I get very persistent tension headaches most days. I take the strongest pain killers I can get without prescription, but they don't always work. I think my body has got too used to them. I have heard you shouldn't take them every day, but I have to at least try to make the headaches go away - the pain can be terrible.

Is there anything else I can do, or take, rather than just taking pain killers every time?

a few years ago i used to have headaches all the time too. i was eating painkillers like sweets. they helped but still it's not good to take them all the time. and my headaches were gone as soon as i became vegetarian. didn't notice that first, but then after a year or so i realized that i don't get headaches anymore, and the only thing i could relate it to was that i stopped eating meat. i think it's not very likely that it's your case because there are hundreds of reasons why you get them. but now i only get a headache once a few months.
did you see doctor? i think the best thing is to find out what is causing them. by any chance do you take magnesium supplement? i don't know if it's likely to cause headaches, but when i started taking it i got horrible headaches every single day.

I get very persistent tension headaches most days. I take the strongest pain killers I can get without prescription, but they don't always work. I think my body has got too used to them. I have heard you shouldn't take them every day, but I have to at least try to make the headaches go away - the pain can be terrible.

Is there anything else I can do, or take, rather than just taking pain killers every time?

Archie,

I TOTALLY feel your pain. I would get a combination of migraines, rebound headaches (From the medicines) and tension headaches several times a week. I basically lived in fear of headaches and missed out on a lot of life for over 6 years. I tried everything - cutting certain foods, Midrin, Imitrex, advil, excedrin migraine, muscle relaxants, herbs, fyorinal. Always had to take more and more (up to 10 advil still wouldn't do it sometimes). Then, in December, I cut out all refined grains. This was to lose weight, but I noticed that my panic attacks and migraines suddenly were down to 1 or 2 a month. In March, I started taking fish oil pills and a stress supplement. I stopped getting tension headaches, I started sleeping at night (I should change my screen name), and I have only had 1 migraine since March. The products I take are Vital Omegas and Proloftin. I tried "real" anxiety drugs (Prozac, Zoloft) but found this is side-effect free. I had given up for a long time. I find that the herbal relaxant really helps combat the anxiety and tension which contributed to my tension headaches. I don't know of anything like Proloftin because it is patented (but it's not super expensive), but probably any fish oil pill is fine if it is fresh.

I still get that "headache nervousness" feeling of fear when I feel my head get a little tight or sore, but I am getting less and less fearful every passing week. I feel like I have a life now. I hope this helps you! It's worth a shot.

I know the feeling, cal mag like the other poster said is good and believe it or not, since I've been taking this b 12 sublingual tab, my headaches have disappeared, and my constipation has lessened. Wierd huh? Something to think about!:) Oh, and plenty of water and DEEP breating, sometimes we tend to forget to take nice deep breaths and our brains end up becoming deprived of enough oxygen.;)

There's also this technique called EFT (Emotional Freedom Techinques) that can work for headaches too. It's really simple to learn. Good luck and you'll get through this!