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Headaches are not normal in children. That's what my pediatrician told me. I only mentioned it in passing. An MRI to rule out a brain tumor. (My uncle died of a brain tumor at 17 years old.) Other tests were done too. It took quite a while to get to the bottom of the headaches. Physical therapy was the solution. It had something to do with the muscles between the shoulders.
I remember my girlfriend (since first grade) had headaches throughout her childhood. He mother would say it was the weight of her long hair. Years later, when we were teens, it turned out her body had too much copper.
Exhaustion isn't normal either. Some kids need 12 hours sleep. Make sure that's not the problem. 10 might not be enough. I was always tired. My mother was a nurse. She was always dragging me off the doctor to have my iron checked for anemia. My iron was fine. It turns out I had a B-12 deficiency. It might sound simplistic, but too much or too little of some nutrients are serious health issues that can do permanent damage to the body.
Make an appointment with the pediatrician and talk to him about your daughter's symptoms. In addition to what I shared, many things can cause headaches---poor posture, anxiety, etc. But headaches aren't normal for children so it should be pursued. I would be concerned about headaches and exhaustion together.
I hope you take your daughter to the doctor and find what the problem is. It could be so many things! For me it turned out to be a food intolerance- just another possibility to keep in mind.
My one hospitalization occurred when I was 7. I am severely ADD (was undiagnosed back then) and had anxiety issues. I literally was worrying myself ill - frequent stomach aches and inability to sleep. One of my cousin's kids has a similar problem (as I was, he is a high-performing student at 6) where he cannot "turn his brain off" and he is frequently exhausted during the day.
I would monitor her actual SLEEP time, not just the time she spends in bed. It doesn't have to be ADD, but little kids can fixate and worry. They have entire emotional lives that adults know nothing about.
It might be as simple as her learning "self-soothing" relaxation techniques - I am trying to find a kid's book on meditation for my cousin's kid right now, actually.
Don't worry - this is probably something that is highly fixable.
7 y.o.I assume she still goes to a Pediatrician. Talk to him/her.If it is something from the school there are probably other kids with the same symptoms. A local Pediatrician is going to be more meaningful than all the well meaning posters here on CD.
I agree that you should take your daughter to the doctor. I think it may be helpful though to do some research before you go and to look for other possible symptoms. I have a dd who has some health problems, and she has undergone most of the tests mentioned on this thread including allergy testing, Celiac disease (gluten), anemia, metabolic panel (for glucose, calcium etc.), thyroid testing, EEGs, and a brain MRI.
She was given most of these tests because she had other symptoms and risk factors. For example, thyroid problems run in our family, so that made sense to test. She received the brain MRI because of unusual neurological symptoms. It was helpful though that I kept track of these symptoms before we saw the neurologist. See if you can track to see if there are certain events, foods etc. that trigger the headaches or the exhaustion. This kind of information can be helpful when you go to the doctor.
Please take your child to a pediatrician. Diet and poor fluid intake are common culprits in childhood fatigue.
Headaches in children are very common and 99% of them are totally benign, and was pointed out above usually caused by dehydration. The glass of water is usually what cures headaches and not the OTC Tylenol you take with it.
While a full day of school can be tiring what you describe does not seem normal to me. She needs a complete physical including diabetes check. Is she any different on the weekends? Does she seem particularly stressed out- stress can quickly tire out all ages of people.
I would second this. A couple of weeks ago, after noticing some things that were a bit off with my 5 year old DD, we ended up taking her to the ER and are now living the life of a Type 1 diabetic.
As a family where all 3 of us have chronic Lyme - I immediately thought the same thing.
To OP, if you ask the doc about it, they may not take you seriously... if they DO - you want the IGeneX test - NOT the Eliza... We were all Eliza negative and IGeneX positive! Very important!
It's "ELISA" - enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. It is often negative during the early stages of Lyme disease.
And the iGeneX test gives a lot of false positives.
I would also take her to a doctor. It might be normal but fatigue can be a sign of serious medical issues. Especially with headaches. Headaches aren't normal.
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