Taking a headache tablet. Animation of a man with a headache taking a tablet to treat the symptoms. There can be a range of reasons for the underlying cause of a headache, including inflamed and expanded blood vessels in the head, leading to throbbing and sharp pains. Most headaches are treatable with painkilling drugs such as paracetamol (acetaminophen), ibuprofen (isobutylphenylpropanoic acid), and aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid). The animation shows the throbbing pain (red), the tablet dissolving in water, the man drinking the dissolved drug, the drug (blue-green) being absorbed in the digestive system, the drug circulating in the bloodstream, the drug reaching the brain's blood vessels, and the pain subsiding. |