Cluster Headaches Treatment

It's said that migraines are very painful but a cluster headaches can top this. Cluster headaches are also sometimes described as "suicide headaches" because of their sudden and extremely painful attacks which can last anywhere between five minutes and three hours. Another disturbance is the fact, that cluster headaches often come in the night at the same time, waking you up with a severe pain. The pain is usually unilateral behind or above the eye and often goes together with other symptoms like a dropped eyelid, pupil changes and nasal congestion.

Cluster headaches are not migraines but both are vascular headaches. Other types of headaches are myogenic/musculare (tension-typed), traction and inflammatory headaches which are usually much less aching. The causes are unknown but it's believed that migraines and cluster headaches derive from the dilution of the blood vessels. While the brain itself can't feel any pain, the widening of the arteries can cause pain. It's assumed that the dilated arteries put pressure on the trigeminal nerve.

As cluster headaches often happen the same time each day there is also the theory that they are caused by a hypothalamus abnormality. The hypothalamus controls our biological clock.

While treatments that narrow the arteries again bring relief with migraines, the most common painkillers for this purpuse like Aspirin, Paracetamol or Ibuprofen have no effect on cluster headaches. Triptans like sumatriptan and zolmitriptan or the newer medications like fentanyl are more effective but cluster headaches happen so quickly that any oral treatment will come too late. That's why an injection is one of the few ways to treat a cluster headache quickly.

A very fast and efficient therapy is the oxygen therapy. When you inhale pure oxygen immediately when the headache starts, you could stop cluster headaches in the beginning. If no oxygen is in reach then a strong exercise has shown to have similar effects.

There are some other differences between cluster headaches and migraines. Cluster headaches affect more men than women while more women have migraines. Migraines can come with a so called aura, some additional neurological disturbances which precede the migraine like vision disturbance or a tickling in hands or arms. A migraine even can come just with the aura and no head pain at all. Relaxation brings relief with migraines but with cluster headaches an intensive exercise brings relief while relaxation worsens the pain. A migraine can take hours or the whole day while the cluster headache comes in several sudden attacks and then can disappear for weeks or even months.

You should consult with your doctor to find he best possible treatment. Cluster headaches are more difficult to treat than migraines.

Andrew C. Povel is an expert in headaches and migraines and provides detailed information on cluster headaches at his web site www.HeadacheABC.com