What are cluster headaches and who usually gets them?Cluster headaches are relatively rare and are more commonly experienced by men. Typically developing at 20-40 years of age, the vicious pain is usually felt at the temple or around the eye on one side of the head.
The eye and nose on the affected side can become red and swollen and there may be a watery discharge from that nostril. Cluster headaches have a distinctive pattern with the pain typically occurring one to six times a day, lasting on average up to an hour at a time. Occurring around the same time of the day during the cluster period, they can occur over a period of four-eight weeks followed by a pain-free period. Triggers include alcohol, nicotine, interrupted sleeping pattern, medications and stress.
When my friend gets them, the pain is very severe. Is the pain different from an ordinary headache or a migraine?
People who experience cluster headaches often describe them as piercing or jabbing pains. Unable to lie down or sleep with the pain, sufferers become restless and sometimes even bang their heads on something in an effort to relieve the agony.
Unlike migraine, they are not usually associated with nausea and do not tend to worsen with exposure to lights or noise. After an attack the eyelid on the same side of the headache may droop. Treatment involves controlling triggers and using preventive medication. Corticosteroids may help stop the cluster headache as it begins. Because regular painkillers take too long to act, quicker acting painkillers, in injectable or nasal spray forms, have been found to be more effective in the treatment of cluster headaches. Inhaling pure oxygen has also been found to be useful.
Surely such severe pain must be a sign of something more serious going on?
The diagnosis of cluster headaches is usually made on the basis of the sufferer's description of the pattern and type of pain associated with the headaches.
Tests such as CT scans or an MRI may be performed but are usually done just to rule out another cause.