Children who get frequent headaches and migraine
attacks have chronic illness. Such children and their
parents face problem to adjust with school and their
rules. Extra preparations and steps should be taken to
cope with such illness. Pediatric specialist in migraine
and headaches exist should be consulted for treatment
and other precautionary & preventive measures. Also the
triggers vary from child to child, which should be
recognized accurately.
Firstly, it is the strict attendance rule in most of the
schools that children with chronic illness find it
difficult to deal with. To add to it, majority of the
schools have zero tolerance policy regarding
medications, even including over the counter medicines.
Reports of students getting expelled for merely carrying
Advil in school with them are common. Prior to making
appointment with the doctor, it is recommended that
parents read the policy of the school the child is
attending. It is good to ask questions before hand, than
feeling sorry later. Some of the schools asks for letter
or medical record as a proof, incase the student didn’t
attend because of a health problem. Some schools
consider sick leaves as regular leaves and in this case,
the attendance gets affected greatly.
School nurses can be given the prescribed medicine so
that they can give the medicine to the child at the
required time. If this is the case, things such as
medicine storage location and availability of substitute
should be checked. Apart from not attending regularly,
the child can sometimes be unable to take part in
co-curricular activities especially physical education
and outdoor recess. Other possible options should be
discussed with the teacher. Usually a recommendation
letter from the physician will do the needed. In all the
cases, some kind of medical identification can be
carried by the child at all times. If the child is
attending an after school babysitter or program,
directly after school, extra measures should be taken.
The babysitter or program in charge should be told about
the problem in advance. Their cooperation can be asked
for timely administration of the medicine and for taking
special care of the child. If the child himself is grown
enough to understand the matter, the child should be
educated about taking medications. They should also be
made to understand that it is harmful to take medicines
from any un-trustable source even if their fellow
students do. Budge them to ask questions and clarify any
of their fears of concerns.
Most of the children lack the ability to convey their
problem properly. The situation is further aggravated
because of different kinds of headaches. They can be
related to chronic illness, tension, sinus or fever.
Only diagnosis can bring out the correct problem. If the
rate of headache becomes more frequent, like more than
twice a month, doctor’s appointment should be taken
instantly. Younger kids find it more difficult to
explain the problem. If they become cranky, restless,
irritating, tired, is having sleeping disorders and is
not eating properly, a problem surely exists. Most of
the children complain of headaches during exams because
of increased stress. Seventy five percent of the
children experience headaches because of tension. If so,
stress management education, along with counseling,
should be given to the kid.
Headaches can be an indication of other problems, too.
So, thorough diagnosis is highly recommended. The
child’s previous medical history provides important
clue. Prior to the doctor’s appointment, notes can be
made after referring the medical history. Maintaining a
log about the child’s headache frequencies, pain
location, time of occurrence, symptoms, etc. also helps.
If not due to illness, headaches can also be a result of
head injury. Sometimes, headache can be hereditary, like
in the case of migraines.
Headaches can also be caused because of infections,
vision problems, odd levels of blood pressure,
neurological problems, muscle weakness, improper ear
balance or serious problems such as tumor, blood clots,
etc. If the doctor is not able to diagnose the problem,
he/she can refer the child to a headache specialist or
neurologist. Test such as CT scan or MRI are done if
there is a serious problem. After the diagnosis, the
doctor prescribes medication or will ask to take over
the counter medicines. According to a study, children
who face headaches and migraine take overdose of over
the counter medicines for immediate pain reliving. In
some of the cases, the parents are clueless about this
situation. This practice is risky and mostly children
above six years are involved in such cases.
