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The treatment of children with non-migrainous headaches

L. García-Méndez [REV NEUROL 2003;37:281-286] PMID: 12938061 DOI: https://doi.org/10.33588/rn.3703.2003141

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Volumen 37 | Number 03 | Nº of views of the article 5.566 | Nº of PDF downloads 1.360 | Article publication date 01/08/2003

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ABSTRACT

AIMS. The purpose of our study is to review non-migrainous headaches (NMH), the pain mechanisms and their treatment, with emphasis on the author’s clinical experience. DEVELOPMENT. Headaches are commonplace in the daily practice of Paediatrics. About 22% of new patients who came to the Neuropaediatric department as outpatients presented headaches as the reason for their visit. Whenever there is a headache, there must be some pain mechanism involved. These mechanisms are vasodilatation, inflammation, traction and displacement of intracranial structures, sustained muscular tension, or some neurogenic mechanism. Clinical evaluation enables us to diagnose the type of headache and to treat it. Physical and neurological explorations are normal in most children with headache. The classification of syndromes includes acute generalized headache, acute localized headache, acute recurring headache, chronic progressive headache and chronic non-progressive (recurring) headache. Recurring headaches occur frequently in children and are more readily diagnosed from clinical data than by examinations. Routine use of any diagnostic study provides no indication of when the clinical history has no associated risk factors and the examination of the child is normal. Therapy is based on the type of headache. Most headaches in children are due to a vascular mechanism. The author advocates the use of a dietetic treatment in association with the intake of small amounts of caffeine BID.

CONCLUSIONS The treatment of NMH depends on the kind of syndrome presented but, for the most part, it is very satisfactory for both the patients and their parents. KeywordsCaffeine Children Headaches Mechanisms Migrainous headaches Non-migrainous headaches Pain Treatment CategoriesCefalea y Migraña Dolor Neuropediatría

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The treatment of children with non-migrainous headaches