By: Matthias C.
Medication headache is a cause of frequent or daily headaches. It is caused by
taking painkillers too often for headaches or migraine. The treatment is to stop the painkillers. This is vital to cure the problem. After stopping the painkillers, you will have worse and more frequent headaches for a while. However, the frequency of headaches should then gradually return to 'normal'.
What is medication headache?
Medication headache is caused by taking painkillers too often for tension-type headaches or
migraine. It is sometimes called medication overuse headache. It is a common cause of
headaches that occur daily, or on most days. About 1 in 50 people develop this problem at some time in their life. It is five times more common in women than men. How does medication headache occur?
The following is a typical case....
You may have a bad spell of tension headaches or migraines, perhaps during a time of stress. You take painkillers more often than usual. You continue doing this for a while. Therefore, your body becomes used to the painkillers. A 'rebound' or 'withdrawal' headache then develops if you do not take a painkiller within a day or so of the last dose. You think this is just another tension headache or migraine, and so you take a further dose of painkiller. When the effect of each dose of painkiller wears off, a further withdrawal headache develops, and so on. A vicious circle develops. In time, you may have headaches on most days, or on every day, and you end up taking painkillers every day, or on most days. Some people start to take painkillers
'routinely' every day to try to prevent headaches. This only makes things worse.The headache of medication headache is often described as 'oppressive' and tends to be worse first thing in the morning, or after exercise.
Which medicines cause medication headache?
All of the common painkillers used to treat tension-type headaches or migraine can cause this
problem. These include:
- Codeine.
- Paracetamol - especially if it is combined with codeine (for example, co-codamol).
- Anti-inflammatory painkillers such as aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen, diclofenac, etc.
- Triptans used for migraine such as almotriptan, eletriptan, naratriptan, rizatriptan,
sumatriptan, and zolmitriptan.
- Ergotamine.
Note: Strictly speaking, triptans and ergotamine are not classed as painkillers. They work in a
different way. However, they are used to treat migraine, and can cause medication headache.
What about taking painkillers for other conditions? Medication headache does not seem to develop if you take painkillers for other painful conditions such as arthritis. It only occurs if you take painkillers for headaches or migraine. It is not clear why this is so.
Medication headache is a cause of frequent or daily headaches. It is caused by taking painkillers too often for headaches or migraine. The treatment is to stop the painkillers. This is vital to cure the problem. After stopping the painkillers, you will have worse and more frequent headaches for a while. However, the frequency of headaches should then gradually return to 'normal'.
