Tension Headache - Treatment

Treatment

Episodic tension-type headaches generally respond well to over-the-counter analgesics such as ibuprofen, paracetamol/acetaminophen, and aspirin. Analgesic/sedative combinations are widely used (e.g., analgesic/antihistamine combinations like Syndol, Mersyndol and Percogesic, analgesic/barbiturate combinations such as Fiorinal). Frequent use of analgesics may, however, lead to medication overuse headache. The first-line treatment for chronic tension type headache is amitriptyline, whereas mirtazapine and venlafaxine are second-line treatment options. Other medication options include topiramate and sodium valproate (as prophylaxis). Biofeedback techniques may also help.

Botulinum toxin is a treatment trialled by some people with tension-type headache, though results are varied.

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