Just two painkillers a day, two or three days a week, can trigger headaches that are more painful and last longer. The only cure is to stop taking the tablets. Migraine and headache expert Dr Anne MacGregor said, "These headaches can have a huge effect on someone's life. "They wake up with a headache, they feel flat, their energy is zapped and they have to literally fight their way through the day."
Medication overuse contributes to the headaches suffered by up to half of the 2,000 or so patients treated at the London Migraine Clinic each year.
The warning follows growing concern over the growing numbers of people addicted to over-the-counter drugs containing codeine.
Some of those hooked are taking more than 70 pills a day, placing themselves at risk of liver and stomach problems, constipation and depression. However, headaches triggered by overuse aren't limited to one particular type of headache pill, with aspirin, paracetamol, ibuprofen and codeine all making pain worse if taken regularly.
dampens the body's own painkilling mechanisms, making all aches and pains feel more intense than usual.
For those stuck in the vicious cycle of taking pills to treat headaches, only to find the pain is made worse by the pills, the only solution is to stop the tablets all together.