健康生活:止痛片或致頭痛"惡性循環"

Up to a million people in the UK have "completely preventable" severe headaches caused by taking too many painkillers, doctors said. They said some were trapped in a "vicious cycle" of taking pain relief, which then caused even more headaches.

英國國家衛生與臨牀優化研究所近期發佈的頭痛治療指南指出，過度服用止痛片是頭痛久治不愈的源頭，甚至會加重病情，患者應該停止對止痛片的依賴。

There is no definitive UK data on the incidence of the condition, but studies in other countries suggest 1-2% of people are affected, while the World Health Organization says figures closer to 5% have been reported. While painkillers would be many people's instant response, they could be making sufferers feel even worse. Prof Martin Underwood, from Warwick Medical School, who led the panel, said: "This can end up getting into a vicious cycle where your headache gets worse, so you take more painkillers, so your headache gets worse and this just becomes worse and worse and worse.

世界衛生組織的數據顯示，因過度服用藥物導致的頭痛患者佔所有頭痛患者的5%。華威醫學院教授馬丁•安德伍德表示，用止痛片在解決頭痛問題可能會陷入一個惡性循環，頭痛越厲害，服用的止痛片越多，結果導致頭痛更加嚴重。至於止痛片爲何會對頭痛患者有如此影響，目前尚無從得知。

Manjit Matharu, a consultant neurologist at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, said there was a tipping point at 10 to 15 days of using pain relief each month when the drugs became the issue. People with a family history of tension-type headaches or migraine may also be genetically more vulnerable to medication overuse headaches. They could be susceptible when taking pain relief even if it is not for headaches.

不過，英國國立神經內外科醫院一位神經科醫生表示，頭痛患者每月服用止痛片達到10至15天時通常會出現上述惡性循環情況。在頭痛治療指南中，醫學專家們建議頭痛患者停止服用止痛片，提前進行預防性治療，並建議用鍼灸來治療頭痛。另外，專家們還建議患者不要爲了“確信沒有長腦瘤”而做腦部掃描檢查。他們表示，腦瘤通常會伴有行爲類變化等其他症狀。