complaints such as abdominal pain, and mood disorders such as depression and anxiety.
“ When there’ s stress for any reason, there’ s a higher chance to trigger a migraine,” Dr. Strunc says.“ When I see a child who has a migraine, and his dad left last week for Iraq and will be gone for a year, and he’ s not sure what his dad is going to do, and he’ s worried his dad might not come home, but he doesn’ t talk about it? That’ s a trigger, and one that most kids do not encounter.”
Of course, children aren’ t the only members of the household who suffer stress during a deployment. One of the best things parents can do to help their child during this time is find ways to effectively deal with their own stress, says Major Dalila Lewis, MD, FAAP, United States Air Force, child neurologist at the U. S. Naval Medical Center Portsmouth and Joint Base Langley-Eustis.
“ Children often pick up on their parents’ feelings of stress,” Dr. Lewis says.“ Parental stressors can often heighten the stress of the child.”
In fact, according to research published in the August 2009 issue of the Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics,“ the most significant predictor of child psychosocial functioning during wartime deployment was parenting stress.” Decreasing the level of stress perceived by children is one way parents can actively help prevent children’ s headaches.
THE POWER OF COMMUNICATION
When a family member is deployed, it might seem easier to ignore the pain it may cause. But a lack of communication could impact the entire family’ s emotional and physical health.
“ Communication is really the best thing that parents can do, especially for adolescents, who are more likely to discuss things with their friends,” Dr. Lewis says.
From a child’ s perspective, talking to a parent or sibling about stress is very different than talking to a friend or professional counselor. Children may feel safer talking about sensitive topics with someone outside of the family unit, especially when those topics relate to family problems. If you don’ t feel like
Resources for Relief
Dr. Lewis recommends these websites for children experiencing headache who have a parent or parents in the military:
MilitaryOneSource. mil: From counseling services to social events, this site offers a wealth of information and lists activites and resources for children, adolescents and parents( e. g., upcoming social and community events).“ They can meet up with other families who are going through the same things,” Dr. Lewis says.
www. MigraineAndMe. ie: This resource, developed by the Migraine Association of Ireland, is intended for children, teens, parents and teachers to learn about migraine.“ It has fun animation and graphics that appeal to all age levels,” Dr. Lewis says.
your child is engaging in a dialogue with you, seek out a professional to help, Dr. Lewis says. When the child begins to talk about his or her headaches and associated factors, it assists parents and physicians in identifying potential headache triggers.
“ I talk to kids about what is going on in their family, and that’ s a window into the stress level of the child,” Dr. Strunc says.“ When there’ s stress or anxiety in children, it can be hidden. It’ s not very often that a teenager says,‘ Mom, I’ d like to tell you about the stress and anxiety going on in my life.’”
Parents aren’ t the only external factor that can contribute to stress-induced headache. Media influences may exacerbate children’ s fears surrounding their parents’ deployment, Dr. Lewis says.
“ It’ s suspected that media enhance fears of deployment, which is somewhat hard for physicians and parents to combat,” Dr. Lewis says.“ Some parents don’ t recognize what their children are watching and how much that exposure is contributing to their child’ s stress.”
This is where an open forum for dialogue can really pay off.“ It is very common for headache to increase during the time of deployment,” Dr. Lewis says.“ If parents can anticipate that— and not just parents but the community and teachers— and allow a forum for talking, that helps.” HW
If you are a soldier looking for help, visit the NHF War Veterans Resource Initiative at www. headaches. org / warveterans.
www. headaches. org | National Headache Foundation 21