Posted by Bob Johnson (64.92.76.43) on December 15, 2001 at 10:12:27:
In Reply to: Am I Mrs. Alzheimer or are people forgetting about rebounds? posted by annemarie on December 14, 2001 at 17:03:00:
I'm with Dennis. His tongue-in-cheek comments are true: knowledge in this area is elusive and, I'd add, it's problematic to declare absolute truths.
Did you see my post last week on rebounds? It's an effort to summarize a long article by one of the leading clinicians in the U.S. who treats rebound headache. Apart from what I have summarized, he makes it clear that it is very difficult to distinguish between the primary headache attack and a rebound experience--which feels just like the primary attack. This is why he refers to rebounds as "cluster-like" or "migraine-like": the experience for the patient is the same.
A year or more ago I posted a message from another source in which the distinction was made between "rebound" headaches and "recurrence" of a headache. "Rebound" was defined as arising from overuse of a med; "recurrence" was defined as a headache which lasts longer than the effective life of the abortive medication. The person experiences a headache, takes the med, time passes and the headache returns. This doctor said it's not uncommon when the useful duration of meds action is shorter than the "natural" life of the headache.
These are difficult clinical problems and it makes it hard for the sufferer to understand what is happening, at times. Another argument for trying to work with a doc who has some depth of experience.