Today is my birthday, and all I really want is for my 10 yr old son, who is prone to anxiety, to stop worrying himself into headaches, which in turn make him too afraid to eat or drink (he gets nauseous from the headache), leading to a vicious cycle that can go on and on. Please will you pray for him? I don't know how to help him because coaxing him to eat in any way makes things 100% worse. He went to bed with a headache that he had all day yesterday and I know he's going to wake up hungry but worried this morning. I'm putting the entire matter into God and St. Joseph's hands.
Happy Birthday. If he won’t eat could you give him nutritious shakes? My daughter has a child who doesn’t eat much and she resorted to ordering them from Amazon. I think they are fortified milk drinks. This really isn’t perfect I know but it is so stressful when they won’t eat. I see he’s eating a bit more now which is good. Long May it last. EDIT: I now se that he won’t drink either when he is anxious. Bless him. Maybe pray over him? I once had great success with just saying a healing prayer over a sick child. Not guaranteed though.
We tried the shakes back when he was 5 and would barely nibble on anything for a whole week. He drank them at first but quickly decided he didn't like them. This child is one I do have to pray about constantly, because he is so anxious and fearful about so many things and it can be debilitating. My anxiety about it only makes it worse, so I think God is telling me to relax and trust Him more instead of always trying everything I can think of to "fix" my son's problems. Prayer works better than anything else I've tried. I've thought about having my husband do some of the deliverance prayers against generational spirits over him, because my mother was/is like this. I see so much of her problems in him. I spent my childhood having to convince my mom to eat as she'd lie on the floor unable to deal with life and refusing all food. It's so discouraging that it's continuing on with my son.
Have you had him checked out for the headaches? I have a non malignant brain tumor (epidermoid brain cyst) that causes severe headaches. I cannot eat when I have them. They are very slow growing and people are born with them.
No I haven't, but i don't believe that's what it is. He has a history of very clearly "creating" his own headaches through fear/anxiety. For instance, when everyone was forced to mask during Covid, we only wore masks to go grocery shopping. Every single time we got home, my son had a headache. After talking with him, we realized that all the masks were very fear-inducing for him, so we stopped wearing masks entirely. From that day forward, he no longer had a headache when we went shopping. The fear of eating associated with headaches may be my fault. I used to think his headaches were brought on by going too long without eating, because he is very thin. Unfortunately, I'd try to make him eat while he had a headache, and the upset that would follow when he just wanted to be left alone made him gag. I backed off, but he'd always remember the gagging and assumed he was likely to throw up with every headache. He has a terrible fear of throwing up. Yesterday morning he woke up with no headache but knew we were driving to our property in the country, where he last happened to have a headache. He told me he was very afraid he would get a headache again, and due to the fear, he refused breakfast. By lunch time, he had a headache.
Birthday blessings PF. Your poor boy, no fun to suffer with headaches and worries so young. I will pray to St. Joseph for him. Have you ruled out migraines? Children can get them too, and they can be triggered by stress/anxiety, they can also make you very nauseous. As a migraine sufferer I know how miserable these headaches can be, I can barely function. There is medication available, but I have found exercise, along with gentle head, neck and jaw massage are helpful to relieve tension. Distractions are good for anxiety, you mentioned board games...keep him very busy.
I'll pray also for him. Anxiety is very difficult to deal with and underlies many health problems. I had it with my daughters but thankfully we came through. Prayer always solves problems. Our Lady has always been my rock.
