Medication induced headache

If people take any analgesic regularly for any length of time they are at risk of medication induced headache. The official definition of medication induced headache is use of analgesics for more than 15 days per month for more than three months. Often patients will say 'I only take pain-killers when I need them' - ask how quickly they go through a packet of paracetamol.

Treatment of tension-type headache should be:

Analgesic cessation

Patients may have superimposed 'tension-type' headache and/or migraine too. If they have days when the headache is so bad that they want to go and lie down somewhere then it would be worth treating them for migraine too.