Does your child have a bad headache that makes you wonder what could be wrong? Children can also experience migraine headaches, stress-related headaches, or chronic daily headaches like adults.
Migraine headaches come with nausea, throbbing head pain, extreme light sensitivity, and other symptoms. Stress related-headaches would come with pain on both sides of the head, a feeling of tightness in the head and neck muscles, and a headache that does not come with nausea or vomiting. Chronic daily headaches occur due to an infection, a head injury, or after-effects of taking painkillers. This kind of headache lasts for several days, and that’s why it’s called a chronic daily headache.
There are numerous reasons why children may have migraines ranging from stress and anxiety to infections or head trauma. This blog post will teach you about migraine’s meaning, causes, symptoms, and treatments.
Causes of severe migraine headaches in children
Some of the factors that can cause migraines in children are:
- Head trauma
Injuries on the head, like bumps and bruises, can lead to migraine headaches. It is almost inevitable for children to play. Sometimes, during the playing session, things can get rough, and accidents may happen, such as hitting the head, falling, or getting a scratch on the head. These injuries can be minor or significant, but you should take them seriously. After a brutal hit on the head, there’s a high tendency of a migraine headache. Sometimes, though, something worse, like internal bleeding, could happen. This is why it’s essential to seek urgent medical intervention.
- Emotional factors
Emotional responses and feelings can trigger migraines. Stress and anxiety, a bad day at school, sadness, and loneliness might be what a child is going through that causes them to feel a terrible headache. Like adults, children also feel stress, anxiety, and sadness. This can trigger migraines in them.
- Infections and illnesses
Common illnesses like colds and flu frequently cause migraines. It surfaces as one of the symptoms of the disease. Ear and sinus infections also have migraines as one of their symptoms. So, now you know what to look out for when wondering why your child exhibits specific symptoms. In rare cases, illnesses like meningitis or encephalitis may also cause headaches.
- Food and drink intake
The choice of food and drinks that a child takes in can also have adverse effects on them, causing migraines. Ingredients contained in food and beverages can trigger migraines in kids. For instance, sodas and chocolate drinks contain too much caffeine, and they can cause headaches. Also, some food preservatives like nitrates found in hot dogs, bacon, and meats can trigger headaches.
- Brain problems
Severe brain issues can also trigger severe migraines in children. Brain tumors, internal bleeding, or abscesses in the brain may call attention to the need for treatment by surfacing as chronic migraines. In cases like this one, the symptoms are usually beyond migraines. The child may also notice dizziness, nose bleeding, lack of coordination, and visual problems.
- Hereditary factors
It might interest you to know that migraine headaches can be hereditary. Your child might have migraines because of the genetic predisposition to them. It just might be one of those things that run in the family. According to my.clevelandclinic.org, 60 to 70% of people who experience migraine headaches have a family member who may have had a migraine too.
- Puberty
Growing into teenagehood and puberty can also shockingly be a cause of migraines. The workings of the hormones may be an explanation for migraines in puberty.
- Skipping meals
Unhealthy eating habits and meal skipping can also trigger migraines. A migraine is likely to occur when a child constantly avoids meals and prefers to run on an empty stomach.
- Dealing with bullying
Your child might be having a hard time at school dealing with bullies. Besides the physical hurt and harm bullies may cause your kid, emotional torture can negatively affect your child and trigger a migraine.
- Traveling
Headaches, dizziness, and nausea are some motion sickness symptoms. If your child has motion sickness, it is possible that the child may complain of migraine headaches during trips and traveling.
Symptoms of severe migraine headaches in children
It may be hard to identify what kind of headache your child feels or pinpoint the symptoms, especially if the child is still very young and unable to express themself coherently. But being able to identify these symptoms makes it easier to determine whether or not the child feels migraines. For an infant with a migraine, crying and rocking back and forth are the signs indicating pain and discomfort associated with a migraine. A child with a migraine would feel:
- Throbbing pain in the head
- Sensitivity to light and sound
- Nausea and vomiting
- Feeling pain when engaged in an activity
- Abdominal pain
- Loss of appetite
- Irritability
- Pale skin
Treatment and Prevention of
Severe migraine headaches in children
If the headaches worsen or persist, you should see your kid to a doctor. There may be underlying issues beyond what you can see on the surface, and it is better to address them before it gets late. You should see a doctor immediately when:
- The headaches get so severe that they wake your child up from sleep
- The headache is a result of an injury to the head
- The headache also comes with fever and neck stiffness or pain
- The headache
- comes with constant vomiting
Migraine headaches are treated depending on the child’s age and migraine severity. You can treat it by trying healthy habits like sound sleep and healthy eating. You can also treat it by using over-the-counter pain medications. In the case of migraine headaches, what you can treat, you can prevent. Here are a few things you can do to prevent your child from experiencing the unpleasantness of throbbing headaches.
- Reduce their stress levels
Helping out with tasks like house chores, assignments, strained relationships, and extra-curricular activities that may increase your child’s stress levels can do wonders in alleviating migraines. Since you have kept the stressful issues that can trigger migraines at bay, there shouldn’t be any worries. Also, being physically and emotionally available to help them handle emotional troubles they may be having is a surefire way to send migraines packing.
- Inculcate healthy behaviors
Eat healthily, drink healthy, and engage in healthy activities. Also, carry your child along while doing this. In no time, they will be used to healthy habits that move them gradually away from doing the things that trigger migraines. Reduce your child’s intake of foods that may trigger migraines and lead a migraine-free life.
- Stick with your doctor’s instructions
It always helps to follow your doctor’s advice and plans, especially after previous migraine occurrences. Help your child judiciously take the preventive medications prescribed to get rid of or at least reduce the frequency of migraines.
You likely started reading this blog post, wondering, do children have migraines? How can they possibly have migraines? They are children. Yes, they do, but we are confident you know that now, along with its causes, symptoms, and treatments. To learn more about other health conditions, read our previous blog posts on staphylococcus aureus and many more.
