No fast cure

TAKING medicines like painkillers over a prolonged period of time to relieve headaches can actually make symptoms worse, according to the latest guidelines from NICE, the British National Institute for Clinical Excellence.

NICE, provider of guidance for GPs and other health professionals in Britain, warns that ‘medication overuse headaches’ are a possible cause for worsening symptoms among patients who have been taking such drugs up to 15 days per month, for three months or more.

Martin Underwood, GP and chair of NICE’s guideline development group said: “Patients with frequent tension-type headaches or migraines can get themselves into a vicious cycle, where their headaches are getting increasingly worse, so they take more medication which makes their pain even worse.”