Paracetamol overuse

[Daniki]

Hi,

I read another thread earlier which hit home and really making me want to change.

I suffer with chronic migraines (since I was a child. I normally get anywhere from 5/6 per month, worse around period. For years I managed ok and nurofen was enough to take, but in 2016 I got diagnosed with Crohn's disease so can't take ibuprofen anymore. Took solpadeine for them (Co codamol in the uk) but ended up taking them every single day for a few years to deal with Chronic pain from Crohn's , a severe car accident I was in and of course the migraines. When I became pregnant 2 years I stopped taking them and took paracetamol when needed. After the birth I found I was taking paracetamol nearly every single day and here I am still doing it.

I definitely have medication over use headaches on top of my migraines and find sometimes I'm taking 4000mg of panadol up to 5 days a week.

Has anyone weaned off successfully? The thoughts of the headaches I'm going to have scares the life of me but the thought of a paracetamol overdose scares me more.

Please help 😥

How much are you actually having daily? you can take 4g (x8 500mg tablets) per day with no ill effects. I take this daily most of the time due to chronic back and neck pain.

If you are in chronic pain and basic analgesia is not working, then you should discuss this with your GP.

Depends on the day, some days I could take 4000mg (I take the soluble ones so 2x500mg up to 4 times per day)
On the days with bad migraines/headaches Il defo take the 4000mg and triptans aswell. But the triptans usually for period migraine I get as nothing else will work.

I meant to write up to 4g per day! I am paranoid about going over the max amount per day but I know my headaches are now a combo of migraines and medication over use 🙈

I have bad arthritis and the GP told me to take paracetamol 4 times per day forever. They will not prescribe anything stronger at all even though the paracetamol is not really helping with pain, the GP said that painkillers do not work for pain so I am at a loss as to what to do 🙄

I had medication overuse headaches. I took paracetamol, codeine and sumatriptan multiple times a week and was having headaches/migraines at least 50% of the time and although painkillers would work to a point they weren't really good at reducing the headaches in the long term. I had been like this for probably 6/7 years and feel like it was getting worse.
In January I started reducing them by stopping the codeine altogether and limiting myself to only taking tablets every other day (I'd plan this to make sure when I had something I really needed to be pain free for I could have tablets on those days) and then reducing the amounts and frequency. It took about a month and now I only take one dose, maybe 2/3 days a month and the tablets are much more effective. It's definitely worth doing. If I could have taken a few weeks off work I think I might have gone cold turkey but I didn't have enough leave.

I was told that although some people can take paracetamol continuously for many conditions but that when taken for headaches it can cause medication overuse headaches

@IndigoSkye this sounds exactly like me! Yes the doctor told me the same in the migraine clinic actually. Very annoying.

I'm trying to work out some plan to reduce what I'm taking but iv no clue where to start. I have already cut codeine out I only take it if it was extremely necessary i.e with my 2 miscarriages or one of those migraines that I need it with sumatriptan.

How long did it take you to wean and how did you feel? I actually considered this earlier about taking leave but we're building a house and paying rent so can't afford to

Please be very careful, I decided to research after the other thread and got a shock to see that it's actually 75mg/kg a day. I've always thought 8 tablets is fine but I'm actually underweight so according to the calculation there are definite occasions when I've had too much. Just incase for anyone else.

There is a podcast run by a neuroscientist who covers headaches here https://open.spotify.com/episode/4piiZROlbgTKws8vmyMoTw?si=Vaqp1dmaT0K3Ti9vN-4wBg (and various other topics).

One thing that helps my husband is getting his feet super cold (barefoot outside in the winter, on a bag of frozen peas, etc). For me it is sleeping if painkillers help. I take Propanolol to prevent the migraines which has been very effective. It's usually the first line of treatment for them. Search the NICE guidelines for migraine treatment and take them with you to your GP appointment.

To be honest I think only about a month. It was tough at first, but I was due to start a new job and I knew I couldn't work full time in the state I was in. So I gave myself a plan for about 6 weeks but I don't think it took as long as I thought it would. I remember suddenly realising I hadn't had a headache for a few days or needed medication! It was really worth doing.

Thanks guys! I'm going to try similar @IndigoSkye I find if I'm kept busy I don't even think about my headaches unless it's obviously a bad one.

Wish me luck! 🙈

You've got this - Good luck @Daniki