The headache in children explained by Harvard
The day to day of the smallest can be altered by many problems, including the headache that can make a child's journey a true ordeal. How can I help them to make these moments happen fast? How to reduce the acuity of the symptoms? On this subject he has dealt with Harvard University in one of his works where he sets out a series of guidelines to deal with these situations.
A guide for parents to learn to differentiate between simple headache and migraine with worse consequences for the little ones. Each situation will require a different kind of help and a specific treatment. Learning to recognize the symptoms of each of these health problems will be of great importance at the time that parents can help their children.
Recognize the migraine
As it was said at first, migraine is not the same as the simple headache although they can share symptom. For example, in both cases pain is experienced in different areas of the skull, although unlike in the case of adults, the discomfort in children does not last as long as it can be considered as something temporary and not think about a bigger problem .
Therefore, from Harvard it is recommended to recognize other migraine symptoms such as vomiting, nausea, dizziness or a sensation of pain similar to that of a needle sticking against your forehead. Another point that can help to recognize this problem in the smallest is the geneticsIf the parents have already presented these problems, there is a high possibility that the children will also suffer.
However, it is not possible to make a diagnosis from a single case of headache. Children need to have at least two episodes to be diagnosed with migraine. The periodicity of the cases will also help to recognize if it is a simple episode of discomfort or if the migraines are going to recur and therefore a treatment adapted to the situation is needed.
Diagnosis and treatment
If the headaches are recurrent in children, an appointment with the pediatrician will be essential. This specialist will collect the previous symptoms and the medical history of the parents and the children, it will also be important to talk about the habits of life of the little ones to check if these are the ones that trigger the episodes of headache. Bad routines of sleep, stress or an excess of stimulating drinks can end up provoking these situations.
Ibuprofen can be a very effective treatment once to deal with episodic headache. You can also resort to ice to relieve these headaches by decreasing the inflammation that is causing these sensations. Tumbling the child and placing a tube filled with cubes or a frozen item such as peas or squares of spinach will help a lot.
In the case of migraines, it can be recommended to use medications as amitriptyline Y topiramate. They must also adapt their life habits to the new situation and avoid triggering attitudes. Sleep schedules should conform to the recommendations of specialists, drinks with a strong component of caffeine will have to be reduced to the maximum.
Damián Montero
