**Headache of Analgesic Abuse as a Cause of New Pain Pathways Development**

Silvia Ussai and Alessandro Rizzardo

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/67244

#### **Abstract**

Medication-overuse headache (MOH) is a worldwide health problem with a prevalence of 1–2%. It is a severe form of headache where the patients often have a long history of unsuccessful headache treatments. MOH is characterized by chronic headache and the overuse of different headache medications. Through the years, withdrawal of the overused medication has been recognized as the treatment of choice. However, currently, there is no clear consensus regarding the optimal strategy for the management of MOH. Treatment approaches are based on expert opinion rather than scientific evidence. This chapter focuses on an overall discussion of medication abuse as a novel pain pathway in headaches.

**Keywords:** headache treatment, migraine, medication-overuse headache, pain pathways, chronic headache
