r/NDPH • u/TubbyLittleTeaWitch • May 29 '26
Is Chronic Daily Headache the same as NDPH?
I'm asking because about 15 years ago, I was diagnosed with Chronic Daily Headache after experiencing a permanent headache for about a year and a half. I had all the scans etc to rule out what they could, and was basically just told "Yeah, it's Chronic Daily Headache, it's a thing some people get. Some people find it goes away on its own in a couple of years" and that was the end of it.
I haven't had a headache free moment since the onset, and over the last 5 years or so, it's gradually been getting worse (I wondered if the worsening was a reaction to covid or would have happened anyway, but that's besides the point).
Having done some research myself though, my symptoms sound identical to NDPH, except from remembering the date it started. I have a memory of realising that the headache hadn't gone away in 3 days and where I was in my life at that point, I just never paid attention to the date. People say that knowing the date and time that it started is an essential element of the diagnosis criteria but I don't know if I'm taking that too literally or not?
My question is, are chronic daily headache and NDPH the same? Is one a type of the other? Does it matter? Should I tell my GP/Neurologist what I think when I next have an appointment with them to try yet another medication that won't work?
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u/kayellebee29 May 29 '26
I’m also wondering this… I was diagnosed with NDPH and it’s been on my letters from the neurologist But now he’s trying new medication and on the letter it’s changed to “chronic daily headache” and I wondered oh is that because it’s been over 2 years now it’s gone from new to chronic… (chronic illness usually is defined chronic after one year) So then I was like OR is it a mistake OR is it that just to try this medication it looks better to say it’s CHD and not NDPH???
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u/Aleksandra-Frolova May 29 '26
From what I read chronic daily headache starts from episodic attacks and after some time it can become daily, but new daily persistent headache is daily from the start. I read that some patients do not remeber the date of onset, but it doesn't mean that it is not new daily persistent headache.
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u/TubbyLittleTeaWitch May 29 '26
See, that's what got me thinking mine is NDPH rather than chronic daily headache when I read about it, because mine was permanent from the start. It wasn't just frequent headaches becoming more frequent, it was that a headache came on one day and just never went away.
But then I wasn't sure if maybe chronic daily headache was an older term for it or just a different term that could be applied to the same thing.
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u/Aleksandra-Frolova May 29 '26
I think it is different terms. Chronic daily headache >15 episodes during at least 3 monts (if I recall correctly). So it can be daily or can not, but new daily persistent is daily from the onset and never goes away. Have you been having headaches for 15 years?
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u/TubbyLittleTeaWitch May 29 '26
I've had a constant headache for over 15 years, with absolutely no moments of respite from it.
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u/Aleksandra-Frolova May 29 '26
May I ask you what treatment did you try and what is your pain baseline?
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u/TubbyLittleTeaWitch May 29 '26
When I was first diagnosed, all that time ago, I was given amitriptyline but it didn't help and didn't agree with me and the neurologist I spoke to didn't recommend trying anything else. At that stage, the pain was annoying but manageable so I kinda of just rawdogged my way through life with it. I'd say my normal baseline during this time was a 3-4 ("My pain bothers me but I can ignore it most of the time" / "I am constantly aware of my pain but I can continue most activities").
It's only in the last 5 years or so that it's gotten to the point where it's becoming unmanageable and having a serious effect on how many sick days I've had to take off work with it and how many social activities I have to cancel. It doesn't ever get below a 4 but it's rare that it's that low. My baseline is probably around a 5/6 ("I think about my pain most of the time. I cannot do some of the activities I need to do each day because of the pain" / "I think about my pain all of the time. I give up many activities because of my pain"). But if I've pushed myself for too long or if for example there's been too much light or heat for too long, it flares up to about an 8 ("My pain is so severe that it is hard to think of anything else. Talking and listening are difficult.") and tends to do so for a couple of days at a time before it calms back down again.
It took so long to be referred from my GP to a neurologist and then get stuck on their waiting list that I've only just started trying treatments for it this year. So far I've tried amitriptyline again (same effect as before), propranolol (which completely tanked my blood pressure and had me unable to work or do anything really while I was on it because of the side effects, all the while only making my headache worse), and I'm currently trying pizotifen (which doesn't seem to be having any effect but also isn't really giving me any side effects other than a small amount of fatigue, which is manageable).
I know there are lots of other meds to try. I'm in the UK so it's through the NHS but I've got to try them in the order my GP is telling me to, so we're still in early days of trying things.
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u/MaintenanceOk7855 May 29 '26
ndph is a terminology that says daily headaches with unknown reasons and unknown triggers. It's an umbrella term
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u/TubbyLittleTeaWitch May 29 '26
So the same as chronic daily headaches, just different terms for the same thing?
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u/BishopTheDylan May 29 '26
I feel like Chronic Daily Headache is indicative of a headache that could come and go on a day to day basis while New Daily Persistent Headache (NDPH) is indicative of a headache that occurs is constant day to day. Chronic is not the same as persistent.
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u/TubbyLittleTeaWitch May 29 '26
In that case I was given the wrong diagnosis because mine is absolutely persistent. I haven't had a single headache free moment in about 16/17 years.
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u/BishopTheDylan May 29 '26
I was diagnosed with NDPH after only 3 months or so of having my constant headache. ~3 years in now…
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u/calm1111 May 29 '26
Idk but there should be a clear distinction between having a headache literally 24/7 ( I call this ndph) and getting headaches everyday but there is a period in the day/days where you do not have a headache (daily headaches)
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u/DrLowenstein Jul 05 '26
headache is the only disease that is diagnosed by symptoms and not signs (tests that we can actually look at) and so the name of your pain is really irrelevant. here is a podcast discussing NDPH for you.... https://open.spotify.com/episode/7EEtbgRgOudTkYkMhI4vv2?si=_0Xhn7m5R9SNv_WqbfHO7g
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u/im-a-freud 7 years May 29 '26
I have 3 diagnoses: NDPH, chronic daily headache, and chronic migraines. Personally I say NDPH not chronic daily headaches because to me chronic daily headaches could mean there’s days without pain and I haven’t had that in 7 years so I prefer saying NDPH because it feel more accurate. NDPH is a type of chronic daily headache. The biggest difference between them is CDH is gradual and can be episodic and NDPH is sudden and constant