Why do I have Chronic Headaches?

As is often common in the treatment of disease and discomfort, the treatment has the potential to cause equal or greater problems than the disease or discomfort itself. The bothersome headache is no exception. Everyone is occasionally afflicted with a headache.  A number of wonderful people deal with them on a regular basis.  There are many causes and as always, one should be evaluated by a medical professional to ensure nothing of real concern is occurring.

A recent study highlighted the fact that the treatment of chronic headaches actually may be the cause of the chronic headaches.  Researchers found in a headache referral center that almost 80% of their patients suffer from rebound or medication induced headaches. They found that with two simple questions, they could identify people with medication overuse headaches: “Do you take a headache medication more than ten days a month?” and “Is this intake on a regular basis?”  Answering yes to these to questions helped the doctors diagnose medication overuse headaches with 95% sensitivity and 80% specificity.

In other words, these two questions are very effective in identifying the type and cause of chronic headaches.  To reiterate, if you suffer from chronic headaches, be sure to discuss them with your primary care doctor and get their expert opinion. Just ask yourself these to questions while driving to your appointment.