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levels, and changes in daily routines. This can help you identify what might have triggered the headaches so you can work to avoid them. Sharing your diary with your doctor can help them better understand the type of headaches you’re having and suggest a treatment plan.
Over-the-counter pain relievers can help some people with occasional headache pain. Others may need to try prescription drugs.
But frequently taking painkillers for headaches may make things worse, Oshinsky explains. “If you use painkillers more than three or four times a week, once the drug is out of your system you can get a rebound headache,” he says.
People with frequent or chronic headaches can try preventive treatments. These stop headaches from starting, rather than dulling the pain once they start. For example, a type of medication called CGRP drugs helps many people with migraine have fewer attacks.
But the available preventive treatments don’t work for everyone. Researchers are looking for other ways to stop headaches from forming.
Brennan’s team is studying a compound called glutamate. Glutamate is important for normal brain function and helps nerve cells communicate. But Brennan’s team has found that it may sometimes also play a role in triggering migraines.
“We need to figure out how this unusual glutamate activity works, in what brain cell type, and under what conditions, in order to develop a more tailored approach to migraine treatment,” he says.
Other treatments for headaches don’t involve drugs at all. Some people get relief with a type of talk therapy called cognitive-behavioral therapy, or CBT. This includes learning coping strategies and ways to think differently about
pain.
“There are changes in the brain after doing CBT, just like there are changes in the brain after using medications,” says Dr. Hadas Nahman-Averbuch, who studies migraine pain at Washington University in St. Louis. Other people find relief using mind-body techniques such as mindfulness practice or biofeedback, she adds.
Small Heads, Big Aches
Headaches are common in kids, too. Often, headaches in children and teens can be treated by drinking more water, having a healthier diet, getting enough activity, and solving sleep problems. Always talk to a doctor before giving headache medicines to a child.
Sometimes, it can be difficult to figure out what kind of pain a child is feeling. “A very young child with a migraine headache will often point to their stomach first and say, ‘my stomach hurts,’” Oshinsky says.
Migraine headaches often run in families. So parents who live with these headaches may want to be on the lookout for them in their kids, Oshinsky adds.
Puberty can trigger new or worsening migraine headaches in teens, especially girls, says Nahman-Averbuch. She and her team are studying how hormone changes may affect migraine pain. They want to develop tests to predict which teens at risk of migraine will develop headaches during puberty.
“If we can predict who will develop migraine, then maybe we can do something to prevent that from happening,” Nahman-Averbuch says.
Regardless of your age, it may take time to figure out the best treatment for your headache pain. Your health care team can help you find what works. “We have lots of tools at our disposal now,” Brennan says, “and we’re developing more.”
