Management of Chronic Headache

A review of assessment and treatment of outpatient chronic headache patients along with a commentary on aggravating and mitigating factors.

By Lawrence Robbins, MD

When we assess patients who seek medical treatment for headache pain, they usually suffer from migraine, tension, or chronic daily headache. Only about 5% of patients fall outside of that realm. Cluster headache is another type of primary headache, but cluster headache is relatively uncommon; it is only found in about one out of 250 men and one out of 700 women.¹ In contrast, migraine is common; it occurs in 18% of women and 7% of men in the U.S. Chronic daily headache (CDH) often results in a markedly decreased quality of life for patients. Including triptans and other new preventives, we have numerous medications for migraine, but we don’t have much that is new or effective for chronic daily headache. The following discussion reviews what we currently know about the various types of headaches, comorbidities, triggers, and treatments.

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First published on: November 1, 2008

Practical Pain Management

Volume 8, Issue #9

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Management of Chronic Headache

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