Headaches
Specialties
Headache Services
Does your child suffer from frequent headaches or even migraines? Do your child’s headaches interfere with living their best life? If so, please talk to your pediatrician or visit us at the Complete Children’s Health Headache Clinic. We’re here to help.
The good news is that headaches in children are rarely caused by something serious like a brain tumor, but headaches can still be a drag for kids and their parents.
Headaches can occur at any age during childhood from infancy to young adulthood and beyond.
The cause of headaches is almost always due to a combination of factors—including but not limited to the following: vitamin deficiencies, infectious illness, prior trauma like concussion, genetic factors, environmental exposures, allergies and sinus problems, poor sleep quality, inadequate nutrition and/or hydration, feelings of anxiety or sadness, as well as other types of physical and psychosocial sources of stress. Because the cause of headaches is unique to each child, the approach to preventing and managing headaches is also as unique as your child.
Our goal at the CCH Headache Clinic is to understand the WHY behind your child’s headaches, so that we can develop a management plan to get your child back to doing what they love. At the CCH Headache Clinic, we take the time to explore your child’s headaches. For each headache patient, we review their current and past medical history and perform a thorough environmental assessment and neurologic examination.
We will rule out any rare red flags that suggest more serious causes of headaches and will evaluate for any specific secondary causes of your child’s headaches. With the scary stuff ruled out, we will then be able to diagnose the type of primary headache disorder that your child is experiencing—such as the most common tension headaches or cluster headaches or migraine variants.
We then use the diagnosis to develop an individual management plan.
Each management plan may include an abortive plan for when your child’s headache strikes as well as a prevention plan to reduce the frequency or even eliminate your child’s headaches. Each treatment plan prioritizes lifestyle changes, but if indicated, can also include additional evidence-based treatment options, such as supplements, medications, and/or cognitive behavioral therapy.
We will also teach you and your child how to recognize early signs of impending headaches and any concurrent symptoms like nausea or light or sound sensitivity. We will also share tools that can help track your child’s headaches and any associated symptoms.
The CCH Headache Clinic is a new resource in southeast Nebraska, led by Dr. Kimberly White, MD, MS, FAAP.
Dr. White is a general pediatrician at our 3262 Salt Creek Circle location in North Lincoln. Dr. White completed 9 months of neurology training at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) in addition to her pediatric residency at the UNMC-Creighton-CHI combined program. Dr. White is experienced in neurological examination. She and the CCH Team are here to help you and your child understand and manage their headaches. If your child experiences frequent or worsening headaches, please talk to your pediatrician or visit us at the Complete Children’s Health Headache Clinic.