Any connection between chronic headaches and liver problems?

Our 16 yr old daughter developed severe headaches AND abdominal pain in Nov 2001 (same week). During Nov we had many visits to emergency at the hospital and to family doctor. At end of Nov she was admitted to hospital and it was confirmed that her gall baldder was not functioning properly. No evidence of gall stones or infection.

Her gall bladder was removed in Jan 2002 and her abdominal pain is for all intents gone as long as she avoids deep fried foods.

The problem however is that her chronic headaches continue with a vengance. She has headaches 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week with and average intensity of 5/10 to 7/10 on the pain intensity chart. Very rarely will the pain be below a 5/10. Since Feb we have see our family Dr about a dozen times, seen a neurologist, a dentist, an optomiterist, an opthomologist, a neural opthomologist and has been to emergency once. She has had a CT Scan done and everything appears OK except for some possible sinus infection that was treated with Antibiotics . Rewcently she had 3 sessions with a massage therapist who after 3 treatments concluded that it was doing any good.

She was on Advil and Tylenol at various times over the last 6 months however she stopped taking them several weeks ago due to them having little or no effect on her headaches and she is conscious that it is not good to take pain killers for long periods of time.

Currently she is on a medication called Amitriptyline as prescribed by the family Dr and the neurologist since they believe the cause of the headaches is tension. She started at 10 mg per day and is now at 20mg per day. After 3 weeks on this medication there is no easing of the headaches and she is very tired she believes due to the medication. The doctors tell her to be patient with this medication as it may take more time to produce results.

My wife and I are very anxious to find a solution and get our daughter back to her normal self, like she was before Nov 2001. We the parents find it strange that her headaches and her abdominal pain started at the same time. Some lay people have asked if the doctors had mentioned possible liver problems and one lady suggested a liver cleanse. When she was in hospital in Nov and during her surgery in Jan one of her liver enzymes was elevated however within one month of the surgery, the enzyme returned to normal levels. During her gall bladder surgery they took a liver biopsy which was found to be normal.

If anyone out there can relate to this situation or shed some light on our dilema, we would be most appreciative. We are anxiously awaiting feedback. Thanks in advance for your thoughts! Tweet