After years and years of having headaches, a person’s headaches commonly become more frequent and can even be present all the time. When it gets to this point, they can be called chronic daily headaches.
These headaches are difficult to deal with. First, your doctor will want to exclude more serious causes of the headaches. This involves a thorough discussion of your headaches and how they have progressed and an exam looking for neurologic changes. If there are findings on exam, or evidence from the history, further tests such as blood tests and a CT scan may be indicated.
The most common cause of chronic daily headaches is having an underlying headache type such as migraines or tension type headache that is being treated with medications nearly every day. When headache medicines are used that often, rebound headaches will occur when the medicine leaves the body. This can happen with nearly any of the medicines that are used to treat headaches if they are used more than three days a week.
How can you prevent chronic daily headaches or at least decrease the likelihood they will develop? Surprisingly, the first step is to stop using all medicines for the headaches. This will allow the headaches to return to their normal pattern, whether it is a migraine or tension-type headache. The underlying headache will then become more responsive to appropriate treatment.
Keep a headache diary to monitor their frequency and severity and how they respond to various treatments your doctor advises. Then work closely with your doctor to utilize prophylactic medicines and non-drug treatments such as relaxation exercises and biofeedback to control your headaches.
This health article was provided by Carolina Pines Regional Medical Center. Call (843) 339-4563 for more information. Carolina Pines Regional Medical Center …quality healthcare, close to home.
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