Case Summary  |  Rebound Headache Syndrome

Over the past three or four years, I was getting bad headaches on an increasingly frequent basis. These were often migraine headaches, but I was not aware that they were migraine headaches. I was self medicating with Excedine Migraine (basically the strongest over the counter headache medicine I could buy). I started out taking the Excedrine once a week or so, but as the headaches got worse and more frequent, I increased the frequency of the dosage. After several months, I was taking the medicine every single day. If I took it every single day, I was able to minimize the severity of the headaches (though they still occurred).

Then, I met my current wife and she was concerned about the amount of medicine I was taking, and pushed me to see a doctor. The doctor prescribed migraine medicine, but instructed me to not take any more Excedine. Basically, I was cut off cold turkey. The doctor also prescribed a one time use steroid to help the transition. At first, I had a series of daily bad headaches. As I got better with the migraine medicine (and got used to not taking the Excedrine), the headaches lessened in frequency. Today, I probably get on average 2 migraine headaches a weak, but as long as I keep my migraine prescription filled, they are easily treatable.

Describe what happened, how you treated it, and what's going on today