Victims of frequent headaches often take painkillers frequently. And when their headaches occur even more often, they respond by taking painkillers more often, too. After a while, they might notice (though often don’t) that they’re taking painkillers almost every day. In short, they’re taking medicine more and more frequently and yet experiencing more and more days of headaches.

Although the typical victim of this scenario assumes that the headaches are occurring more frequently in spite of taking painkillers more frequently, the truth of the matter is that the increased headaches are probably occurring because of the increased use of painkillers. The headache victim has inadvertently entered a self-inflicted, vicious cycle in which the medications she takes are making her headaches worse and less treatable. This condition is known as “medication overuse headaches” (MOHs). Another name is “analgesic-rebound headaches.” An analgesic is a painkiller and “rebound” means just what it sounds like — a bounce-back. But in this case it’s not a basketball that’s bouncing. Instead, it’s pain in the head that’s bouncing back from the temporary relief afforded by the last dose of painkilling medication.

The MOH phenomenon occurs not only with prescription-strength painkillers, but also with over-the-counter analgesics like buy remedeine uk aspirin, acetaminophen, ibuprofen and naproxen. And when caffeine is used as part of an analgesic combination, it can be a culprit, too. The MOH phenomenon cannot be avoided by periodically replacing one painkiller with another. As far as the MOH-generating system is concerned, one painkiller is about the same as another.

MOHs are not rare. In a recent survey of 64,560 people, researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim found that 1.3% of women and 0.7% of men had this condition. The prevalence increased steadily from 20 years of age until about 50 years and then steadily declined.

In my community-based practice of general neurology, I find that patients have rarely heard of MOHs. They’re just not being discussed on TV talk shows or in magazines. So how can a victim of frequent headaches defend herself from something she never heard of? It’s tough. And another unfortunate fact is that MOHs are a mess to get out of. It’s better not to even go there in the first place. It’s easier to prevent a MOH syndrome than to get out of it once it is present.