Chronic headaches: pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment.

Centro Cefalee, National Neurological Institute C. Besta, Via Celoria 11, I-20133 Milan, Italy. liciagrazzi@mac.com

Chronic headaches have increasingly become a focus within the field of head pain. Most patients with frequent headache eventually overuse their medications, and when it happens, the diagnosis of medication-overuse headache is clinically important, because patients rarely respond to preventive medications whilst overusing acute medications. Properly treating medication overuse and preventing relapse require recognition of the different factors that contribute to its development and perpetuation, including some behaviours and psychological elements that are important in sustaining the overuse of medication. The different therapeutical approaches, pharmacological and nonpharmacological, initial outcomes and long-term durability of treatment are discussed.

PMID: 17508160 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]