Cluster Headache

Sufferers of cluster headaches, like myself, battle with an enormous amount of pain. I've started this site to try and help those with cluster headaches by relating what I have learned through my research.

Cluster headaches are extremely painful, and doctors claim it to be the worst pain medically, stating it is worse than amputation without anesthetic, and worse than natural childbirth. Because the pain is so bad, and a few victims have gone to the most extreme measure of escaping them, they have earned the nickname "suicide headache". So, I hope somewhere in my story, and what I have found to help relieve my cluster pain, someone who comes here will find something that will work for them.

Cluster vs Migraine

First, let's specify what these are. Cluster headaches are not migraines. Migraines and clusters are two different disorders. For example, cluster sufferers typically do not experience the nausea and sensitivity to light and sound that migraine sufferers do. My experience with these headaches, which I will get into futher detail on later, grew from standard, every-day, headaches through migraines and eventually manifested into clusters. As someone who has experienced them both, I would trade back to migraines any day. They are very different in how they feel.

Besides the nausea and sensitivity, the pain of the headaches are significantly different. Migraine pain is typically a throbbing in the head. It can appear on one or both sides, and can move from side to side. The pain of a migraine can vary greatly, ranging from moderate to severe. Exercise, or any movement, can cause the migraine pain to worsen.

Cluster headaches, on the other hand, cause a very sharp and piercing pain, usually in (or around) one eye or temple. Clusters always occur on one side of the head (though a few people have reported they can switch sides from attack to attack, but each attack always occurs on one side). The throbbing, or pulsing, one feels with migraines is not a characteristic of clusters. Movement does not affect cluster pain.

A Typical Cluster Headache

Like any disorder, a cluster headache can vary slightly from person-to-person. This being said, there are characteristics that define what a cluster headache is.

These headaches are called "clusters" because they often occur in clusters. When I told someone I suffered from cluster headaches, I got a response that she thought she did as well because she got headaches that seemed to be small packets of pain around her head. This is not what is meant by "cluster". What is meant, is that the headaches will "cluster" together within a time period, typically seasonally. Cluster headaches (also unlike migraines) seem to be connected to the circadian rhythm, the internal physiological processes in mammels that follow a 24 hour cycle. This may be why the attack affects the eye, since the regulation of this rhythm may be aided by the rising and setting of the sun.

The circadian rhythm is also expected to play a role in the attacks because they occur at the same time with regularity, typically waking them from sleep.

The attacks are "clustered" if plotted on a calendar, sufferers typically have their bouts of cluster headaches in a 4 to 8 week period, and have them once to twice a year with remission in between. Periods of chronic cluster headaches can occur where there is no remission.

An attack commonly begins in the eye. Tearing of the eye often occurs, and other symptoms can be reddening of the eye, drooping eyelid, a runny nose, and sweating. While these are common, they are not necessary for diagnosis. Heartrate can also increase at onset of the headache.

The headaches can last from a few minutes to a three hours. The pain typically increases during the attack. At its peak, the pain is unbearable, often causing sufferers to bang their heads against a floor, wall, or with a telephone. This pain (commonly reported by women as being worse than childbirth) has caused some to take extreme drastic measures in search of relief, giving cluster headaches the nickname "suicide headaches".

The sharp and stabbing pain in the eye is the worst pain of the attack. Further stabbing pains are sometimes felt in the neck, side of the head and forehead (all on the same side).

People are often restless and want to move around a lot during the attack.

As the attack comes, so it goes. It builds to it's peak, then eases until it's gone.