Rheumatoid Arthritis Support Group
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, inflammatory, multisystem, autoimmune disorder. It is a disabling and painful condition which can lead to substantial loss of mobility due to pain and joint destruction. The disease is also systemic in that it often also affects many extra-articular tissues throughout the body including the skin, blood vessels, heart, lungs, and...
I went to see my GP this afternoon as for the past couple of days I have had an excrutiating headache at the back of my head and across the front and on the right side of my nose.
I thought it was possibly sinusitis that was causing the discomfort but my GP seems to think I am suffering from medication headaches.
I have been taking 2xTramadol painkillers 4 times a day for the past 6 weeks after badly injuring my wrist at work but the Tramadol has not touched the headache and my GP thinks it may have been the Tramadol that has caused the medication headaches.
Apparantly your body can become immune to the painkillers so they do not relieve the pain and then in turn you end up taking the painkillers more frequently to try and ease the headache but as your body is immune to it it is a vicious circle. My GP said that 6 weeks is an extremely short time for this to have happened and some people can be in this cycle for years and by then it is too late to stop the medication that is causing the headaches.
Has anyone else experienced medication headaches due to taking regular painkillers?
Sorry it is so long, just that I have not heard of this before today.
xx
I thought it was possibly sinusitis that was causing the discomfort but my GP seems to think I am suffering from medication headaches.
I have been taking 2xTramadol painkillers 4 times a day for the past 6 weeks after badly injuring my wrist at work but the Tramadol has not touched the headache and my GP thinks it may have been the Tramadol that has caused the medication headaches.
Apparantly your body can become immune to the painkillers so they do not relieve the pain and then in turn you end up taking the painkillers more frequently to try and ease the headache but as your body is immune to it it is a vicious circle. My GP said that 6 weeks is an extremely short time for this to have happened and some people can be in this cycle for years and by then it is too late to stop the medication that is causing the headaches.
Has anyone else experienced medication headaches due to taking regular painkillers?
Sorry it is so long, just that I have not heard of this before today.
xx
xx
I had been taking ibuprofen for quite some time, as much as 600 mg three times a day, but had reduced it to once a day. However, I had 2 blood tests with high creatinine, potentially indicating kidney issues. So, I was instructed to stop taking ibuprofen, because it can cause kidney problems. For the first week and a half, I had an almost continuous headache, sometimes becoming something approaching a migraine, but only for short periods. I think this was probably due to withdrawal from the ibuprofen. It's now been three weeks since I stopped the ibuprofen and my headache has stopped.
BTW, I had my creatinine retested 2 days ago, and the result was normal. Something for all NSAID users to be aware of is that prolongued use can lead to liver and kidney issues. The same is true of tylenol. Just something to be aware of.
Sorry to hear of the headaches. Yes I have definately experienced this type of headache and was told exactly the same as you by my GP.
A few years ago I was found to have brain aneurysms (swelling of the artery wall in the brain), fortunately these were found before any damage was done, but I needed to undergo surgery to correct it. I had minimal invasive keyhole surgery which was successful but was discharged home with boxes of regular painkillers. After a few weeks I actually got severe headaches, my GP said it was medication headaches. I withdrew the painkillers headaches continued for a few days, then disappeared. I was diagnosed with RA in August, as well as RA medication and also ibroprofen I have had to take other over the counter painkillers - paracetomol, coedine etc. My flare up started to improve but I got the same old headache back.It got to the stage when my head was telling me I needed the painkiller before the joints did! My RA flare up has improved sufficiently to cut out the paracetomol and coedine and guess what the headaches have gone!
Hope this helps
lizzie7