Are You Suffering from 'Rebound Headaches'?

Jan. 10, 2003 -- -- Americans spend some $3 billion a year on over-the-counter headache remedies. But many experts believe some headaches — so-called rebound headaches — are actually caused by the very same medicines people are taking to stop them.

Dr. Fred Sheftell, one of the world's most-respected headache doctors, is upset that the labels on over-the-counter headache remedies offer absolutely no warning about rebound. "There's nothing that I know of where any of these products say anything about the genesis of rebound headaches and chronic daily headache. … I'd like to see that."

A Vicious Cycle

Here's how experts think rebound starts. Normally, when you take a pain reliever for an occasional headache, the medicine turns off pain receptors in the brain. But in a person prone to headaches — especially migraine headaches — pain relievers taken more than two to three days a week on a regular basis can make the pain receptors more sensitive than usual.

Consequently, as soon as the medicine wears off, these hyper-sensitive receptors turn on to produce a new headache. That leads the headache sufferer to take more medicine, which, in turn, leads to more headaches — a truly vicious cycle. Before long, most rebound patients are taking headache medicine every single day.

This vicious cycle nearly killed Eric Peterson, a 26-year-old veterinary student. But what will shock you is how little medicine it took to get him in trouble. Peterson's problems started in high school with migraine headaches that hit him a couple of times a week.

"I think I started with an ibuprofen type. I wasn't finding a tremendous amount of relief with that. And tried Excedrin — found that controlled things nicely for me," Peterson said.

Daily Habit Can Trigger Serious Health Problems

Initially, Peterson was able to manage his headaches by taking two Excedrin just two to three times a week. But that was enough to lead to rebound headaches. Soon, Eric was taking the pain relievers every day, which was very bad for both his head ... and his stomach.