I am so sorry to read about your daughters head injury. My daughter was 11 when she was injured. She still suffers with post-concussive symptoms and she is now 13. The headaches remain terrible at times but are less frequent.

My daughter fell during a ski lesson and got her concussion. The ski instructor told her she was fine and to get up. She was very dizzy and fell and hit her head a second time within minutes. A second hit to the head before recovering from her first concussion made this so much worse for her and has prolonged her symptoms. (I mention this so you don't worry that your daughter will still have these headaches and symptoms years from now. Most kids resolve within months.)

I do think that the care and advice that you are receiving right now is very important and can make all the difference. I would suggest a pediatric concussion specialist.

The most important thing we have learned is to stop whatever she is doing and rest immediately when a headache starts to come. Rest or sleep until the headache passes. Make a note of what she was doing and what the environment was when the headache started so you start to spot triggers that cause headaches.

I too would be worried about the vicodin and would want a second opinion on that asap. My daughter was only able to take Advil and Tylenol because of her age and weight at 11. Advil always worked much better than Tylenol. I always wished that they would prescribe a stronger pain med to give her some relief from the headaches, but they would not. Perhaps our doctors are just more conservative in that regard and it is fine. I would suggest getting a second opinion to be sure.

The only thing that really took her pain away was sleep. She slept a ton in a very dark and quite room. For her it was important that we kept the house very quite when a headache was present.

It is awful to watch your child suffer with a headache and not be able to make the pain go away or at least tell them when they will be all better. It is such a frightening and helpless feeling and my heart goes out to you.

Right now your daughter's brain needs to rest and recover. Don't worry right now about missing too much school or make-up work at this time. It is still very early. There will be time to make-up and catch-up once her headaches are under control.

If there is a way to privately exchange phone numbers on here, I would be happy to talk to you if that would help.

I am glad that you found this board so early. Many supportive people here and tons of information.