Headache Fact Sheets 2 | National Headache Foundation

Why Caffeine is Good and Bad

For years, caffeine has been a key ingredient in medications developed for the treatment of pain and headache. Numerous scientific studies have shown that caffeine combined with both prescription and nonprescription ingredients is both safe and effective in treating both…

Sinus Headache: Everything You Need to Know

Whether the symptoms of headache are due to sinus disease should be determined through an examination by a physician. The headache of sinus origin or acute sinusitis is usually associated with constant pain and tenderness over the affected sinus, a…

Tension-Type Headache: Everything You Need to Know

Tension-type headache is a nonspecific headache, which is not vascular or migrainous, and is not related to organic disease. The most common form of headache, it may be related to muscle tightening in the back of the neck and/or scalp….

Aspirin and Migraine

For nearly a century, aspirin has been used to treat migraine and other headaches. It has several actions that make it useful for treating migraine. First, it is an analgesic or pain reliever. Secondly, it blocks or reduces inflammation. This action…

Vitamins

Advertisements suggesting the beneficial effects of a variety of vitamins, minerals, and nutritional supplements as an effective treatment for headaches, these methods remain unsubstantiated in the medical literature. The excessive ingestion of fat-soluble vitamins, such as vitamin A and D,…

Tricyclic Antidepressants

Tricyclic antidepressants help to preserve catecholamines* in the brain. They include amitriptyline (Elavil®), protriptyline (Vivactil®), nortriptyline (Pamelor®), imipramine (Tofranil®), desipramine (Norpramin® and Pertofrane®), and doxepin (Sinequan®). These medications are often used in patients who experience frequent, daily or near-daily headaches….

Fiorinal and Fioricet

Fiorinal and Fioricet are medicines for tension-type headaches. Fiorinal contains aspirin and Fioricet contains acetaminophen. They both contain butalbital and caffeine. Codeine is sometimes also added to this combination. Butalbital, a barbiturate sedative, is habit-forming. These medications should not be…

Transcutaneous Electrical Neurostmulator (TENS)

TENS is short for “Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulator”. There are a number of manufacturers of these units and several different types. They have a similarity in that they generally use a 9-volt radio battery to produce a small electric current….

Beta Blockers

The use of beta blockers for the treatment of migraine began in the late ’60’s, when by accident migraine sufferers being treated for cardiovascular disease found that their migraine attacks lessened. Further research in the ’70s led to propranolol being…

Tinnitus

Tinnitus can often be an accompanying symptom to migraine. It refers to a persistent noise such as a ringing in the ear or buzzing sound heard by the individual. It can also be caused by the frequent use of a…

Thunderclap Headache

There have been articles in the medical literature describing a sudden, severe headache that may mimic a thunderclap in its intensity and severity. Some researchers feel it may be a warning of an impending rupture of an aneurysm or weak…

Status Migraine / Sterile Inflammation

By definition established by the International Headache Society, status migraine is a migraine attack that persists for more than 72 hours. One factor involved in prolonging a migraine attack is the sterile inflammatory response to migraine, which may develop around…

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