It is thought that headaches can only occur in adults, but about 20% of children aged 5-7 years have chronic headaches. Older children can identify headaches, but children of this age and younger cannot. Researchers classify headaches according to the types and mechanisms of pain. There are 5 mechanisms that cause headaches in children.
Tension Type: Many headaches are caused by the muscles around the neck contracting. Your child's tension headaches may be caused by incorrect posture, boredom, sadness, depression.
Vascular: The blood vessels and arteries in and around the skull can dilate, and these dilated vessels compress the nerves around them, causing pain.
Intracranial pressure: Some tumors, hematomas, etc. can increase intracranial pressure and cause pain.
Inflammations: Inflammations of the eyes, ears, nose, teeth, sinuses can cause headaches.
Neurogenic or Epileptic Headaches: Some nerve disorders such as epilepsy can cause headaches.
Tension Headaches in Children
Tension-type headaches occur as a result of tension caused by the muscles around the neck contracting. There are various causes of tension-type headaches in children. It is usually seen while at school, not while playing, eating or resting.
Causes
Stress: Stress, anxiety or depression can cause headaches in children as well as in adults. Usually this tension occurs at school. However, headaches can also occur in depressed children.
Physical tension: Physical conditions such as posture disorders and eye disorders can cause tension headaches in children.
Hunger: Tension-type headaches in children can sometimes be caused by simple reasons such as hunger. Going to school without breakfast after a long night's sleep or skipping meals may be the cause.
Some inflammatory diseases
Eating certain trigger foods can trigger a headache: Caffeine, chocolate, some meat products, some fruits play a triggering role. These foods can be found out by following the child.
Treatment: Beta blockers and antidepressants can be used as preventive treatment for tension-type headaches. Your doctor should decide which type of medication to use and in what quantities. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories and relaxation exercises are useful to relieve the headache.
Migraine in Children
Children under 7 years of age are usually unable to identify migraine headaches. Towards the age of 10, they gradually start to recognize these pains. The prevalence before the age of 7 is 2.5%; the prevalence between the age of 7 and puberty is around 5%.
Migraine is a vascular headache. Expansion and narrowing of the vessels trigger the throbbing pain of migraine.
The pain is recurrent and there are painless periods in between. Before the onset of pain, there may be a period of symptoms called aura that indicate the onset of pain. During the aura, the child may see wavy lines, bright lights, dark spots. However, this aura period is not present in all children. Pale skin, extreme fatigue, throbbing pain on one side of the head or forehead, abdominal pain, vomiting and nausea. It may be accompanied by changes in mood, dizziness, blurred vision, increased or decreased appetite. 70-90% of children with migraine also have migraine complaints in their families and the child's personality structure is very similar to the migraine parent.
Bright and flickering lights, noise, movies or TV, physical or mental tension, anxiety or depression play a triggering role. In rare cases, overexertion and too much sunlight can also play a role as a trigger factor in migraine.
In the treatment, betablockers or antidepressants can be used preventively and paracetamol can be used for pain relief.
Headaches with Organic Causes
Fever: Headache can be caused by high fever. You should first take your child's temperature.
Infections: Many infections can also cause headache. The infection can be in the ear, urinary tract or lungs.
Head Traumas: Headaches due to falls and bumps are common in children. In head traumas, only clinical tests can determine whether there is damage to the brain. In such cases, you should definitely take your child to a health institution. As time progresses, drowsiness, nausea and vomiting, loss of consciousness may develop.
Brain Tumors: Benign or malignant brain tumors have been found in less than 1% of children with headaches. As the tumor grows, the severity of headaches increases and may be accompanied by other symptoms depending on the type and location of the tumor.
Meningitis: In addition to headache, it is accompanied by high fever, stiffness in the nape of the neck, mental confusion and drowsiness.
Remember, all headaches require medical attention. It is vital to find out whether the headache is due to head trauma, brain tumor, meningitis or leukemia. Therefore, do not underestimate any headache and contact your doctor as soon as possible.
