HEADACHE CAUSED BY EXCESSIVE DRUG USE

Abstract

The headache caused by excessive drug use is a chronic daily headache variant, with clinical manifestation frequency ≥ 15
days per month, during three months. It presents a poor diagnosis and its treatment is divided into stages, being detoxification
an essential step. This article presents a review over this topic, contributing to the clarification of its clinical manifestations,
main theories involving physiopathology and pharmacological therapy applied. The methodology used was the review of
European and American publications from 2001 until 2013, in Portuguese, English and Spanish. All drugs used in the
symptomatic headache treatment are able to chronify a pre-existing headache, when excessively consumed on a regular
and ongoing basis. The suspension of such therapeutic agents will result in improvement in most patients, but may require
the introduction of a temporary supportive therapy and/or prophylactic therapy. Non -pharmacological treatments, when
combined with pharmacological, increases the likelihood of satisfactory results, avoiding relapses