What types of things cause kids' headaches? My son recently started having them at school, 4 within 2 weeks, none before that. Tylenol and a sandwich usually get rid of them, but untreated right away he throws up from them. The teacher emailed me yesterday that "it could be his eyes, stress, or even a brain tumor."

First, if Tylenol gets rid of them, I highly doubt it is a brain tumor. It could be his eyes, and he has an appointment for that Monday. Stress? He seems less stressed lately, but maybe. But a brain tumor? What teacher says this?

What are some other possible causes? These started after the testing started (standard school tests). He is not using it to get out of school, because usually he doesn't want to leave even after he throws up. Any ideas? I'm getting him checked out, but she was serious about the brain tumor!!!! Weird lady anyway, tho.

Oh, and I did think migraines, but the light doesn't hurt, only noise.

exhaustion, dehydration (sometimes kids dont get enough water) a cold or flue comming on, sinus or ear infection, puberty (how old is he again?)
lots of things cause headachs.

I used to get really bad headaches when I was young too. It was my eyes...turns out, I needed glasses. Once I got them, the headaches were so much better. And once my headaches started again, I knew it was time to get my eyes checked out and my prescription needed to be changed.

Its good your getting his eyes checked that may be the problem and an easy cure with a nice new set of specs. Good thing they are not considered so nerdy as when we were kids.

Have you ever heard of Rebound headaches? When I was in highschool I would get headaches (maybe from stress/ highschool can be like that) and take tylenol. Before I knew it I was taking it everyday at lunch, because I would get another headache right around that time. I dont know if it was actually rebound headaches, but I stopped using tylenol all together and my daily headaches went away. Now I get the occassional headache as an adult and the occassional severe migrane but nothing that is an everyday occurance like when I was in highschool.

I know sounds a little crazy, but google rebound headaches.

If they started after the testing began I would put it down to stress. Teachers today are under heavy pressure to prepare their students for testing and the students feel the stress because of the teachers. Talk to your son and get his feelings about the testing. Ask him if the teacher is opressuring him and the rest of the class to do well and I bet he will say yes. Oh, having his eyes checked can't hurt.

Debbi

i get terrible migraines....dont rule them out, there are my different types of migraines / headaches. first thing i would check is his eyes...maybe he needs glasses

also stress....even kids get stressed out, even if we dont think they should or have anything to get stressed about.....is everything ok at school for him?

also, when does he get headaches? is it at the same time or event? could he be avoiding something?

i work with kids with autism and i always tell parents it is better to be safe then sorry. if you think something is wrong, get it checked out!

I have suffered from migraines for many years, as well as my children and my mother and so on. There are many different types of migraines. Just because he isn't sensitive to the light, doesn't neccassarily mean that he doesn't have them. My daughter even gets what is called abdominal migraines.

I would have him see his Dr. and they will probably refer you out to nuerologist if the problems persist. Also, tension and these standardized tests can cause headaches.

Have you tried giving him excedrin migraine? I don't know how old he is but it could be worth a try. Better yet, sometimes my son will take a Dr. Pepper and put it in the microwave for a bit to make it warm and drink it. That helps him. Tastes nasty. But it does help him. We are all on imatrex as well as topamaxx for our migraines. HTH

Ann

I think stress would be the clue. Also check his eyes. I have suffered from migraines since I was nine. I am now 32. My pediatrician said "Kids don't get migraines." well, when I passed out in 9th grade, he became alert then.
My 3rd grader was soo upset about starteing 3rd grade this year she started having really bad stomach problems. She almost had an appendectomy. Her doctor talked with her for awhile. He figured out that she was afraid of failing; especially testing. He prescribed some medicine, which she only takes if her problem is severe.
This might sound mean. If I see her getting uptight. I give her a piece of spearmint gum. She believes this will help her stomach. What it really does is help her to calm down, then teh pain goes away. Problem solved.
My oldest who is 14 had headaches. Glasses.
Brain tumor???? I'd be tempted to ask to see her medical degree. Let us all know how everything goes.

Our son started getting Migraines in 2nd grade. Poor thing I felt so sorry for him. He would get sick and throw up. He was put on some medicine that did help. I do know he got them if he didn't get enough sleep or did not eat well. But sometimes just out of the blue.
Judy

I feel for your son. I have suffered from migraines my whole life. Sometimes they can be cause by the foods you eat. The first headache I remember having was when I was 6 at my birthday party my mom got me chocolate cake. Chocolate can send me over the edge(doesn't really stop me from eating it I just have to limit it) peanut butter, cheese..... My dad took me to the Doc when I was 13 because my migraines were more frequent and he gave me meds I don't remember what they were . But my headaches were stress related (new stepmother) no offense to stepmoms just mine.

But I would definately get his eyes checked it really could be anything. I hope you find your answer soon so your son can have some relief.

Thank you everyone. I guess I should have added that he is 8, in 3rd grade. His grades are all C or higher, but his teacher keeps saying he "can't keep still, can't focus, can't this, can't that" like he is stupid. He has ADHD (self-controlled) that meds didn't work for, and does extremely well despite the condition. She had mentioned that he "needs a pill to calm down." Yeah, we went off about that. I believe a lot of it is stress, but not from home. He doesn't get these at home, and not one sick day before the testing started. However, his last headache was the worst, and it was not a test day. They had recess, then phys ed, then he read for 20 minutes before the headache started. In my mind, this is mostly teacher-related than test-related stress. He's being taken to his favorite doctor this weekend while he is at his father's house. I'll call Monday and see what Doc says. He's an old friend of the family and the kids love him, so I think he'd get the best results with my son.

Thank you for all your support. I had headaches as a kid, but my parents were of the "kids don't really get headaches" school.

It could be the reading. That could have done it if he needs glasses and he is reading for 20 straight minutes that can send it off the edge and really make it bad.

Oh boy does this sound familliar. My son was in 1st grade and after the 1st six weeks he started getting stomach aches and headaches and thowing up. My son was an A student and very shy in school. This kept on for months and we just couldn't figure it out. The principal told us that he was spoiled and need to ride the school bus instead of us dropping him off at school. We were afraid that he was being bullied or threatened at school, but that was not the case. We eventually discovered that his teacher was the cause of his problems. Our first clue was he did not want to give his teacher a Valentine's Card. He said the one that came in the classroom pack was good enough for her. She did not like boys, that was another clue we came upon. My son had tested the highest in the school and she never mentioned it to my dh or myself. We heard this information from another teacher at the school. She would drill the test every day the entire year and made the kids feel that it was the most important thing that they had to do. Because of the method of her teaching the test we had 3 to 4 hours of homework every night. When my son finally let us know that she was the reason he did not want to go to school we went straight to the principal and had him removed from her class. She threatened to fail him. I told her to go ahead and I would see that she was fired (it was her first year as a teacher). After he was removed from her class all his symptoms stopped.

Another thing I would like you to have checked out besides his eyes, is his teeth. He might be under stress and is grinding his teeth or has TMJ. This could cause very bad headaches and he might not realize that he is grinding his teeth.

My son is 6 and has had migraines for about a year. When he initially told me I didn't believe him I just thought that he didn't want to put the silverware away from the dishwasher (his chore), then he threw up. My pediatrician said that young children do get migraines and that they run in families. My son's are relieved by over the counter motrin, if he takes it as soon as he gets symptoms. The pediatrician gave me a neurologists referral, but she said that if its relieved by motrin then that should be sufficient. The school nurse now has motrin also with dr's orders to give it to him if he complains of a headache in school.

I'm not sure what causes it but I think it may be fatigue, it seems to happen more often when he does not get enough rest, so I do my best to make sure he goes to bed early enough. But it could be some ingredient in something he eats also, so I'm not really sure. Everytime he gets one I say that I should keep a food diary for him, but of course I haven't done that yet. He does not appear to be bothered by the light. DH also gets migraines and says that he remembers getting them as a child, but did not have a name for it back then.

my daughter gets them if her allergies are really bugging her. and if he gets sick it kind of sounds like a migraine, which any headache acould really turn into if left untreated. i get tension headaches and if i dont take cre of it right away, i get a migraine, hence the stomach thing. but i would def. take to the eye dr. and you are right what teacher tell you it could be a tumor. jeesh, is she a dr. no. like they always say kiss, keep it simple stupid, not calling you stupid thats just the saying. the teacher needs to chill and not go overboard.

My son got an occasional headache as a child - turns out he was hypoglycemic. We just didn't realize it until he was older and the more common symptoms of dizziness, sweating and flushing that we figured it out. After we knew the cause, a little rest and some carbohydrates and he was fine.

I hope you find the cause of his headaches so that they can be properly treated.

Good luck to you and your son. Please keep us posted.

OOOHHH! This is turning into a VENT now!

My son was staying with my ex for the holiday, who lives a matter of blocks from his favorite doctor. Said he would take him in, called today and said he TOOK him to a dr, the dr said it was sinus and he needs his eyes checked and he's a little small. He woke me up to tell me this, but not a problem because it was about the kids.

Pick up the kids tonight. Find out HE NEVER TOOK HIM TO THE DR and that he called just to tell me all these LIES!!!!! Ds didn't have a headache, so he didn't take him in! WTF did he have to call and lie about getting ds medical care? I would have just taken his word and left it at that, but he couldnt even tell me the name of the place he supposedly took him because "the office was closed" which I know it wasn't. Said it was a new place in town, but then the kids said they never went in, both of them separately. They didn't want to tell me, because they didn't want their father "in trouble."

Who does this?!?!?!?!?! What if there is a medical problem, and I thought they had been ruled out?

My daughter gets headaches when she's coming down with a virus. I always take her temperature when she complains that her head hurts, so I can be prepared for vomiting because that's usually next!

She also gets them if she hasn't had enough water to drink, and I get them in the Fall from the moldy, wet leaves outside.

It's good you are getting his eyes checked. What kind of teacher would tell you he might have a brain tumor... as if headaches were some unusual ailment!

Cheers, from
SwampWitch

p.s. Wow, just read you latest post, how can your ex lie like that? Geez...

p.p.s. How are your treating him for ADHD, if you don't mind my asking? Do you keep him away from artificial colors and flavors?

Hiw can my ex lie like that? Don't know. After we married, he came clean about all the stuff he told me while we were dating. He lies to the kids all the time, then I have to explain it without making him look bad. It's an addiction with him. Hence the "ex" part.

ADHD - he was on meds for 2 years, but got worse again. Instead of increasing the dosage, we tried going without over the summer, with dr permission. He practiced proper behavior, we learned and use keywords, tasks limited to 20 min then a break, 10 hrs sleep/night (8pm-6am). Also bought a $10 message board at Walmart, half cork, half dry erase. Every night we go over the next morning's routines, he gets clothes out and homework ready. The teacher and I traded emails (she has it in class) and we keep in close contact, and I work/study at home so I am usually available to pick him up if he's having a super rough day, and we finish his school time at home.

Really, though, patience and understanding are key for us. My ex and fiance both have had ADD/ADHD/ now Adult ADHD all their lives so I've been dealing with it for ten years now, two at a time usually. I understand that we will:

never have a tidy home (too much extra work)

always be late, so we have to "be there" 30-60 minutes before we actually need to

never have tv, because they get lost in it, makes everything worse

always need patience, even if it runs out

never tolerate disrespect, because it becomes a habit

always be supportive of one another

always have a "me space" where clutter and hiding are allowed, where we can relax and take our time outs when needed

always remember Love first.

My DD started having head aches at 9. Same thing with her, if it got bad and not treated quick enough she would throw up. Our doctor had me chart for a couple of weeks what time of day each headache happened, what was eaten that day sick, if tylenol helped or not what was going on that day....
turns out for her it was peanuts in any form that is a trigger for her. She was eating a lot of peanut butter and plain nuts. She can sometimes have a little but not very often. Good luck.

Thank you, Ohara. His seem to be related to either reading (eyes), exercise (burning calories - hypoglycemia??), or stress.

Or a brain tumor, like his teacher said.

I have migraines. I use to have a headache daily for almost as long as I can remember. They recently started getting worse. I went to the eye doctor because I couldn't wear my glasses without my head hurting worse. He said no one should have headaches daily from eyes. He asked me to start taking a Claritin(or genereic equivilant) daily. I haven't had near as many problems since then. Only have major headaches once a month. Other than that unless my sinuses are really bad no headaches daily as before. Let us know how he gets. I expect my kids to have headache problems so I always listen when they say so. My DH has migraines also.