I know this is irrelevant at 3FC, but maybe someone can help as google seems fruitless to this...


I just spent 4 hours in the E.R. with my 8yo daughter.

She has been having bad headaches lately.
Today it was so bad I just had to bring her in to see what's going on.

While the R.N. was doing her assessment, my daughter's blood pressure was up.It was 117/107....(I don't like the diastolic number)

I ended up leaving without seeing the doctor....She was really restless by the last hour so I brought her home and tucked her in. I will be making an appointment with my family doc tomorrow....

I have been giving her adult strength Tylenol. 1 tab, 500mg, q4hrs usually qid but mostly tid, with no relief. Same thing with the Advil.


But in the meantime, does anyone have any idea what could be going on with her?

I'm a pediatric RN. I'm sure it goes without saying to take any advice on the internet with a grain of salt and that nothing replaces an exam by a doctor, which you're wise to get as soon as possible. My guess would be that the blood pressure was not accurate - often times with kids all they have to do is be a bit wiggly and their blood pressure come out crazy. It's hard to say what it would be without seeing her. It could be as simple as a sinus infection or dehydration, or could be more complicated. You can give her 15/kg (kilogram, not pound) of tylenol every four hours and 10/kg of motrin/ibuprofen every 6 for pain. (that's what we do in the ER I work in, but check bottle labels) Otherwise I would just keep her hydrated and resting until she can see her doctor unless she develops any new/alarming symptoms. Good luck!! Let us know what happens.

Hi Happy Daisy,

Thank You so so so so much!

This to me is just disturbing....An 8 year old with *migraines*....
Likely not as uncommon as I probably think...

I know the internet isn't gospel, however, I was just trying to google for some more info.

I haven't tried Ibuprofen only because I find it hurts MY belly....for some reason it just does, so I never tried it with her.

Today has been an off day for her. I tried pushing fluids to no avail.
So I had no choice but to crush the tylenol and put it in apple sauce.

She didn't like that much....

I'll try jam on my next attempt.

I did bring her for an eye exam last week and all was well...Perfect Vision....other than the optometrist asking if she ever had an eye injury or if diabetes ran in our family...I just assumed he asked that cause she is a hefty little girl....not fat per se, just buff....lol

This just baffles me and it is really affecting her academically....As in, she's been missing school an account of these darn headaches lately....

I'm calling tomorrow morning for an app....

I almost regret leaving the E.R.
But the poor little thing was in pain and we just couldn't wait much longer.

As far as her blood pressure, it may have been an error(I hope), but something I guess I'll have checked again...Although hypertension would explain the headaches??!!

Sheesh....

I will keep you posted...and thanks for your time Happy Daisy!

Could she be having problems with stress? That can manifest itself through stomach problems and/or headaches. If she's missing school, I'd wonder if she may have a related issue with peers or classwork. Have you tried talking to her about how school is going?

Hope you get to the root of things

My 18 yr old son had migraines as a child, and was told it was linked to food allergies. We stay away from peanut butter, sandwich meats, cheese, and anything with alot of msg. They did deminish and well its been a good 5 years since he had one.

Its always good to get a checkup...

Is she on any other medications? Does she have any other medical conditions, like asthma?

The only reason I ask is that I had my first migraines at that age, and it was the meds I was on for asthma that was trigerring them. I learnt to live with the migraines until I was old enough (over 18) to make my own decisions about my asthma managment.

Hi! I am an LPN and I work as a school nurse. I can tell you that there are a lot of young kids who have hadaches regularly. My son who is 14 started headaches at age 7 that progressively got worse over the years. Eventually including nausea, vomiting, light and sound sensitivity. He currently takes topamax twice a day as a preventative and imitrex if he gets one. We recently also started allergy shots and probably will be having endoscopic sinus surgery this summer to remove scar tissue that is blocking his sinuses. A HA! WHile I don't look forward to putting him through surgery, what if this is the answer to the headaches and we can get him off some of the meds? Before we started the topamax he could easily have 12-15 headaches a month!

Thinwithin, that is just sad, poor lil guy. I personally would do the surgery too, and ya its hard to see them going in but migraines are so painful.
My oldest son had the wicked migrains, light/sound sensitivity and nausea.
Best of luck!

How's she doing? Any better?

Just wanted to add my neice gets a headache with strep throat. Sometimes she doesn't even have an irritated throat with it. I know that sounds crazy but my sister makes her dr check her for strep when she has a tummy ache or a headache because a couple times she did have it and her throat wasn't even red. Good luck with her.
Kristina