The distinguishing factors between medication overuse headache and chronic migraine

At EAN 2022, Gisela Terwindt, Professor of Neurology, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands, introduced herself and explained the important distinction between primary and secondary headache disorders. The former includes migraine, which is often genetically determined, and tension-type headache; the latter includes meningitis-associated headache and medication overuse headache. As a person with migraine will most often develop medication overuse headache due to trying to control migraine symptoms, they will be diagnosed at a specialty clinic with both primary and secondary headache disorders.