Rebound Headaches
Sunday, January 31st, 2010Rebound Headaches – Why Your Migraine Medicine May Be Working Against You
Many chronic migraine sufferers resort to taking prescription medicines named triptans when a migraine gets out of control. These medicines are used “acutely”. This means you take them when you already have a migraine you want to stop. These drugs do not prevent migraines from occurring.
In fact, not only do they not prevent migraines, the general consensus amongst researchers and clinicians is that on-going regular use of triptan drugs like Imitrex or Zomig actually increase the total number of migraines that many users of the drugs have. This phenomenon is known as “Rebound Headache.”
Some readers of this article may recognize this pattern in their own lives. A migraine develops that won’t go away and one of these drugs is administered. The current migraine either goes away or decreases in intensity to the point where it is manageable but a day or two later, another migraine occurs. “The Rebound Headache”.
If users are not careful this can lead to increasing drug use and a cycle of reoccurring migraines. This rebound cycle occurs not only with triptan drugs but with caffeine containing over the counter medicines like Excedrin. Caffeine can help reduce the pain of headaches and migraines in some sufferers. But unfortunately it is caffeine that causes many headaches and contributes to the development of migraines in many, if not most sufferers. In fact, several well known neurologists who specialize in treating migraine sufferers have stated that one of the most powerful ways to reduce the number of migraines that sufferers experience is to remove caffeine from their diets. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done, because caffeine is addictive and many sufferers when attempting to ween off of it actually go through withdrawal like symptoms and experience a temporary, short increase in their headaches or migraines. Fortunately, this will last only a short time, perhaps several days and then a significant decrease in the frequency and intensity of migraines should occur.
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