Cluster Headache
Cluster headaches are very painful one-sided headaches that tend to occur in clusters of several headaches in a short period of time, after which there may be no headaches for weeks or months. Cluster headaches that continue for more than one year without remission, or with remissions lasting less than 14 days, are considered to be chronic and are very difficult to treat.
What are the symptoms of cluster headaches?
Cluster headaches involve pain in the eye or upper face, tearing, runny nose with nasal congestion, and facial sweating.
How is it treated?
Drugs that lead to narrowing of blood vessels, such as methysergide, is one of the first therapies used for cluster headaches. Oxygen inhalation is another option, especially with nighttime onset of symptoms. Other therapies that do not affect blood flow are also used.
Dietary changes that may be helpful:
Some doctors report that food sensitivities may trigger cluster headaches in some people. While the connection between diet and migraine headache is well established, no controlled research has investigated the role of diet in cluster headache.
Many people with cluster headaches are heavy consumers of alcohol, and alcohol consumption has been reported to bring on cluster headache attacks.
Lifestyle changes that may be helpful:
Many people with cluster headaches are smokers. While this does not necessarily mean quitting smoking will reduce cluster headache attacks, smoking should be avoided for many reasons.
Nutritional supplements that may be helpful:
People who suffer from cluster headaches often have low blood levels of magnesium, and preliminary trials show that intravenous magnesium injections may relieve a cluster headache episode. |
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