Aspirin and Persistent Severe Headache

QUESTION: I have arthritis, for which I take 8 aspirin a day. I also have
severe headaches, for which I take fiorinal. Why am I still getting
headaches? With all the aspirin I take I feel that every pain in the body
should be suppressed. Do you have an answer?
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ANSWER: I wish it really was that easy. A simple medication for every health
complaint that worked perfectly, and without side effects every time. Have a
pain, any pain at all, take an aspirin, or one perfect antibiotic for any
infection. However, the complex and wonderful workings of our bodies do not
permit us the luxury of relying on such one to one relationships. Pain is the
body's response to many different situations, requiring diligent
investigations and diagnoses of the cause, before the choice of an appropriate
medication to remedy the situation can be made. I do not know the cause of
your headache, but your letter makes it clear that aspirin is not the
solution. It may mean that in your specific case aspirin is just not
effective for your headaches, although it might work quite well for someone
else with the same problem. More important, however, is the possibility that
your headaches are a symptom of a situation for which aspirin is never the
medicine of choice. An example, to help make my point. Your headaches may be
the sign of an elevated blood pressure. Reducing this pressure would most
certainly put an end to the headache problem, but the medicine to achieve that
would not be aspirin, but one selected from a group of possible choices, all
of which have very different chemical formulas and different actions than
aspirin. I hope you now realize that you require a bit of personalized
medical attention, for the possibility of a serious condition does exist in
your case, and I would not delay a visit to the physician if I were you.