• Information
• Our Information project
• Neurological conditions
• Publications
  • Brain and Spine Booklets
  • About our publications
  • Reader's Panel
  • Case studies
• Children's resources
• Neurological centres
• Spinal Injuries units
• Glossary
• Information Access toolkit
• Communication skills project
• Educational implications of acquired brain injury

|

This is a relatively rare cause of headache in the population compared to migraine, affecting about four people in every thousand. As many as 80 per cent of affected people are men and most of these are smokers.The pain is much more severe than migraine, but affects a smaller area of the head - usually, but by no means always - in, above, behind or below the eye, strictly on one side of the head.The pain is steady rather than throbbing and lasts for between 20 minutes and two hours, often occurring several times a day on consecutive days for two or three months before disappearing completely for a year or even longer.

Cluster headaches often wake affected people up about an hour after they go to bed. The pain is exceptionally severe and sufferers will often get out of bed and pace about. The pain in accompanied by a drooping of the eyelid, the eye waters and may become bloodshot, and the nostril on the same side will run or become blocked. A very small minority of patients experience pain on a daily basis for months or even years at a time without relief. This type of headache involves the pacemaker area of the brain which seems to be the core problem.

People affected by cluster headaches do not usually need to undergo a lot of tests, but they should be seen at a specialist clinic, as treatment is often difficult. The current mainstay is the drug verapamil, often given at very high doses, but some people respond to short courses of corticosteroids (these should not be continued for long). Other people, particularly chronic, or long-term sufferers, often respond well to treatment with lithium carbonate (Priadel), though this will be very carefully supervised by their doctor and blood tests carried out. Sumatriptan by injection or nasal spray has been proven effective in stopping individual attacks and it is generally accepted that high flow oxygen is also useful.

Registered charity no. 1098528 | Site by Torchbox

Last updated 25 June 2009