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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Why Does My Son Get Sever Headache At Night?

My 10 year old son was taken to the ER this past Wednesday morning at about 2 AM because he was complaining about a headache the night before (tuesday evening). However, that Tuesday night I just figured that I would treat it like a normal headache, and didnt do much about it. Then at about 130AM he came into the room holding his head, screaming about his head being sore. when asked to give a number on a scale of 1-10, he said his pain was an 8. i immediately took him to the nearest ER to be seen. When his vitals were taken, they said his blood pressure was unusually high. I dont remember the exact numbers unfortunately. He was given a shot for the headache, and while at the ER he fell asleep and when he awoke he seemed to be all better, in fact, pretty much normal. Of course, since then we have been keeping a close eye one him. He was kept home from school that Wednesday and Thursday, and we tried to eat more healthy foods. On Thursday he was fine, he was active, happy, and asked if he could return to school. so, on Friday, which was yesterday, he went back to school as usual. It is now Saturday January 18, 2014 @ 218AM here in Honolulu, Hawaii. About an hour ago, around 1:00 am he woke/up/ and started crying telling me that his head hurt as he was holding his head. I asked him to rate his pain he said about 5-6. I gave him one 200mg Ibuprofen tablet and some water and massaged his temples as he lay in my lap. I talked to him just to kind of take his mind off of the pain. When i took his blood pressure with a wrist cuff that I have his BP was 150/100 something (i didnt think to write it down at that time, but I know it was somewhere around there). I was definitely alarmed!!!! Luckily, he fell asleep, and as he was sleeping I took his BP again. It read: 124/75 HR: 89. I GUESS MY QUESTION IS: WHAT SHOULD I DO, AND IS HE ALRIGHT HERE AT HOME SLEEPING? OR SHOULD I TAKE HIM TO THE ER? ........and WHAT IS YOUR DIAGNOSIS?
Mon, 11 Mar 2019
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Neurologist,  's  Response
Hello,

It is not possible to make a precise diagnosis online without being able to examine the patient.

Furthermore, some diagnoses like migraine by definition are made only after a number of episodes have occurred, can't be made by 1-2 episodes alone.

What matters is to decide whether there are indicators that the headache is related to a brain lesion.

Some so-called "red flags "would be acute onset and very severe persisting headache, vomiting, increased sensitivity to light and sound, changes in behavior, confusion, visual changes, fever, weakness in the limbs, seizures etc. From your account, he doesn't seem to manifest such symptoms.

The one other heartening factor is that this is not the first episode and there was a headache-free period between the episodes.

That makes the possibility of progressing brain lesions like tumors, infections, inflammation unlikely, the migraine would be a possible diagnosis.

So if he is sleeping and feels well upon waking up I wouldn't take him in the ER. If the pain persists upon waking up then I would have him seen and checked for neurological signs you might not have noticed.

Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.

Take care

Regards,
Dr Olsi Taka, Neurologist
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Why Does My Son Get Sever Headache At Night?

Hello, It is not possible to make a precise diagnosis online without being able to examine the patient. Furthermore, some diagnoses like migraine by definition are made only after a number of episodes have occurred, can t be made by 1-2 episodes alone. What matters is to decide whether there are indicators that the headache is related to a brain lesion. Some so-called red flags would be acute onset and very severe persisting headache, vomiting, increased sensitivity to light and sound, changes in behavior, confusion, visual changes, fever, weakness in the limbs, seizures etc. From your account, he doesn t seem to manifest such symptoms. The one other heartening factor is that this is not the first episode and there was a headache-free period between the episodes. That makes the possibility of progressing brain lesions like tumors, infections, inflammation unlikely, the migraine would be a possible diagnosis. So if he is sleeping and feels well upon waking up I wouldn t take him in the ER. If the pain persists upon waking up then I would have him seen and checked for neurological signs you might not have noticed. Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further. Take care Regards, Dr Olsi Taka, Neurologist