will be possible to help the child overcome the problem of ordinary headache without taking the child to the doctor. If you keenly observe the headache pattern of the child you will be able to ascertain the possible cause and consequent remedy.

Make the child to lie down in a cool, quiet and dark room to enable him to relax. Tell him to do deep breathing. When the child gets up he will be feeling better. You can also give your child something to eat and drink. Discuss with the child about his day at school to ascertain if he is not having any tension about his class teacher, fellow friends or studies. In such cases counseling will be of great help.

You can also give your child some over the counter medicine for instant relief from headache. Many drugs are available in medical stores and if need be, you can discuss with the store keeper. Do not exceed the suggested dosage. It is always better to consult the doctor before giving any medicine to the child.