Chronic daily headache - need advice on taking painkillers every day?

Taking narcotics is tricky, you body becomes use to it, so the dosage has to be raised and addiction sets in.

Neurologist that does pain management is a good choice.

I have chronic head pain. [see diagnosis in signature]. I am on a combo of 3 meds. Usually my pain is kept between a 3 and a 5 on the 1-10 scale. I have learned to tolerate it. Yes, I am on disability, can not work.

To reduce pain I also do the following:

Meditate for pain,[ not the 'om' chanting kind]

gentle stretching and neck/back strengthening yoga

Heat pads, kind that are heated in the microwave

Sleepy time tea

I hope this helps you.
Peace
Trina

Hi Dave, I know some people try actual headache clinics for treatment. You may want to consider googling it & see if there happens to be one close to you.

Your neurologist comments about pain medication is on the money. Plus this war on the use of narcotics is not about street drugs at all. The CDC, NIH & DEA have set out guidelines on prescribing pain medications & it has made it a very restrictive environment. Some narcotics can cause rebound headaches, so it can be a slippery slope.

One of the old school meds used was Elavil, which is available in generic form. It does come with side effects that some people cannot tolerate. Most ended up taking it at bedtime because of the drowsiness. I hope you can find something that works. Take care.

One of the ways to deal with pain is to try to figure out the source - migraine and head pain are a symptom, like fever, and if you don't know the cause, it's harder to figure out what to do.
So it might be good to ask yourself some questions:
You say this started 10 months ago - was something happening at the same time that might have triggered this? Did you had headaches before?
Does the pain respond to ice? or heat?
Is there a certain time of day or activity that makes it worse?
Do foods affect it?
Is it more noticeable on one side of the head than the other, or one area in particular?

Hello there....
I agree with some of the comments. Taking meds or whatever every day will only result in rebound headaches. Your body will get used to the meds, then kick up a fuss when you don't feed it.

I find with headaches, the best thing to do is to try to relieve your stressers. Also, apply heat & massage the bottom of the back of your skull.

Have you had an MRI of the brain? THAT might give you an indication of what is causing your terrible headaches.

Hi Dave,

I have hope for you (I think!)
I have suffered for DAILY headaches, only left sided, for 7 (!!!) YEARS. Yep, you read this right. 7 years, every day. Done all EEG< CT< MRI, wisdom teeth were taken out, had nose operation, done Botox, the whole thing!
Nobody could tell me what it is, nobody knew how to help. Had several breakdowns from the pain, have taken Ibuprofene daily. At some point I started to get depressed because I couldn't live a normal life, I couldn't even think straight, there was this cloud over my head. I have done so many things, its ridiculous.

Heres what helped me:

I changed my diet to living super healthy, cut out sugar, started working out on a regular basis. This helped. I then started to do progressive muscle relaxation. Big improvement. I started to get to know my body, I changed my surroundings and my mindset. Big improvement. I learned when to say no and how to eliminate stress. Big difference. The biggest game changer was to stop smoking. When I did this my Ibuprofene usage went down from 8-3 (220mg) per day to 1 per day.
I then went into a painklinic and spoke to doctors. I agreed to take super low dosage of amitryptilin over 2 month (you introduce slowly and reduce slowly). For some reason I was convinced that once I mange to break the cycle of daily pain, it would be a lot easier to to manage. They told me to take much higher doses but I didn't and I also only went for 2 months rather than the 6 moths suggested.
I also didn't change my diet as they recommended.
After I had broken the Pain cycle I slowly weaned myself of Amitryptilin (it a horrible drug, but it did the trick!) and only had very occasional headaches from then.
Now, when I get stressed, tense, don't take time out, I feel pulling sensations in my left shoulder and shortly after, if I don't react I will get a headache.

But I have learned to listen, so I have a headache maybe once a year now.

Remember to take time out for yourself. Learn to listen to your body. Its amazing, once you know how it works you start to appreciate it.

I know headaches are the worst to go through, I really do. But now I am grateful for those 7 years because it had taught me how my body works, and how I can listen to its needs.

If you smoke, stop it! In my case unfortunately this has brought on another disease that had been at bay for 17 years, but I am confident that I will be able to tackle this one too!

Also, be gentle with it and don't hate it. I know its hard, I have had weeks of just wanting to die because I was in so much pain, but it is here to teach you something. Listen.

Good luck!

Post Edited (PixieAdalira) : 3/8/2018 2:21:37 PM (GMT-7)

From what I understand, a migraine is a process in the brain and central nervous system that can have many effects on the body, not only a headache. The main thing is to stop it from starting, or break the cycle. I had daily migraines for more than three months. My neurologist tried topamax for at least 6 weeks to see if it works. Then nortriptilyne, which helped some. Finally nadolol did the trick. But I still get a few migraines when I “break the rules”.
The point is that it’s a neurological event, and the headache is just a symptom. There are many treatments, you just have to find which one works for you. Sorry if the writing isn’t clear... I have a low grade migraine right now