Headache medical therapy

Overview

Headaches may be successfully treated through medical therapies such as analgesisa and, in some cases, a tandem approach with implanted electrodes.

Treatment

Not all headaches require medical attention, and respond with simple analgesia (painkillers) such as paracetamol/acetaminophen or members of the NSAID class (such as aspirin/acetylsalicylic acid or ibuprofen).

In recurrent unexplained headaches, healthcare professionals may recommend keeping a "headache diary] with entries on type of headache, associated symptoms, precipitating and aggravating factors. This may reveal specific patterns, such as an association with medication, menstruation or absenteeism or with certain foods. While it can be time consuming and complex, taking the effort to both determine the root cause of each headache type that the afflicted may have and then customize treatment for one aspect at a time can be quite fruitful. This is sometimes referred to as reducing total load [1].

It was reported in March 2007 by two separate teams of researchers that stimulating the brain with implanted electrodes appears to help ease the pain of cluster headaches. Since cluster headache is ultimately an autonomic nervous system generated headache, evaluation for Barre lieou may offer an effective, non-invasive alternative.