Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsTypes of HeadachesHeadache PatternsWhen a Headache Is a MigraineSymptoms of Serious HeadachesDiagnosisTreatmentPreventionFrequently Asked Questions
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Types of Headaches
Headache Patterns
When a Headache Is a Migraine
Symptoms of Serious Headaches
Diagnosis
Treatment
Prevention
Frequently Asked Questions
Headaches and migraines in teens are one of the most common health complaints. By the age of 15, roughly 75% of children have reported having a significant headache.Usually, headaches are just a pain, but sometimes they can mean that something more serious is happening.
Ellen Lindner / Verywell
If your teen has headaches or has just gotten his or her first one, it’s helpful to know how to classify it. This can help you determine if it needs immediate attention or not, as well as be beneficial to you when you discuss your teen’s headaches with his or her healthcare provider.
Headaches happen in a variety of patterns, but there are four common ones:
Chronic progressive headache is one of the most concerning types, and you should take your teen to a healthcare provider right away if you suspect it.
An Overview of Headaches and Migraines
Migraine is a neurological disorder that involves acute, recurrent headaches with moderate to severe pain. The two main types are migraine without aura (occurs in 85% of children and adolescents) and migraine with aura (occurs in 15% to 30%).
As a parent or teen with headaches, you might be worried that the headaches are migraines. Part of the problem is that people think migraines are horrible and unmanageable. Although they can be unpleasant and disruptive, migraines don’t have to be debilitating.
Symptoms of a migraine include:
An aura is a symptom or a few symptoms that occur right before a migraine. It can be flashes of light with or without loss of vision, numbness or tingling in a part of the body, weakness, or even altered consciousness.
Migraine With Aura: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment Options
This is just a quick summary of when a headache might be a migraine, but it’s helpful to have an idea of whether or not your teen’s headache is truly a migraine.
If you have a familyhistory of migraine, it’s more likely that your teen’s headaches are migraines.
An Overview of Migraine Without Aura
Headaches are painful and disruptive, and they can sometimes be a sign of a serious problem. Some signs that a headache may indicate that there’s a bigger medical issue include:
If your teen has any of the above symptoms, contact his or her healthcare provider immediately. If your provider cannot see your teen right away, or the headache gets worse, a trip to the emergency room might be in order.
As always, your healthcare provider knows you and your family best, so consult him or her with your questions or concerns.
How to Remember Headache Warning Signs
Emergency cases aside, to diagnose a headache disorder, your teen’s practitioner will do a physical examination, a neurological examination, and get a detailed history of your teen’s headaches.
It’s helpful if you can keep aheadache diaryfor at least a month before your teen’s appointment so your healthcare provider can look at factors like the time of day the headaches occur, how severe they are, where the head pain is, other symptoms that occur, and what might have triggered them, such as stress, not getting enough sleep, or missing a meal.
If your practitioner suspects from the neurological exam that your teen’s headaches are a secondary type, your teen may have further testing to rule out other conditions that could be causing the headaches. Depending on what the healthcare provider is looking for, these tests might include brain imaging, blood tests, or alumbar puncture(spinal tap).
Diagnosing Migraines
There are several options to treat headaches and migraines.
Over-the-Counter Pain Relievers
Over-the-counter analgesic (pain) medications like Tylenol (acetaminophen) or Motrin/Advil (ibuprofen) can be effective for some teens. The recommended dose for your son or daughter will be on the bottle, or you can ask your pediatrician about an appropriate dose.
The best time to take one of these medicines is at the beginning of a headache, when it isn’t as painful. If the medication is taken after a headache has come on and gotten worse, it’s harder to treat.
Avoid AspirinIf your teen is under the age of 16 years, be extremely cautious about giving him or her aspirin or aspirin-containing medications unless your healthcare provider tells you to. Aspirin and other medications from the salicylate family of drugs can lead to a rare but serious disorder calledReye’s syndrome.
Avoid Aspirin
If your teen is under the age of 16 years, be extremely cautious about giving him or her aspirin or aspirin-containing medications unless your healthcare provider tells you to. Aspirin and other medications from the salicylate family of drugs can lead to a rare but serious disorder calledReye’s syndrome.
Prescription Medications
If your teen has migraines and over-the-counter medications don’t help, he or she may need something stronger, such as a prescription medication called a triptan.Examples of triptans include Zomig (zolmitriptan), Imitrex (sumatriptan), Axert (almotriptan), andMaxalt (rizatriptan).
For teens who have recurrent headaches or migraines, more than four to six per month, you may want to consider a preventive medication that he or she takes on a daily basis. Types of preventive medications for headaches in teens include:
Your teen’s healthcare provider can help you evaluate if he or she needs preventive medication based on how debilitating the headaches or migraines are, how often they occur, other health conditions your teen has, and how much (or little) over-the-counter medications help.
Triptans for Migraine Treatment
Complementary Alternative Medicine (CAM)
Limited studies have been done on non-pharmacological ways to treat children and teens with headaches, but so far, these options have shown noticeable effects on the frequency of headaches. Alternative therapies include methods like:
A 2018 review of these alternative treatments for older kids and teens found that biofeedback, CBT, TMS, mindfulness-based interventions, and multi-modal therapies resulted in a reduction of headache frequency from between 34 percent and 78 percent, a similar outcome to kids and teens treated with medication.
More research needs to be done, but it’s possible that CAM therapies will replace medications as first-line therapies for kids and teens in the future.
Lifestyle
Stress, depression, and anxiety have been linked with headaches in teens. Encouraging your teen to adopt healthy lifestyle habits that safeguard their mental and physical health can help reduce or prevent headaches and migraines, including:
Lifestyle Habits for Managing Headaches in Kids and Teens
Your teen may have one trigger or several. Once triggers are identified, his or her headaches will likely greatly decrease or perhaps even go away if these triggers are avoided. Since teens make a lot of choices on their own, it’s important to help educate them to this end so they can make smart decisions and realize that they play a big role in managing their condition.
10 Common Migraine Triggers
If you or your teen aren’t sure what his or her triggers are, if you haven’t already, try keeping a headache diary as discussed previously. This lets your teen track the headaches and figure out what might be behind them.
Try the diary for a month or so. If a pattern emerges, then you can try to eliminate the trigger. Keep the diary longer if there is no clear pattern, or if you think the headaches are related to your teen’s menstrual cycle.
Bring the diaries along to your teen’s next healthcare provider visit. They can provide a lot of helpful information you might otherwise forget while in the office.
How a Headache Diary Is Helpful for Your Healthcare Provider
A Word From Verywell
Headaches can be a nuisance or, less often, a sign of serious illness. Knowing the facts about headaches can help you to help your teen feel better. It’s important to track your teen’s headache frequency and severity and attempt to narrow down any triggers that may be causing them. Sometimes a simple lifestyle change can improve the situation. However, it’s important to talk to your teen’s healthcare provider about recurring or chronic headaches as soon as possible to determine if there’s a possible underlying cause.
Feverfew, an herbal remedy, has been shown to help relieve headaches and migraine pain although the research is limited.Vitamin B-2, coenzyme Q10, and magnesium may also help with migraines, but you should discuss these supplements with your child’s healthcare provider.Learn MoreWhat You Should Know About Feverfew
Feverfew, an herbal remedy, has been shown to help relieve headaches and migraine pain although the research is limited.Vitamin B-2, coenzyme Q10, and magnesium may also help with migraines, but you should discuss these supplements with your child’s healthcare provider.
Learn MoreWhat You Should Know About Feverfew
Learn MoreHow Exercise Can Cause Headaches
For most children and teens, COVID-19 brings on mild symptoms that resolve in a few days. However, others may be diagnosed with Post-Acute COVID-19 (or long-haul COVID), which means that symptoms last more than four weeks. Headache along with fatigue, fever, joint or muscle pain, and other symptoms may continue for weeks or longer.It’s still unknown why some people develop long-haul COVID or how long symptoms could last.Learn MoreGuide to COVID-19
For most children and teens, COVID-19 brings on mild symptoms that resolve in a few days. However, others may be diagnosed with Post-Acute COVID-19 (or long-haul COVID), which means that symptoms last more than four weeks. Headache along with fatigue, fever, joint or muscle pain, and other symptoms may continue for weeks or longer.It’s still unknown why some people develop long-haul COVID or how long symptoms could last.
Learn MoreGuide to COVID-19
11 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.American Academy of Family Physicians.Teenagers and headaches. FamilyDoctor.org.Cleveland Clinic.Migraines in children and adolescents.Migraine Research Foundation.Migraine facts.Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.PedMIDAS Tool.Sakai F.Oral triptans in children and adolescents: an update.Curr Pain Headache Rep. 2015;19(3):8. doi:10.1007/s11916-015-0478-zSherwood M, Goldman RD.Effectiveness of riboflavin in pediatric migraine prevention.Can Fam Physician. 2014;60(3):244-6.Andrasik F, Grazzi L, Sansone E, D’amico D, Raggi A, Grignani E.Non-pharmacological approaches for headaches in young age: an updated review.Front Neurol. 2018;9:1009. doi:10.3389/fneur.2018.01009Kemper KJ, Heyer G, Pakalnis A, Binkley PF.What factors contribute to headache-related disability in teens?.Pediatr Neurol. 2016;56:48-54. doi:10.1016/j.pediatrneurol.2015.10.024Martin VT, Allen JR, Houle TT, et al.Ovarian hormones, age and pubertal development and their association with days of headache onset in girls with migraine: An observational cohort study.Cephalalgia. 2018;38(4):707-717. doi:10.1177/0333102417706980American Academy of Pediatrics.Migraine Headaches in Children & Teens: Parent FAQs.American Academy of Pediatrics.Long-Haul COVID-19 in Children and Teens.Additional ReadingBonthius DJ, Hershey AD.Headache in children: approach to evaluation and general management strategies.Kliegman RM, Stanton B, St. Geme J, Schor NF.Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. 20th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier, Inc.
11 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.American Academy of Family Physicians.Teenagers and headaches. FamilyDoctor.org.Cleveland Clinic.Migraines in children and adolescents.Migraine Research Foundation.Migraine facts.Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.PedMIDAS Tool.Sakai F.Oral triptans in children and adolescents: an update.Curr Pain Headache Rep. 2015;19(3):8. doi:10.1007/s11916-015-0478-zSherwood M, Goldman RD.Effectiveness of riboflavin in pediatric migraine prevention.Can Fam Physician. 2014;60(3):244-6.Andrasik F, Grazzi L, Sansone E, D’amico D, Raggi A, Grignani E.Non-pharmacological approaches for headaches in young age: an updated review.Front Neurol. 2018;9:1009. doi:10.3389/fneur.2018.01009Kemper KJ, Heyer G, Pakalnis A, Binkley PF.What factors contribute to headache-related disability in teens?.Pediatr Neurol. 2016;56:48-54. doi:10.1016/j.pediatrneurol.2015.10.024Martin VT, Allen JR, Houle TT, et al.Ovarian hormones, age and pubertal development and their association with days of headache onset in girls with migraine: An observational cohort study.Cephalalgia. 2018;38(4):707-717. doi:10.1177/0333102417706980American Academy of Pediatrics.Migraine Headaches in Children & Teens: Parent FAQs.American Academy of Pediatrics.Long-Haul COVID-19 in Children and Teens.Additional ReadingBonthius DJ, Hershey AD.Headache in children: approach to evaluation and general management strategies.Kliegman RM, Stanton B, St. Geme J, Schor NF.Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. 20th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier, Inc.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
American Academy of Family Physicians.Teenagers and headaches. FamilyDoctor.org.Cleveland Clinic.Migraines in children and adolescents.Migraine Research Foundation.Migraine facts.Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.PedMIDAS Tool.Sakai F.Oral triptans in children and adolescents: an update.Curr Pain Headache Rep. 2015;19(3):8. doi:10.1007/s11916-015-0478-zSherwood M, Goldman RD.Effectiveness of riboflavin in pediatric migraine prevention.Can Fam Physician. 2014;60(3):244-6.Andrasik F, Grazzi L, Sansone E, D’amico D, Raggi A, Grignani E.Non-pharmacological approaches for headaches in young age: an updated review.Front Neurol. 2018;9:1009. doi:10.3389/fneur.2018.01009Kemper KJ, Heyer G, Pakalnis A, Binkley PF.What factors contribute to headache-related disability in teens?.Pediatr Neurol. 2016;56:48-54. doi:10.1016/j.pediatrneurol.2015.10.024Martin VT, Allen JR, Houle TT, et al.Ovarian hormones, age and pubertal development and their association with days of headache onset in girls with migraine: An observational cohort study.Cephalalgia. 2018;38(4):707-717. doi:10.1177/0333102417706980American Academy of Pediatrics.Migraine Headaches in Children & Teens: Parent FAQs.American Academy of Pediatrics.Long-Haul COVID-19 in Children and Teens.
American Academy of Family Physicians.Teenagers and headaches. FamilyDoctor.org.
Cleveland Clinic.Migraines in children and adolescents.
Migraine Research Foundation.Migraine facts.
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.PedMIDAS Tool.
Sakai F.Oral triptans in children and adolescents: an update.Curr Pain Headache Rep. 2015;19(3):8. doi:10.1007/s11916-015-0478-z
Sherwood M, Goldman RD.Effectiveness of riboflavin in pediatric migraine prevention.Can Fam Physician. 2014;60(3):244-6.
Andrasik F, Grazzi L, Sansone E, D’amico D, Raggi A, Grignani E.Non-pharmacological approaches for headaches in young age: an updated review.Front Neurol. 2018;9:1009. doi:10.3389/fneur.2018.01009
Kemper KJ, Heyer G, Pakalnis A, Binkley PF.What factors contribute to headache-related disability in teens?.Pediatr Neurol. 2016;56:48-54. doi:10.1016/j.pediatrneurol.2015.10.024
Martin VT, Allen JR, Houle TT, et al.Ovarian hormones, age and pubertal development and their association with days of headache onset in girls with migraine: An observational cohort study.Cephalalgia. 2018;38(4):707-717. doi:10.1177/0333102417706980
American Academy of Pediatrics.Migraine Headaches in Children & Teens: Parent FAQs.
American Academy of Pediatrics.Long-Haul COVID-19 in Children and Teens.
Bonthius DJ, Hershey AD.Headache in children: approach to evaluation and general management strategies.Kliegman RM, Stanton B, St. Geme J, Schor NF.Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. 20th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier, Inc.
Bonthius DJ, Hershey AD.Headache in children: approach to evaluation and general management strategies.
Kliegman RM, Stanton B, St. Geme J, Schor NF.Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. 20th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier, Inc.
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