Frequent Headaches

Finding the headaches triggers in your child is actually not as difficult as it seems. Headaches are not limited to adults only. According to a study, about 5 to 10 percent of children suffer from migraine headaches and can get worse in adolescence. To make the matter worse, some children do not know how to describe the pain or problem to their parents and the condition is usually not properly treated.

Fortunately, there are a number of steps that parents can follow to help their children by learning to identify the headaches triggers and symptoms. Generally speaking, the causes of headaches are the same for both children and adult. The types of headaches that children experience are also very similar to those experienced by adults.

If a child has been diagnosed with migraine, then an important step in diagnosing the headache will be to determine the headaches triggers. Parents should always try to eliminate the triggers that are within their control so that any potential headaches can be prevented in the first place.

Foods and Beverages

The same type of foods that can trigger a headache in adult can also become headaches triggers in children as well. During the days when headaches strike, check whether your child has consumed the following foods:

• Chocolate
• Cheese
• Fried stuffs
• Processed meat containing sodium nitrate such as hot dogs, etc
• Any other food that contains monosodium glutamate

Monosodium glutamate is a food addictive that is also known as a headache trigger for migraines in adults. Other that foods, beverages such as sodas and sports drinks can also be effective headaches triggers. These are some of the favorite children’s drinks and they usually contain high amounts of caffeine, which can trigger headaches as well.

Smells

Many small children like sweet smelling stuffs and they often enjoy the sensation of smelling flowers along the side of roads or sweet cakes in the oven. Although these scents and smells are very common, they can also be headaches triggers for some children. Other common scents such as perfumes, smoke, air purifier and anything with a strong smell can also be a possible headache trigger. Try to keep track of any smells that your child is not often exposed to.

Dehydration

The excessive loss of water from the body can easily cause headaches for both adult and children. To determine if a child is suffering from dehydration, look out for the typical tell-tale signs:

• Fatigue
• Headache
• Less frequent urination
• Dark colored urine
• Dry mouth
• Sticking feeling inside the mouth

Try to encourage your children to drink more water by having them carrying their most favorite water bottles when out of the house. If the child experiences lesser signs of headaches after drinking more water, then dehydration will most probably be the headache trigger.

Motion Sickness

Motion sickness is a common headache trigger that is observed in an adult, but can also happen to a child. Check if your child displays notable headache symptoms after having been in a boat, car or train. Preventive motion sickness medications may be effective here. Other simple preventive measures such as not reading in the car and not taking long car trips with an empty stomach are generally effective as well.

Improper Diet

A child skipping meals regularly due to poor appetite can cause hypoglycemia. Hypoglycemia is a known migraine trigger and is a condition whereby the body’s blood sugar or glucose is too low. Seek advice from a pediatrician to find out the reasons for your child’s poor appetite as well as to identify other potential conditions.

Others

Other headaches triggers such as stress and lack of sleep can also apply to children as well. Make sure that your child has sufficient rest every day and see if he or she has problems at schools. Studies have also shown that most children with headaches tend to experience them during the school sessions.

Certain medications can also trigger headaches in children. Check with your doctor to make sure that any of your child’s regular medications do not have other side effects. If yes, then try to find some alternative remedies.

Spending long hours playing computer games or playing loud music through the headphones can also trigger chronic headaches in children. Try to control the amount of time your child spend in front of a computer or listening to music through headphones. Even if they are not the triggers, spending long hours doing these activities are generally not good for a child’s health as well.

If you have frequent headaches, including migraine headaches, then there is a good chance that there is something that is setting them off. These are called headaches triggers. Once you find out what these are, you will be able to reduce the number of headaches you have and enjoy a better quality of life.

The following is a list of the most common headaches triggers. While one or more of these triggers may apply to you, there is also a good chance that you will have your own that you need to discover by yourself.

Weather Changes

Sometimes the barometric pressure can act as a headache trigger. Low pressure that often comes before rain has been linked to an increase of headaches in some people. Also, you are more likely to get a migraine as the temperature rises. Researchers have also found that the risk of getting a headache increases 7.5% for every temperature rise of 9°F.

Changing of Hairstyle

A lot of people get a headache after they visit their hairdresser. Changing your hairstyle can often prompt a headache. If you usually part your hair on the left and then change it to the right for a new hairstyle - followed with a headache coming on, then try putting your hair back into place. You just might find that you have stopped your headache in its tracks.

Tyramine

Tyramine is a substance that is commonly found in old cheese, red wine, and cold cuts. While tyramine is found in many other foods, the amount is higher in the ones listed. This is one of the easiest headaches triggers to figure out. You can test yourself by eliminating these foods from your diet completely for a month and then trying one to see if it triggers a headache. If it does, you have found at least one of your headaches triggers.

Monosodium Glutamate

This chemical is commonly found in Chinese food but it can also be added to a lot of junk food. For instance, the next time when you buy a bag of potato chips, try taking a look at the ingredients. Some companies sneak in monosodium glutamate to make you want to eat more of the chips, thus increasing their profits. Even if you find out that MSG is not acting as one of the causes for your headaches, you should still avoid it. It really isn’t good for you.

Smoking

If you’re a non-smoker do you ever notice that being around others that smoke triggers one of your headaches? Even a smoker can get a headache from his own smoke. Any type of smoke in fact can be a headache trigger.

Sensitivity to Odors, Lights and Sound

Many people get a headache from the glare of the sun and have to wear sunglasses regularly. Others find that loud noises or strong smells can start up the pain. Try to isolate any of these attacks to your senses as a headache trigger.

Stress

It has been known for quite a while that stress can be a leading cause of headaches. Not only does it upset your nervous system, but it can also tighten up the muscles in your neck. A lot of people use stress-relieving therapies to help them reduce the amount and the severity of their headaches.

Nutritional Imbalances

Many people are walking around with a nutritional imbalance and aren’t even aware of it. Chances are that if you’re not taking a multivitamin every day, then you’re not getting the proper nutrition you should be. Even if you are eating healthy foods, it’s still hard to get the right amount of vitamins and minerals you need on a daily basis. Also, a lot of the foods produced today are lacking the vitamins and minerals that they used to have back when farming was more natural and less commercialized.

Caffeine

A lot of research has been done about caffeine lately. It is quite an interesting substance in that too much caffeine can trigger a headache in some people while giving it up can also act as a cause of headaches. On the other hand, caffeine pills are often prescribed for people that suffer from migraines to help relieve the pain. It’s quite interesting to note that caffeine can act as a cause as well as a treatment for headaches.

While the above are the most common headaches triggers, you’re really going to have to search for your own while keeping your eyes open for the ones listed. The best way to keep track of what may be triggering your headaches is to start keeping a daily diary of your activities. Be sure to note everything you do so that when a headache does occur, you can take a look at your notes to find out what may have triggered it. Finding the right headache triggers is your best line of defense against this pain that affects your quality of life. Most importantly, this is something that you can do on your own at home.

Some people tend to get headaches after exerting, doing things like racing around or exercising. There are various reasons for these types of headaches, and in most cases the problems are harmless and have benign causes; however, in some cases these types of headaches can actually be quite dangerous and have underlying reasons that are very serious. If you are worried about the headaches you get after exerting you may want to see your doctor.

Migraines After Exerting

After people do a lot of exercising or play sports, they may experience what is called an effort migraine. Usually these people have dealt with migraines at other points in their lives, so they know the warning signs that start up before the headache becomes too bad. Usually this type of a migraine will last about 4-6 hours.

Most doctors tend to believe that effort migraines are caused by the increase in the temperature of the body after activity and exercise that is fairly intense. This type of activity and higher body temperature can dilate the blood vessels in the head, which causes them to press on nerves causing a migraine. In order to relieve this type of a migraine, you can usual your regular migraine medications. Avoiding getting overheated can also help to prevent you from getting effort migraines at all. Taking over the counter drugs like Advil can also be helpful before you exert yourself.

Benign Coital Headaches

Another type of headache that can be caused by exertion is a benign coital headache. This type of headache usually occurs while you are having intercourse, or right after you have had intercourse. Some people may be embarrassed to talk to their doctor about these types of headaches.

If you get a very sever headache during intercourse you should seek medical attention immediately. This is an unusual type of headache and should be treated as an emergency. Regular benign coital headaches are usually not a problem; however, it is important to let your doctor know and seek immediate help if it is a severe headache.

Believe it or not, at one time, Coke was actually used to treat headaches. Yes, it is true that caffeine can cause headaches, especially when caffeine drinkers stop drinking caffeine. The opposite is also true though, and headaches can actually be treated effectively by caffeine as well.

Cause and Treatment?
It is hard to believe that caffeine can both cause and treat headaches, but it actually works as a drug that affects the central nervous system. The proper use of this stimulant can actually have positive effects, such as relieving tiredness, improving your coordination, and helping you to be more alert as well. Caffeine is considered to be safe by the World Health Organization, and they do not consider it to be like drugs that are addictive and dangerous to one’s health. One of the main reasons that people seem to think that caffeine is addictive is because the of the symptoms you can experience when you stop drinking drinks that contain caffeine.

Caffeine – The Common Ingredient
Many prescription medications and over the counter headache medications actually use caffeine as an ingredient. If you take a look at the small print on the bottles you will find this to be true. The use of caffeine with various painkillers can actually make them up to 40% more effective than they would be on their own, especially when dealing with headache pain. Using caffeine also enables medications to be absorbed much faster into the body, which can speed up the relief for you headaches. This enables you to take less medication and can actually reduce the side effects you will have to deal with as well.

Drinking Coffee – Migraine Prevention?
Some people have actually found that they can keep a migraine from becoming severe by drinking a beverage with caffeine, such as coffee. The blood vessels are constricted by the caffeine, and since migraines are usually cause by blood vessels that are enlarged and putting pressure on surrounding nerves, the caffeine can actually help. Usually within just thirty minutes of consuming caffeine, you can feel the positive effects, and they usually will last between 3-5 hours.

Negative Effects of Caffeine
Caffeine is an excellent stimulant, and many people use it as a pick me up. While drinking coffee can help you to avoid getting a migraine, on the other hand it can be very bad for you to drink a great deal of coffee full of sugar on an empty sugar, and this can actually increase the blood sugar levels enough to bring on a headache. For the best effects, avoid having too much sugar in your coffee and drink it with food.

Another negative is that caffeine is a diuretic and can cause you to decrease the amount of magnesium in your body. Magnesium can actually help people who suffer from migraines, so too much caffeine can actually have a bad affect in this way.

Caffeine You May Not See
Drinking too much caffeine can cause sleeplessness, but some people have this problem even when they did not drink too much coffee. The problem could actually be with some of the foods you have eaten throughout the day. Various foods, including tea, chocolate, and various sodas all have caffeine in them. Then you may have taken a painkiller that contained caffeine as well, and together it adds up enough to cause you to have problems sleeping.

Headaches Caused By Caffeine Withdrawal
The average American actually consumes about 200-300 mg of caffeine every day. This may not be a problem; however, when you start drinking about 15 grams of caffeine a month, and then suddenly you go without it for awhile, you can get a caffeine withdrawal headache. If you want to stop drinking coffee or other beverages with caffeine, it is best to do it slowly to avoid getting a caffeine withdrawal headache.

In conclusion, it is important to note that caffeine can be both bad and good when it comes to headaches. Everyone has different reaction to caffeine, so it is best to do a bit of experimenting to find out how caffeine works with your own body.