Causes of headache

[Huderon]

Sorry, this is not an easy one.

My 16 year old daughter has a headache which has lasted, now, for almost a year. None of the medication which has been tried has made even the slightest difference to it.

We know it isn't a migraine (gone on far too long). We also know what is NOT causing it - tumour (MRI scans are clear), pressure headache (lumbar puncture hows the fluid pressure is normal), anaemia (blood tests are OK), underweight (she's skinny but her BMI is in normal limits), eyesight (eye test confirmed her prescription had not changed, hospital eye people could find nothing wrong), teeth (she has a slight overbite but wears an orthodontic brace at night, so the dentist thinks the problem isn't there).

Psychologist confirms that the headache is real, and all the medical bods agree. She has been taught stress and pain management techniques which help a bit (as in letting her get through the day), but otherwise do nothing much.

Stress is unlikely - she was a straight A/A* student, and despite missing a fair bit of school and being on a restricted timetable she is still getting A grades with couple of B grades.

The headache stated suddenly (she woke up one morning with it) and, other than a slight cold a couple of weeks earlier, she had no other health problems. She tells us it's worse when she lies down and in the mornings, and she does get a, well not an aura, but like a colour fringe to things, followed by a brief bout of dizziness and and occasional brief loss of vision.

The whole thing is really getting her down, and we are out of ideas (so it seems are the docs).

Has anyone any other ideas as to what the cause might be ?

[4getmenot]

maybe some kind of food intolerance

[Sqad]

Difficult indeed.

Clearly there is no organic cause for her headache and one would need to investigate a psychosomatic cause.

<<<<<Stress is unlikely - she was a straight A/A* student, and despite missing a fair bit of school and being on a restricted timetable she is still getting A grades with couple of B grades. <<<<

Being a "top student" doesn´t immunise one from the many manifestations of stress.

Sorry, I cannot help futher.

[tamborine]

I've found the PC screen glare to cause the eye problem, with occasional stab headache. Try turning down the PC glare with Fn key and down arrow.

[Sqad]

I have been thinking and wonder, just wonder if she may have ethmoidal or sphenoidal sinusitis.
Yes, I know that she has had MRI scans, but they would be looking for a brain disorder and not an ENT problem and even if this was considered, it would be the maxillary sinuses that would be scrutinised.

MRI scans focused mainly on the Spheno.ethmoidal "tunnel" might, just might show infection. A long shot.....discuss it with your GP re.referral to an ENT surgeon.

[237SJ]

Hi Sqad
I was thinking sinusitis as well (not that I`m an expert)! The girl`s problems started after a cold and when I used to suffer with my sinuses, they were always worse after laying down.

[Sqad]

Hi!237.....it´s a long shot, as sphenoidal sinusutis is not that common and only MRI scans specifically aimed at the sinuses and scrutinised by an expert would identify this..........or exclude it.

How is mum´s face?

[237SJ]

The swelling`s gone. Thanks for asking. The only thing wrong with her face is that she keeps stuffing it! I`m nagging her to lose weight as her blood pressure is high but she won`t listen.

[Sqad]

237....LOL...I empathise with her.

[237SJ]

Could it be a nerve in the neck being trapped by the vertibrae thus causing a headache? That would be worse after laying down.
If it was me I would try cranial osteopathy. I know it`s "alternative" but it worked wonders on my friend`s baby.

[Huderon]

Thank you all for your answers. We'll be seeing the doc again this morning, mainly to talk about taking her off the medication. I will be there and will ask about your suggestions.

Sqad, yes we know that stress is still a possibility, and she does use the stress and pain management techniques she has been taught, but they don't seem to make a noticeable difference. Unfortunately she has reached the point where she feels that she is "the headache" and no longer herself, which won't help.

237SJ, she has been seeing an osteopath (a cranial one at that) and after visits to him she does seem to improve a bit, but it's temporary :-(

[Eve]

I was wondering about some kind of allergy/sinus related thing.

I've had bad enduring headaches caused in the past by things like dianette (contraceptive pill) and artifical sweetners so could it be something setting them off?

Has she seen an ENT? I have problems with my ears (menieres) and it can feel quite migraine related sometimes (though I get migraines as well). I'm sure my specialist said at some point there is some kind of link to migraines and different kinds of migraines like occular ones. Far more sqad's area of expertise though.

Have they tried her on any chronic pain relief? I was put on Amitriptylene which, as well as helping with chronic pain, can be used to help prevent migraines. I know it's been said it's not a migraine but have they tried anything like that to see if it would help?

Shame the osteo hasn't helped much. I've had some great help off mine, true the result is temporary but some relief is better than none. Has she tried anything like accupuncture?

I've had a headache for over a week now in addition to a very sore ear (as per previous post) and it's been so hard to get along normally, I really feel for her having suffered for so long, must be miserable for her and hope you find an answer soon.

[Huderon]

Jenna, she hasn't been seen by ENT yet. The doc had thought of sinusitis ages ago and prescribed antibiotics and a nasal spray, with absolutely no result.

She's tried Amitriptyline and absolutely nothing ... same thing with a couple of other drugs, including the one she is on now (Gabapentin). The neurologist who put her on that did have a second one in mind if it didn't help - but when the GP went looking for it she discovered that it is not licensed over here.

We did see the GP yesterday, who raised the dose of Gabapentin, will chase the hospital for a follow up neurology appointment, will be looking at referring her to ENT, getting her some more psychological support (her social life is almost non-existent these days - you can hardly go off to do something fun with your mates and then sit it out because you are in too much pain to enjoy it !) and will also give thought to referring her to the pain clinic.

[Huderon]

4get, I did suggest that yesterday and the doc blithely ignored the notion ... when initial blood tests were done (around 3 weeks after this started - we try not to bother docs if we can avoid it) there was a slightly higher lever of eosinophils than normal which the doc suggested might be something to do with a mild allergy, but that's it. And when I say slightly I mean it - the level was something like 0.1 above normal :-(

And that's the trouble the docs have. To look at her on a bad day you'd think she was severely anaemic because her skin colour is almost paper white. Do a blood test and she's normal. Same with everything else they look for.

The diagnosis which has been given is chronic daily headache ... not very helpful as it's only a label which describes what we already know, and it does not give any pointers to a solution.

[Huderon]

Oh .. Jenna, we have suggested acupuncture, but she has dismissed the idea because she is scared of having someone stick needles in her. She's fine doing blood tests .. but I think she has seen how long the acupuncture needles are on TV and does not like the idea of something that long being stuck into her.

We'll keep on suggesting it though ... she might get desperate enough to give it a go in the end !

[MikaJ]

I used to have a couple of years ago terrible headaches with dizziness and brief loss of vision, mostly when get up of the bed suddenly. I was diagnosed with anemia. I was skinny as your daughter and had a normal BMI (19.5). You say the blood tests are ok but it never hurts to check again. My blood tests where ok as well but after I started gaining a few pounds the problems when away.