A teen athlete's headache wouldn't stop. It took a year to find a cure.
A teen athlete's headache wouldn't stop. It took a year to find a cure.
Kerry BreenSat, April 11, 2026 at 12:00 PM UTC
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Jack Alston had been playing football for most of his life — but he had never shaken the bad habit of leading with his head. During a practice in August 2024, he was hit hard, but never exhibited typical concussion symptoms like vomiting or losing consciousness.
The incident left him with a mild headache. He had a history of migraines, so at first, the pain didn't bother him much. But then it "didn't really go away," Jack, then in eighth grade, said. Still, football was "his life." He avoided mentioning the pain to his parents so he wouldn't miss practices or games. Caroline Alston said that if she'd known what was wrong, she would have never let her son back on the field.
"We just assumed he was OK. We didn't follow up," Alston said. "I think that's where we made a mistake."
Two weeks later, Jack took another hit. Again, he didn't lose consciousness or show typical concussion symptoms. He finished the game. Then the pain sharply escalated.
Jack said his daily pain felt like an "eight or nine" out of 10. His parents pulled him from the team. Doctors said he had a concussion, but no one could make the pain stop.
"It never, ever left. It was awful," Alston said. "Imagine having pain like that as a 14-year-old."
An undated photo of Jack Alston in his football uniform. / Credit: Caroline Alston
"Throwing things at the wall"
The Alstons visited pediatricians, a neurologist, and chiropractors. They tried changing Jack's diet. They tried a hyperbolic chamber. They traveled from their home state of Kentucky to Georgia to see sports physicians who treat the Atlanta Falcons. Nothing worked.
"We were kind of throwing things at the wall," Alston said. "We went everywhere we possibly could. We had tried everything we could possibly do to try and find a solution. Nothing, nothing was bringing him down from a nine out of 10."
Meanwhile, Jack couldn't focus on school and often needed to rest in the nurse's office. He couldn't spend time with friends or take part in extracurricular activities. Reading was particularly difficult. Frequent appointments also impacted his academic performance.
Finally, the Alstons were referred to the Cleveland Clinic. They met Dr. Konstantinos Tourlas, a pediatric neurologist and headache specialist, on Jan. 31, 2025.
"I don't want to do this anymore"
Tourlas diagnosed Jack with a persistent post-traumatic headache. Dr. Todd Schwedt, president of the American Headache Society and a professor of neurology at the Mayo Clinic, said that a diagnosis of persistent post-traumatic headache refers to any headache that lasts more than three months. It's most commonly found after head injuries, he said.
People who have migraines, as Jack did, are more susceptible to the condition, Schwedt said. People with previous concussions or head injuries are also more likely to develop persistent post-traumatic headache. Treatment for the condition varies from patient to patient, Schwedt said. There is no FDA-approved medication specifically meant to treat headaches after a concussion, so doctors often use treatments approved for migraines.
Tourlas started with a nerve block to temporarily reduce Jack's pain, then prescribed an oral medication that had little effect. In March 2025, Tourlas gave Jack another nerve block and admitted him to the Cleveland Clinic's pediatric infusion center to try IV medications. Intravenous treatment can be more effective because the medicine more easily enters the bloodstream, Tourlas said.
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Tourlas tested multiple medication combinations over five days. The treatments brought Jack's "baseline headache pain from a nine all the way down to a five out of 10," Tourlas said, which was a marked improvement.
Then Tourlas tried another round of oral medications to see if they could help even more. When that failed again, Jack was re-admitted to the infusion center for another five days in September 2025. It was a "hard" time, Alston said.
"At one point he said, 'I just want to go home. I don't want to do this anymore,'" she said.
On the last day of treatment, Jack's pain was down to a three out of 10, Tourlas said. A third round of oral medication followed — and worked. On Sept. 22, over a year after the headaches began, Jack sent Tourlas a message saying he was in no pain.
"It was like a waterfall sensation," Jack said. "Like everything was falling off, like the pain was falling away."
An undated photo of Jack Alston. / Credit: Caroline Alston
"Just grateful he's back"
Jack, now 14, said he has been feeling "really good" in the months since his headaches ended. He recently took up lacrosse, and he is debating rejoining the football team for his sophomore year.
"I'm not going to lead with my head anymore. That's a lesson I've learned," Jack joked.
Alston said she's not sure about letting him return to the gridiron. Tourlas warned that another concussion could put Jack back in the same situation.
"I'm concerned about that happening again, because we could wind ourselves right back up at Cleveland Clinic trying to solve this problem again," she said. "But we'd love for him to be the kicker. We'd love for him to do something other than be on the line. But that's his choice. Let's hope he really likes lacrosse, and maybe he'll give up football."
Jack has been filling his time with other hobbies. He recently got a parakeet and is learning how to play the guitar. He's been weightlifting. He is studying to apply to the United States Merchant Marine Academy, where he wants to get a master's degree in naval architecture and engineering so he can design cruise ships. Alston said it's a relief to see him living normally again.
"We're just grateful he's back to being able to study and read and learn," she said. "It's awesome to have him back on track and back in the classroom and playing sports and being able to be a kid."
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