Why Do I Get Frequent Headaches?

Many of us live with headaches afflicting us for no apparent reason. Some of these headache types may occur once and then we may go for many years before we experience them again. Other types of headaches happen pretty often in our lives. These headaches are known as ‘frequent headaches’.

Usually, frequent headaches are tension headaches. However, frequent headaches can also be the result of over-dosing on over-the-counter (OTC) medicine. This type of frequent headache is called a ‘rebound headache’, because, while it is safe to take the recommended dosage to treat headaches, rebound headaches happen because the dose has been surpassed.

So, one of the ways to alleviate the pain that frequent headaches bring is to slowly reduce the amount of medication that you are taking. For people who may find this step difficult, consulting with their GP can help find the best method to achieve this without making their headaches or other condition worse.

Besides overdosing on headache medication, there are also other things that can bring the onset of frequent headaches. These can be an excessive amount of smoking and drinking too much alcohol. Therefore, reducing your alcohol intake to a moderate level can help with lessening the severity of your frequent headaches.

Since smoking any type of tobacco will increase your chances of experiencing frequent headaches, it really is best to stop smoking altogether. While it might sound easy to control these frequent headache triggers, you may actually need professional help to reduce your frequent headaches.

Therefore, when you talk with your doctor you should find out about headache clinics and if they have the facilities to assist you with your rebound and/or frequent headaches. People who prefer to cope with controlling their headache medication themselves can start by reducing the dose a little.

When your body can deal with that reduction, you can lower the amount some more. Should you feel that the headaches are becoming overwhelming, you have the choice of taking cortisone to help tolerate the pain of the headaches while your body slowly adjusts to the new regime.

Since frequent headaches are probably caused more by the overdose of headache medication, it could be a good idea for you to take the medication only when you absolutely need to. That way you can manage your dose of the medicine that causes you get other headaches in addition to what you first started the pain killers for.