Rebound headaches

[CrispsandCheeseSandwich]

I've always suffered from headaches but recently have had more and was taking daily painkillers - not a lot a day, but it was every day. Now I think I might have ended up with rebound/medication overuse headaches, which are much worse than my original headaches!

Has anyone else had these? How long did they last if you decided to just stop taking painkillers? Or did you slowly reduce the painkillers? Did they get much worse? I know I need to stop taking them to see if the headaches go away, but I'm not sure it's feasible right over Christmas if I'm going to be in a lot of pain for days on end.

I had these, stopped the painkillers entirely, drank plenty water and rehydration solution, used ice, heat, that tiger balm stuff you rub on your temples, headspace app for chronic pain mindfulness course, and just suffered through it for a few months until they stopped. Was tough but better in the long term.

A few months?! I was hoping for more like a week or two 😔

Were they bad for the whole time, or did they gradually reduce?

They got worse for the first few weeks then gradually improved over 3-4 months until now where I get headaches once a week if that and manage them without painkillers to avoid going back to medication overuse headaches

Ouch, that sounds tough. Were yours caused by paracetamol/ibuprofen, or by something like prescription migraine medication? Was pain the "only" symptom you had when you stopped taking it.

Some stuff I've read online has talked about things like nausea, diarrhoea etc but it's not clear whether that applies to standard painkillers, or if that's more likely with prescription stuff, either stronger painkillers or migraine medication. I mean, I don't think I actually take that much to cause that, but then I didn't realise I was potentially causing these worse headaches either!

mine were caused by taking maximum paracetamol and ibuprofen every day for 2-3 months, pain was the main symptom of stopping them, no stomach issues

Thank you. I haven't taken any today and my head has been pretty bad. Not sure stopping painkillers now and having worsening headaches over a Christmas week with 2 small children and various family members is the best way to go but I'll see what happens!

Have you recently had a virus?

I've had daily headaches for weeks now but I can link it back to starting when I had a sore throat. I am demented. I can wake up with one or develop one as the days goes on. Some days painkillers don't work. Other days one dose works. But I need the pain relief daily

I've had a few things over the last few months that have led to me taking painkillers more frequently, which has led to what I now think are rebound headaches.

I did have a virus a while ago where I did take painkillers for a headache but I don't think that's causing this directly.

Yes I had this. Many years ago I had a lot of stress and as I was the sort who got headaches frequently, started taking more painkillers. I got more and more headaches but never twigged what was going on, just took more of them, on a daily basis. Then one day I read a magazine article about rebound headaches and realised that was what was going on! I immediately tried to stop taking painkillers completely but quickly realised that was far too abrupt (and painful!), so instead did it more gradually. Even so I had to sit out some painful rebound headaches - but I discovered something, after 24 hours they would just stop. I made a note of the times and it was a regular thing.

Anyway I would say don't try to stop totally, there will be times you need to take something, just make sure that overall your usage is decreasing. Keep detailed records of times and doses. It took me a year to get clear, but I was taking way too many! Should be a lot quicker for you. I now rarely ever get a headache, or if I do it can be managed by drinking water as it's usually dehydration.

As a pp said, drink plenty of water. Good luck!

@CrunchyCarrot that must have been a tough year! I think mine are stress related in part, did you do anything else to prevent them like meditation etc?
I've been ok cold turkey so far although it hasn't been pleasant. I think I've lucked out that I just happened to read something about rebound headaches so hopefully I've spotted it relatively early. Even if mine aren't rebound headaches I was definitely taking enough that it might have caused them soon anyway so either way I needed to cut down.

Funnily enough by then I'd left the stressful situation and was in much better circumstances, but it does take awhile to get over that sort of thing. I was physically dependent on the darn things and just had to get them out of my system. Hopefully didn't do lasting damage (liver and kidneys are OK) but I do think may have contributed to leaky gut and later onset of Hashimoto's. Still that's just speculation, but you can't be too careful.

Yes it is a good thing you've already figured out what may be going on, good on you for tackling it.

@CrispsandCheeseSandwich hello, I was just wondering how you are getting on? As I have the same thing and came across your thread

I've had a constant headache for 8 days now, anything serious has been ruled out. I had a bad run of illnesses over Xmas (covid etc..) where I took alot of paracetamol and ibroprofin etc... and then one night I woke up with the most severe headache and since the have suffered daily (less intense but there constantly in waves)

Did you manage to detox? I'm on my first day of no painkillers as i think i may be in a 'rebound headache loop' with all the meds.

Hope you are ok x

@Perez123 it's gone well. The first few days (maybe 5 days) were unpleasant and then it started getting better. And then a few days ago I woke up without a headache, which was a lovely feeling! It took I guess about 12 days for it to resolve.
I took the advice of a PP and got some tiger balm for headaches and that helped a lot, having it to rub onto my temple.

@CrispsandCheeseSandwich that's great 👍 so glad it's worked for you! Just need to get through the next week 🙈

@Perez123 how did you get on with stopping the painkillers? I'm currently suffering due to medication overuse of paracetamol and ibuprofen. My GP said he expects the headaches to stop within 2-10 days 🤞🏻🤞🏻