Treatment

Treatment differs, depending on whether you have primary or secondary cough headaches.

Primary cough headache

If you have a history of primary cough headaches, your doctor may recommend that you take daily medication to help prevent or reduce the pain.

These preventive medications may include:

• Indomethacin (Indocin, Tivorbex), an anti-inflammatory drug
• Propranolol (Inderal, Innopran XL, others), a medication that relaxes blood vessels and reduces blood pressure
• Acetazolamide, a diuretic that reduces the amount of spinal fluid, which can reduce the pressure inside the skull

Other medications used to treat primary cough headache include naproxen (Naprelan, Naprosyn, others), ergonovine (Methergine), intravenous dihydroergotamine (D.H.E. 45) and phenelzine (Nardil).

Rarely, a spinal tap (lumbar puncture) may be recommended. With this procedure, the doctor removes some of the fluid that surrounds your brain and spinal cord. It's not clearly understood why this helps cough headaches, but the procedure may reduce the pressure inside your skull that may be causing the headaches.

Secondary cough headache

If you have secondary cough headaches, surgery is often needed to fix the underlying problem. Preventive medications usually don't help people who have secondary cough headaches. However, responding to medication doesn't necessarily mean that you have a primary cough headache.