Butalbital headache is a particular kind of headache that specifically occurs while patients are consuming certain medicines like Esgic, Esgic Plus or Fiorcet in order to treat headaches. This could be because some of these medicines contain caffeine and all of these definitely contain butalbital, which is essentially a generic kind of a drug. It has been used as a cure for migraine and headaches since decades especially before the introduction of triptans like Imitrex, Maxalt and various others.

While there is no denying the fact that butalbital can be very effective for headache and migraines but it comes with its own set of side effects too. It has been noted that using butalbital can be addictive and the patient can actually get addicted to this substance particularly because itis a form of opiod. However, a patient needs to use it continually for a certain period of time to get addicted to butalbital. By a certain period of time, we mean around six months of a patient taking at least or more than three dozes of butalbital every week.

There are many people who still use butalbital to cure migraine even though the percentage of people has reduced drastically over the past few years especially due to the introduction of other medicines that have lesser side effects and are readily available over the counter, without prescriptions. However, it has been noted that older people who are in their sixties, often come to a doctor to get their headache evaluated and when asked what have they been taking, about 75% of them are using butalbital too frequently. This signifies old people are using it from the time when it was commonly used.

Butalbital Headache Symptoms

Even though butalbital is essentially a drug to cure migraines, it can at times, cause the migraine to get even worse. This happens particularly when a high doze of butalbital is used and it is taken frequently. That can result in a transformational migraine, which becomes even more frequent and can eventually turn into a daily headache. It is a drug that requires the patient to know precisely how to use butalbital. Without proper knowledge of how to use butalbital, the patient can experience more side effects of the drug.  Thus it is important to know how to use butalbital and not take it frequently because that can make the headache constant too.

Treatment of Butalbital Headache