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| |  Abstaining From Medicine May Cure Drug Rebound Headache SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- March 23, 1998 -- Many people who suffer from chronic daily headaches would find relief simply by not taking daily headache medicine, according to a report in this month’s issue of the Western Journal of Medicine. Such people suffer from drug rebound headaches, caused by the daily use of medications to treat headache symptoms. Failure to stop taking daily pain medication, the report warns, can lead to drug resistant headaches. "The phenomenon of drug rebound headaches has been described as an unrecognised epidemic," said author Morris Maizels, M.D., a family practitioner with the Southern California Permanente Medical Group. In his review of medical literature, Dr. Maizels found that up to 78 percent of patients studied, who suffered from chronic daily headaches, experienced a marked lessening of symptoms just by cutting out daily use of pain pills. Dr. Maizels said that patients with chronic daily headaches account for 40 percent of all patients seen in headache clinics. He said that while any medicine may cause a drug rebound headache, it is especially likely with ergotamines or narcotics, or with pain pills containing caffeine. Dr. Maizels notes that daily doses of as little as three aspirin a day can cause drug rebound headaches, which can be severe and resemble migraines. Symptoms are usually relieved after patients go through a wash-out period of 8 weeks without taking daily medication, although symptoms often improve much sooner. Once patients stop taking daily pain medication they may feel worse for about two weeks before improvement begins, he said, adding that most patients can be abruptly withdrawn from their medications as outpatients, but some may require referral to a headache specialist to manage their withdrawal symptoms.
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