Common causes of morning headaches

Dear Ask The Doctor: Hello, I am a 16 year old male and I tend to wake up almost every morning with a painful headache. Can this be cause for concern?

You should have it checked because you may have sinusitis. Some people with sinusitis have headaches that are worse in the morning; nasal congestion is not a consistent symptom. There are also other serious causes of headache (brain infections, brain tumor, etc) and these should be ruled out. A complete physical and neurologic exam by a doctor can already tell a lot of things. I do hope this helps and take care always.