How do you recognize cluster headaches, what are the causes and treatment possibilities? Read about it below.
Cluster headache: an extraordinarily severe form of headache
About cluster headaches
Cluster headaches are a very severe form of headache characterized by attacks. In the Netherlands, approximately 17.000 patients suffer from cluster headaches (about 0,1% of the population). Because of the severity of this type of headache, it is nicknamed “suicidal headache”. In the medical world, cluster headaches are also called Horton’s neuralgia.
This type of headache occurs more in men than in women, and there are two different types: episodic cluster headaches and chronic cluster headaches. With the episodic type, the attacks happen in clusters of several weeks to months, after which they disappear. This is where the name cluster headache comes from. With the chronic type, there are no “resting periods”. Attacks can happen daily, the whole year.
Characteristics of cluster headaches
Cluster headaches take different forms. In the most typical form, the headache is characterized by:
- Attacks which happen every other day, to 8 times a day
- Attacks that last between 15 minutes and 3 hours
- Severe, one-sided pain around the eye or temple
- Side-effects, such as:
- red, teary, or swollen eyes on the same side of the pain
- stuffed or runny nose on the same side of the pain
- sweaty forehead and/or face on the same side as the pain
- feeling of restlessness or urge to move
Causes of cluster headaches
The cause of cluster headaches is, despite a lot of medical research, unknown. However, it is thought that times of attacks have to do with the biological clock. Recent research shows changes in different areas of the brain, the hypothalamus. This is the area in the brain which manages the biological clock.
It is thought that during attacks, there is too much of a pressure difference between the blood supplying and draining arteries in the head. Because of the pressure difference and widening of the blood veins, pressure is supposedly put on the nerves, which leads to pain and other side effects of cluster headaches.
An attack can only be “provoked” during an attack period. Alcoholic drinks and vein widening medicine can be important triggers of cluster headaches. It is not proved whether food can provoke cluster headaches. When you suspect that food can play a role, you can keep a diary of what you eat and drink, to see if there indeed is a relationship. However, it usually seems to be because of coincidence.
Diagnosis
Because it is a rare condition, patients endure a long procedure of varying researches and treatments before cluster headaches are diagnosed. In general, cluster headaches as a diagnosis is based on typical symptoms which are paired with cluster headaches. The doctor will ask you about the type of pain, the pattern of attacks (length and frequency), the location of the headache, and accompanying symptoms. Besides that, there will be a neurological exam to judge whether there is a narrowing of the pupil, or a drooping eyelid, which can pertain between attacks.
Also, it has to be assessed whether there are no other causes that can cause a headache, which is why often a CT or MR scan has to be done.
Treatment
Cluster headaches are treatable with treatments focused on relieving the attack (attack treatment), as well as with treatments focused on reducing the number of attacks (preventing treatments). As attack treatments, sumatriptan injections and inhaling of pure oxygen are the most effective possibilities. Possible preventative treatments are verapamil and lithium.
Participate in our research
Not only will the generations after you benefit from thorough drug research, but there are also advantages for you as a patient. During the research, you will receive optimal guidance, the medical signs and symptoms are properly monitored and you can benefit from the possible effect of the new medicine. At Brain Research Center, we are the expert in brain research. We have more than 10 years of experience in medicine research. We also research cluster headaches. Only by testing new medicine in practice, we can determine whether it works. For this, we are looking for participants with the diagnosis of cluster headache.