Pain Management in Children

[Sarah]

After going to bed quite happily last night my six yr old woke up about 2 hours later with a terrible headache and was unable to open her eyes. She was crying with pain and said her eyes hurt. She had no fever, no rash,was able to drink water and her throat did not look inflamed. Of course when ever things like this happen in the middle of night a sense of panic can ensue. My thought was maybe measles, she seems OK today, but I am aware that it can take a couple of days for rash to appear. Not that I am concerned about her getting that. What I was concerned about was how I should treat her headache. She was obviously in a fair amount of pain. We tried a cold cloth on the head, then a warm wheat bag. I also tried rubbing her temples and around her eyes, all with little effect. So I ended up giving her Paracetamol :( , as it is so hard to watch your little one in pain. Within a hour she was sleeping, and I just watched her for another couple of hours just incase the paracetamol ended up masking something more serious. I had suffered from migraine headaches from a very young age, so I am aware that if it turns out not to be measles I will need to start looking closely at her diet. My headaches reduced when I stopped eating dairy and wheat. I do however still suffer occasionally from tension headaches - they can still be very painful. I am always a little anxious of headaches in children as I had a friends sister, who suffered from headaches, and at the age of 8 had a stroke. Her parents had refused to use pain killers for her headaches. Not that I have any clue whether giving her painkillers would have prevented a stroke, but things like that tend to stick in your mind whether there was a connection or not. Sorry for rambling on :giggle:, but I was really at a loss as to how to deal with this sort of pain. I understand that a fever is the bodies natural response to infection and needs to be allowed to do its thing - but what about pain? Is this a sign that something could be wrong and needs to be dealt with? Are there side effects to reducing pain?

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

sometimes it's very hard to distinguish "pain" from say a migraine, from "pain" from something that's an illness if it's a sudden thing.

Usually, with illness, the headache doesn't come first. There are usually other signs, like lethargy (and with measles, sore eyes/conjunctivitis that are the dead give away). Many parents don't notice those prodromal things, either because they are too busy; because the kids don't say or because they dismiss them as "growing pains" or something else. So yes, being a parent can be hard.

In terms of headaches/migraines, there is a book called "The Miracle of Magnesium" by Dr Carolyn Dean, and in that she talks about the vast percentage of people who live in western countries are magnesium deficient. I think you need to look at that book.

Ironically, magnesium deficiency in breastfeeding mothers is implicated in the fact that babies can get very scratchy in the evening. Of course, doctors label that as colic when it's actually the fact that the mother's breastmilk has run out of magnesium by around mid-day, so by the evening, babies are wound up.

Magnesium is another of these crucial minerals when it comes to tension, headaches and a whole host of vital biochemical interactions.

When I start to get certain types of headaches which are not related to diet, I go and see the chiropractor, because the problem is usually around the base of the neck, and part of that is posture. (which is one reason why I use a swiss ball as my computer chair).

With children, it's not so easy. With my older son, headaches were usually mild son stroke... after all, only mad dogs, cricketers and Englishmen go out in the midday son :p. His problem was that he didn't drink enough. Once we got hydration under control, and his morning meals were high in magnesium, that problem significantly reduced... as did cramp. magnesium is fantastic for cramp.

sometimes I wonder if stress headaches aren't actually "cramp in the brain" :)

With the children when they had headaches from stress, I'd lie them down in a warm room and they would get a full spinal massage, particularly from the waist to the neck. There would always be muscle knots around or just above the shoulder blades. That was often enough to put them to sleep...

[Sarah]

Ironically, magnesium deficiency in breastfeeding mothers is implicated in the fact that babies can get very scratchy in the evening. Of course, doctors label that as colic when it's actually the fact that the mother's breastmilk has run out of magnesium by around mid-day, so by the evening, babies are wound up.

She was a great baby - up until 5-6pm everyday. It was common practice with her, to have to rock her in her bouncer while we ate dinner, as she screamed. I never had that problem with my eldest daughter. Have I passed my magnesium deficiency onto my 6yrold? Her diet includes a fair amount of brocolli, green beans, spinach and bananas. Do some children need more magnesium than others? And will she be someone who will always have to watch that her magnesium levels don't get too low. I gather that if I stopped taking my magnesium supplements, even though I have a diet that does contain magnesium, I would again get symptoms of deficiency? I don't expect you to answer all my questions:o, will do some research too. Maybe you should set up your own clinic - would rather pay for your advice than any of the doctors I have spoken too lately :LMAO:

[magical1]

I find peppermint oil rubbed into the lobes of the ears and onto the back of the neck is fantastic for little ones headaches. Then I wave the bottle under their noses and get them to breath deeply.

[TanyaL]

She was a great baby - up until 5-6pm everyday. It was common practice with her, to have to rock her in her bouncer while we ate dinner, as she screamed. I never had that problem with my eldest daughter. Have I passed my magnesium deficiency onto my 6yrold? Her diet includes a fair amount of brocolli, green beans, spinach and bananas. Do some children need more magnesium than others? And will she be someone who will always have to watch that her magnesium levels don't get too low. I gather that if I stopped taking my magnesium supplements, even though I have a diet that does contain magnesium, I would again get symptoms of deficiency? I don't expect you to answer all my questions:o, will do some research too. Maybe you should set up your own clinic - would rather pay for your advice than any of the doctors I have spoken too lately :LMAO:

My two kids have very different mag needs, and for our sanity, I was thankful to find MT's advice about magnesium when my daughter was a toddler. She's 5 now and still needs mag to fall asleep. My son doesn't need nearly so much.

It's not a bad thing, it's a helpful clue as to what DH's family is prone to (DD is DH's clone). The Calcium Lie is a book MT recommended to me in another thread, the health issues it describes are just what DH's family is prone to, and mine is not.

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

She was a great baby - up until 5-6pm everyday. It was common practice with her, to have to rock her in her bouncer while we ate dinner, as she screamed. I never had that problem with my eldest daughter.What may have happened though, is that your body never got back to where it was before your first pregnancy.

It takes a minimum of 18 months from birth, and if breastfeeding, longer than that, to get back your bone turnover and everything else that has had excess removed, particularly if nausea caused you to reduce food intake.

often these things show up in second and subsequent children because being a mum is hard work, and often we get lazy with our own food. I did. I admit it. It wasn't until the kids got much older that I re-evaluated my diet and realised that I was basically filling up whenever I wasn't running around after everyone else.

My nutrition has also improved out of sight, now that the kids have left home. :giggle:


Have I passed my magnesium deficiency onto my 6yrold? Her diet includes a fair amount of brocolli, green beans, spinach and bananas.Not necessarily, but magnesium has to be balanced against calcium, and if she eats a lot more calcium than magnesium, that calcium will strip out magnesium. Also, boron, and silica and needed to lock magnesium in. So there are a whole lot of issues here, which make us mums just roll our eyes sometimes. :eek:


Do some children need more magnesium than others? Yes, just as some adults need more magnesium than others. And how do we know about the adults? Those with high blood pressure. And why does magnesium lower blood pressure? because it's a natural statin without any of the ghastly side effects of the pharma-killers.


And will she be someone who will always have to watch that her magnesium levels don't get too low.Actually, all of us have to. Living in a society where calcium is eaten to excess, there are far more people out there who are magnesium deficient through what they put in their mouths, than people would guess.


. I gather that if I stopped taking my magnesium supplements, even though I have a diet that does contain magnesium, I would again get symptoms of deficiency?Don't know. It's called trial and error. Or the other way around.


I don't expect you to answer all my questions:o, I don't have all the answers. But my bookcase is there if you want to wander around.


will do some research too. Maybe you should set up your own clinic - would rather pay for your advice than any of the doctors I have spoken too lately :LMAO:Nope. because then people would blame me when what I suggested didn't work for them. :D

[Sarah]

Nope. because then people would blame me when what I suggested didn't work for them. :D

I haven't got enough fingers to count the amount of times a doctor has gotten it wrong !