AllRefer Health - Headache: Home Care & Treatment (Pain

Keep a headache diary, particularly when you first have headaches, to help identify the source or trigger of your symptoms. From that information, you can figure out how to modify your environment or habits to avoid recurrent headaches. When a headache occurs, write down the date and time the headache began, what you ate for the past 24 hours, how long you slept the night before, what you were doing and thinking about just before the headache started, any stress in your life, how long the headache lasts, and what you did to make it stop. After a period of time, you may begin to see a pattern and be able to identify triggers to avoid.

A headache may be relieved by resting with your eyes closed and head supported or by using relaxation techniques. A massage or heat applied to the back of the upper neck can be effective in relieving tension headaches.

Over-the-counter pain medications are often effective headache relievers. Try acetaminophen (Tylenol), aspirin, or ibuprofen (Advil or Motrin) for tension headaches. ASPIRIN SHOULD NOT BE USED IN CHILDREN because of the risk of Reye's syndrome.

Migraine headaches may respond to aspirin, naproxen (Aleve), or combination medications such as Excedrin Migraine.

If over-the-counter remedies do not control your pain, talk to your doctor about possible prescription medications.

Prescription medications used for migraine headaches include ergotamine, dihydroergotamine, ergotamine with caffeine (Cafergot), isometheptene (Midrin), and triptans like sumatriptan (Imitrex), rizatriptan (Maxalt), almotriptan (Axert), andzolmitriptan (Zomig). Sometimes medications to relieve nausea and vomiting are helpful for other migraine symptoms.

If you get headaches often, your doctor may prescribe medication to prevent headaches before they occur. Examples of these include:

Antidepressants, like nortriptyline (Pamelor), amitryptyline (Elavil), fluoxetine (Prozac, Sarafem), sertraline (Zoloft), or paroxetine (Paxil), for tension or migraine headache
Beta-blockers, like propranolol (Inderal) for frequent migraine headaches
Calcium channel blockers, like verapamil for frequent migraine headaches

If you are using pain medications more than 2 days a week, you may be suffering from rebound headaches. Rebound headaches are caused by a cycle of using pain medications for short-term relief, followed by the headache pain returning for increasingly longer periods of time despite taking more pain medications.

All types of pain pills (including over-the-counter drugs), muscle relaxants, some decongestants, and caffeine can cause this pattern. If you think this may be a problem for you, talk to your health care provider.