Amy, Rifampin is the most difficult of the 3 for me. I did get headaches while taking them and took an Excedrin or 4 ibuprofen to find relief. Typically I took the ibuprofen when some other parts of my body were hurting as well and Excedrin if I only had a headache. I expect the "short term" idea is because of the side effects of taking long term and potential damage to organs. I don't seem to have as many headaches these days - 3 months into taking the meds. Linda