Problems in managing medically induced headache

Medically induced headache (MIHA) is not only an important clinical issue, but it is also a management issue that is not yet close to be solved. Taking into account that MIHA doesn’t occur particularly often in general and occur often (more than one third of the cases) in the presence of chronic daily headache, its treatment expenses are at an average three times heavier then treatment expenses for headache of other nature. In addition, for 30-58 % of patients with MIHA the treatment is ineffective, and they often (up to a half of the cases) suffer a relapse. The most common factors that lead to MIHA contraction are patients’ preference for self-treatment and the possibility to acquire analgesics without a prescription. The most common drugs that cause MIHA are combination analgesics, especially those containing codeine, in Russia and barbiturates combined with caffeine and triptanes in foreign countries.