It seems months already since my daughter has complained her head hurts. My 2 school aged kids often say their heads hurt at school.
In November my 8-year-old was in the hospital for stomach pains, and head pains that lasted a week- though she did have a slight fever, so maybe that was a virus.
Our pediatrician suggested that the kids see a neurologist in connection with their frequent (daily) head pains. The diagnosis given both of them was vegetative dystonia. No idea what the proper English name of it is. But from what my research suggests it seems that this is stress induced and can portray itself with various pains.
Every day my daughter says either her tummy hurts, her head hurts, or now the latest thing is her throat hurts. No matter how healthy she acts after school, or at the weekends, when Monday comes this reoccurring cycle of pains starts all over again.
From what I am learning about the vegatative dystonia it would seem that having long term stress can induce these type of symptoms, that the body feels as pain.
My biggest question this past week has been, “What is the stress my kids, and especially my daughter are facing?”
School is, of course, a logical stress for any kid. It is loud there. My son has had his fair share of problems with bullies in the class. But we have worked with the school on these issues. But my daughter loves her class and her teacher!
The only other stress my daughter faces is music school. Which after some thought, and some comments from my daughter helped me realize that the ONE thing she has in life she REALLY doesn’t like, and fears is her new piano teacher. For the first 2 years of her music lessons, she had a peaceful, calm, young teacher. But then in September, she was assigned an older, Russian, sometimes sharp and grumpy teacher. After her first lesson, she was in tears. and said the teacher had yelled at her. I had a talk with the teacher then and told her that my daughter needs a tender touch. That as an American/Latvian family we have a lot of focus on positivity and this old school Russian method of teaching was not going to work with her. I thought I made my self clear.
A month or so later both my kids were complaining that this piano teacher pushes too hard on their hands when showing them how/what to play and that their hands hurt after their lessons. I talked to the head of the piano department and told her this situation. She talked to the teacher, and things improved for a while.
My daughter got her best ever exam scores in piano. But every lesson she was a bit worried. Then one evening last week she said while practicing her lesson, “Mom, I’m’so scared about my lesson tomorrow. Maybe my teacher will yell at me again.” I then had that moment we sometimes get as moms when all the pieces connect And where I realized that living with the fear of her piano teacher for 4 months, and not changing the teacher right away IS probably the reason she has had all these pains, that has slowly been morphing into something bigger.
Tuesday I went to the music school and requested a new teacher for my daughter, for health reasons. I know my daughter has talent. I want her to be able to pursue music with joy, not stress. . .
Hoping and praying that with vitamins, and a new teacher God will bring healing to my daughter. And that we will be able to face school mornings with less drama and fewer pains.
To be Latvian 