When a person experiences headache, the easiest and the most common treatment recommended is to take pain medications. However, studies claim that pain medications can also be the cause of continuous head pains. Dependence or abuse of pain reliever drugs such as Fioricet is what oftentimes triggers recurring painful attacks. As such, the article provides further information regarding the issue as well as answers the question, "Is Fioricet a controlled substance?".

Millions of people worldwide suffer from mild to extreme intensity of headache condition. This may be due to a number of physical and psychological complications. For some, experiencing headache is no big deal at all, for there are a lot of medications available today that can give immediate relief to head pains.
However, recent clinical studies show that some of the drugs patients take to alleviate headache only make the condition worse. Scientists and doctors found out that a significant number of chronic migraine and headache conditions are caused by the abuse or wrong usage of pain medications. This only means that instead of treating or providing relief to headache, pain medications can trigger the pain or only make the condition worse.
Cure becoming the disease
As a patient begins to experience headache, he will then take medications to alleviate the pain. When the drugs used are not prescribed by a doctor, there is a big possibility that a patient may not be using a particular drug properly. Even if the pain medication is prescribed, patients may not follow the doctor's recommended dosage intake. A patient may take too many pills, thinking that it may give longer relief to pain.
When the doctor finally tells the patient to stop the intake of medication, head pains persist. This prompts the patient to take the pain medications again, thus, resulting to a cycle of drug dependence and continuous pain.
As of last year, millions of Americans are suffering from headache that they incurred to themselves. Fortunately, medical professionals have developed criteria that will help them diagnose and treat head pain conditions that are caused by overused of medications. Determinants of this condition include continuous heavy intake of pain medication for three months and recurring head pains 15 or more times in one month. Medical experts explained that a patient can already be considered dependent on pain medications when he or she experiences two or more headache attacks in one week.
Dependence on drugs containing barbiturate and butalbital
One of the most problematic prescription drugs that can cause intake dependence is the Fioricet. Many people often ask this question: Is Fioricet a controlled substance? The answer to this is that the Fioricet drug is not a controlled substance; hence, the risk of dependence on this drug is high. Fioricet is already banned in Germany, but it is still widely available in the United States.

Available treatments
According to doctors and scientists, the only way to know if one is dependent on pain medications is to stop the intake of the drugs. Those who suffer from migraine attacks are prone to rebound episodes. This is why doctors often prescribe medications that can help prevent rebound attacks, then eventually reducing the dosage.
There are FDA-approved drugs that are commonly recommended by doctors as treatment to prevent migraines. One of these drugs is Topamax. This medication lessens the frequency of head pain attacks to 14 times every month. Also, Botox injection helps reduce the pain in tension headache and migraine attacks.