Children, Headaches, and Migraines
Your doctor may recommend different types of headache treatment. You should establish a reasonable time frame with the doctor to evaluate your child's headache symptoms.
The proper treatment will depend on several factors, including the type and frequency of the headache, its cause, and the age of the child. Treatment may include education, stress management, biofeedback and medications.
When your child's doctor starts a headache treatment program, keep track of the results by using a headache diary, and record how the treatment program is working. Keep your child's scheduled follow-up appointments so your child's doctor can monitor progress and make changes in the treatment program as needed.
In this article
- How Common Are Headaches in Children and Adolescents?
- What Types of Headaches Do Children and Adolescents Get?
- What Causes Headaches in Children and Adolescents?
- How Are Headaches Evaluated and Diagnosed in Children and Adolescents?
- How Are Headaches Treated in Children and Adolescents?
- What Happens After My Child Starts Headache Treatment?
- Do Children Outgrow Headaches?
How Are Headaches Treated in Children and Adolescents?
Your doctor may recommend different types of headache treatment. You should establish a reasonable time frame with the doctor to evaluate your child's headache symptoms.
The proper treatment will depend on several factors, including the type and frequency of the headache, its cause, and the age of the child. Treatment may include education, stress management, biofeedback and medications.
- Headache education includes identifying and recording what triggers your child's headache, such as lack of sleep, not eating at regular times, eating certain foods or additives, caffeine, environment, or stress. Helping your child keep a headache diary can help you and your child record this information. Avoiding headache triggers is an important step in successfully treating the headaches.
- Stress management: To successfully treat tension headaches, it is important for kids and their parents to identify what causes or triggers the headaches. Then they can learn ways to cope or remove the stressful activities or events.
- Biofeedback: Biofeedback equipment includes sensors connected to the body to monitor your child's involuntary physical responses to headaches, such as breathing, pulse, heart rate, temperature, muscle tension, and brain activity. By learning to recognize these physical reactions and how the body responds in stressful situations, biofeedback can help your child learn how to release and control tension that causes headaches.
- Medications: There are three categories of headache medications for children, including symptomatic relief, abortive, and preventive medications. Many of the drugs used to treat adult headaches are used in smaller doses to treat headaches in children and adolescents. But aspirin should not be used to treat headaches in children under age 15. Aspirin can cause Reye's syndrome, a rare, but fatal condition, young kids can get.
What Happens After My Child Starts Headache Treatment?
When your child's doctor starts a headache treatment program, keep track of the results by using a headache diary, and record how the treatment program is working. Keep your child's scheduled follow-up appointments so your child's doctor can monitor progress and make changes in the treatment program as needed.
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