What causes intense headaches in a 17 year old?
Patient: My 17 year old daughter is having intense headaches that are increasing in frequency. She has had a steady headache for 6 days, and she is also having a stabbing pain occasionally that she describes as an axe being dropped into the middle of head. She says this stabbing pain is new - she has never felt anything like it before. She has experienced a little numbness on left side (but that was a few weeks ago and it was not related to this headache episode). She has been dizzy with this headache. We had blood tests run to see if she was anemic, but she is not. Any ideas? Doctor: Hi...this could be a migraine or a stress headache or a cluster headache. Especially in this age it is quite common. A small question is that was the blood pressure checked when she got into contact with medical personnel. Being dizzy could be a sign of aura of headache. But what I suggest is that such sever headache should definitely be evaluated. Iron deficiency cannot be the sole reason for this.Regards - DR. Sumanth