Have you ever experienced a medication overuse headache? This occurs when using pain medications too frequently causes the headache! While they used to be known as “rebound headaches,” today they’re referred to as medication overuse headaches and to be considered such, they generally need to occur more than 15 days a month for at least three months straight. Who is most at risk? People who use narcotic and butalbital-containing meds. That said, those who use triptans, ergotamines, analgesics, opioids, and even certain over-the-counter meds can get them.
Keep in mind that pain medications affect how your brain functions. Research suggests that using certain pain medications frequently can lower your threshold for pain while reinforcing pathways that process pain. Thus, you get headaches.
Are you already a migraine sufferer? Then you’re more likely to develop medication overuse headaches.
Are you using simple analgesics like aspirin or ibuprofen, but exceeding the recommended daily dosage and doing so for more than two weeks? Then you’re likely to develop medication overuse headaches. Similarly, the use of combination pain relievers that include caffeine, aspirin and acetaminophen can bring on such headaches. Headaches can be exacerbated by even something as simple as drinking too much caffeine daily, so if you’re addicted to coffee, pop or Red Bull, you might need help weaning yourself off those drinks.
If you’re looking for a treatment that doesn’t involve drugs, consider chiropractic care. Dr. Jason Gerard can make a correction of the neck to relieve chronic headache syndromes. Meanwhile, adjusting the cervical spine is a way to fix the source of the headache condition in order to reduce the need for the person to take their particular medication. Ideally, chiropractic care on the neck and spine can lead to a person not having as many headaches, which means not having to take medication like they used to.
Why not make an appointment to see Dr. Gerard? He will see if you have a subtle shift in your top vertebra that needs correction in order to improve the way you feel. Please call Lakewoods Chiropractic in Forest Lake, MN, at 651-464-0800 or email info@lakewoodschiropractic.com.
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