In-patient vs. day-hospital withdrawal treatment for chronic migraine with medication overuse and disability assessment: results at one-year follow-up

Abstract

Chronic headaches have increasingly become a focus within the field of head pain. Most patients with frequent headache eventually overuse their medications. The diagnosis of medication-overuse headache is clinically important, because patients rarely respond to preventive medications whilst overusing acute medications. Properly treating medication overuse and preventing relapse require specific therapeutic strategies and the recognition of the different factors that contribute to its development and perpetuation, including some behaviours and psychological elements that are important in sustaining the overuse of medication. Abrupt withdrawal is considered the first step for helping these patients to stop medication overuse. The possibility of withdrawal within a day-hospital setting is considered a therapeutic alternative for these patients and compared to in-patient withdrawal. Long-term results are discussed.