Rebound Headaches

Having lots of headaches can pull you into a vicious cycle.

You get a headache, so you take some medicine to stop the pain.

But then once the medicine wears off, there's your headache again.

So you take some more medicine, maybe even a bigger dose, and still the headache comes back.

These are called rebound headaches.

They're different from other headaches, because they happen when you take certain types of headache medicine too often.

Preventive medicines--the kind you take every day to keep headaches from starting ...

Those don't cause rebound headaches.

But medicines that you take to stop a headache ...

Those are the kind that can cause rebound headaches.

And they may be prescription or nonprescription.

So, if you're taking medicine to stop headache pain more than 3 times a week, the best thing to do is talk with your doctor.

Because to stop the cycle of rebound headaches, you may need to stop taking the pain medicine.

That can be hard, but your doctor can help.

And your doctor may be able to give you the preventive medicine-- the kind you take every day to keep the headaches from starting.

Then you may not need the pain medicine as much or at all.

It can be hard, but with your doctor's help, you can stop the cycle of rebound headaches.