Cluster Headache

There are many types of headaches, such as cluster headaches, yet they’re all painful and annoying, and they also interfere with the person’s life. Moreover, they sometimes could make the person not able to do the normal daily tasks.

Cluster headache

A cluster headache is a pain in one side of the head around the eye, which could last from 15 minutes to 3 hours. It’s called a cluster headache because of the way it affects the person; it comes in groups before it goes temporarily.

Cluster headaches aren’t common; they affect 1 in every 100.000 people around the world, and it affects men more than women.

Causes and triggers of cluster headache

• There isn’t a specific reason for cluster headaches until now, yet the research has reached a result that they’re related to specific substances that are released from the trigeminal nerve that sends sensations between the brain and face, which are histamine (it contributes to the allergic reaction) and serotonin (which sends messages between the nerve cells).
• The researchers found out that the hypothalamus in the brain can contribute to the cluster headache as well.
• Genetic factor.
• Cluster headaches can be triggered by smoking, alcohol, hot temperatures, bright lights, nitrates in some foods like preserved meats, and some medications like sildenafil.

Symptoms of cluster headache

The symptoms occur on one side of the head and include:

• Extreme pain inside or behind the eye that could spread to the face and neck.
• Red and watery eye.
• Swelling around the eye.
• Drooping eyelid.
• Face or forehead sweating.
• Change in the skin color.
• Stuffy or runny nose.
• Cluster headaches usually come like attacks several times in a day and might last from a week to a few months, and sometimes a year. After that, a remission period (pain-free period) starts and might last for a few months to a few years before the return of the pain period, which often returns at the same time. The one period a day lasts from 15 minutes to 3 hours in some cases, and it mostly starts one or two hours after sleeping.

Diagnosis of cluster headache

• Asking the patient about the symptoms.
• Imaging tests to exclude other conditions.

Treatment of cluster headache

• Specific medications to prevent the attacks of cluster headaches and reduce the severity of the symptoms when they occur, such as some antihypertensives and corticosteroids.
• Specific medications to manage the pain when it occurs, such as oxygen.
• Other treatments.