Breaking the cycle of medication overuse headache

Screening for Medication Overuse Headache Can Reduce Patients' Suffering From Chronic Daily Headache: A Case Report

Headache is one of the major global health problems and an economic burden on the population. Common causes of chronic daily headaches are migraine and tension-type headaches, respectively. Medication overuse headache (MOH) is one of the common secondary causes of chronic daily headaches. It appears if the original chronic headache was not treated properly and the patient excessively used over-the-counter medicines as an abortive medication. It can be diagnosed easily if the clinician asks for a detailed history and finds out if the patient fulfills the criteria of MOH. The management requires patient education and withdrawal of the medication use, which can be done successfully most of the time in an outpatient clinic. General practitioners are the initial encounter with this type of patient, so they must screen for this type of headache and establish management to reduce the patient's suffering and burden on other health care facilities.