**1. Introduction**

Headache is one of the first causes for pain consultation in primary care settings and one of the major complaints of pain made at the neurology clinic [1]. Overall it is estimated that 4% of the general population suffer from migraine, representing at least 280,000,000 people requiring treatment only for just one cause of cephalea [2]. If the number of all other headache causes is added to the total number of migraine patients, the number of people requiring treatment for headaches represents almost one-sixth of the global population.

Due to the high number of patients as well as the varied causes of headaches, cephalea treatments are varied ranging from mild, over-the-counter painkillers such as paracetamol [3], to high complex molecules, intended to act as neuromodulators and prevent pain crisis, such

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as topiramate [4], and sometimes further requiring nonopioid and opioid analgesics such as ketoprofen [5] and codeine [6]. With so many people suffering from headaches and having such a varied set of available drugs for treatment, it is no surprise that the problem of overuse and abuse of such treatments exists, leading to the appearance of secondary adverse effects such as the development of new pain pathways, among a certain group of patients. To understand the complexity of a problem like this, it is necessary to gain a deep knowledge of headache physiopathology, pharmacological options, and treatment guidelines, in order to identify the reasons leading to cephalea treatment overuse, and the arising of such a tricky problem such as the development of new pain pathways.
