{"id":12280,"date":"2022-10-25T15:03:55","date_gmt":"2022-10-25T13:03:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.physiotutors.com\/?post_type=wiki&p=12280"},"modified":"2022-10-25T15:03:55","modified_gmt":"2022-10-25T13:03:55","slug":"medication-overuse-headache","status":"publish","type":"wiki","link":"https:\/\/www.physiotutors.com\/wiki\/medication-overuse-headache\/","title":{"rendered":"Medication Overuse Headache"},"featured_media":12281,"template":"","class_list":["post-12280","wiki","type-wiki","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"sections":[{"acf_fc_layout":"page-header-detail-page","background":{"background_image":12281,"background_image_alt_text":"Medication Overuse Headache"},"heading":"Medication Overuse Headache | Headache & Dizziness Assessment","subheading":"Headache","content_editor":"","button_type":"url","button_label":"Check our shop","button_style":"button-five","button_internal_link":null,"button_anchor":"","button_url":"https:\/\/study.physiotutors.com\/course\/headache-treatment-in-clinical-practice\/","button_file":null,"label":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"submenu","links":[{"button_type":"anchor","button_label":"Learn","button_internal_link":null,"button_anchor":"section-number-3","button_url":"","button_file":null},{"button_type":"anchor","button_label":"Online Course","button_internal_link":null,"button_anchor":"section-number-4","button_url":"","button_file":null},{"button_type":"anchor","button_label":"Reviews","button_internal_link":null,"button_anchor":"section-number-4","button_url":"","button_file":null}],"dropdown_label":"Go to","button_right":{"button_type":"internal_link","button_label":"Become a member","button_style":"button-three","button_internal_link":16662,"button_anchor":"","button_url":"","button_file":null},"button_description":"Find this wiki on the Physiotutors platform"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content-content","section_options":{"vertical_alignment":"top","column_right_box":false,"column_left_width":"col-12 col-lg-4 offset"},"column_left":{"content_editor":"

Learn<\/h4>"},"column_right":{"content_editor":"

Medication Overuse Headache | Headache & Dizziness Assessment<\/h2>\nHeadaches can manifest on their own but are also a very common symptom in neck pain patients as more than 60% of patients with a primary neck pain complaint report having concordant episodes of neck pain. Therefore it's essential to find out what kind of headache the patient is suffering from.\u00a0<\/span>\n\nTo start off let\u2019s differentiate between primary and secondary types of headaches. But what does this mean? Simply put, primary headaches are a \u201cdisease themselves\u201d whereas, in secondary headaches, the headache is a symptom of another condition. <\/span>So primary headaches would be migraines, tension-type headaches & cluster headaches. Secondary-type headaches are headaches caused by tumors, hemorrhage, other trauma, TMJ dysfunction, substance overdose, or neck pain aka the Cervicogenic headache.<\/span>\n\nNow let\u2019s take a closer look at medication overuse headache, which is a secondary type headache.\n<\/span>The prevalence of medication overuse headaches is reported to be 1-2% in the general population. Women are 3 to 4 times more often affected than men and the prevalence is highest at around 40 years of age. <\/span>\n\n[embed]https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=k-UQrO6e3z8[\/embed]\n\nIn order for a headache to be attributed to medication overuse it has to fulfill certain criteria:\u00a0<\/span>\n
    \n \t
  1. The headache occurs on \u226515 days\/month in a patient with a pre-existing headache disorder<\/span><\/li>\n \t
  2. Regular overuse for more than 3 months of one or more drugs that can be taken for acute and\/or symptomatic treatment of headaches. For simple analgesics such as paracetamol or NSAIDs, the intake has to be on 15 days or more per month. In the case of triptans and similar medication, 10 days or more per month is enough to diagnose medication overuse headache<\/span><\/li>\n \t
  3. Not better accounted for by another headache disorder<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\nAs a side note, you should also pay attention to excessive consumption of substances such as caffeine as they can evoke similar headache symptoms.<\/span>\n\n[cta]\n\nTools you can use to assess the impact of a headache on your patient are the HIT-6<\/a> questionnaire which you can find in the video description. Also note that it can be difficult for a patient to answer all of the questions on duration, intensity, and characteristics of their headache during your assessment. Therefore asking them to complete a headache diary can help in the assessment and management of the headache and you should be aware that there can be overlap between multiple headache disorders.<\/span>\n\nIf you would like to learn how to diagnose other common forms of headaches, check out the posts below:\n