Cluster Headaches Can Be One of the Most Painful Forms of Headache

Cluster headaches are like the cousins of migraines except much more intense. They usually don't have much of a warning sign before they start but often flare up around the same periods of time, and as the name implies, appear in clusters or groups. In medical terminology, a cluster headache is a condition called trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias and affects both men and women usually between the ages of twenty and forty. It is not a rare disease with an estimated two hundred thousand to one million people suffering from it in the United States alone. If you or someone you know suffers from intense and striking headaches that aren't fought off by any normal methods, it's possible they may not have migraines but actually cluster headaches. Read on to learn more about them and see what you can do to manage the disease and the pain associated with the clusters.

Causes of Cluster Headaches

Medical experts have many theories on what the origins of cluster headaches are, but there is no certain link that connects them to a definitive cause. Since they come on in cycles, it is most prominently thought to have something to do with the hypothalamus which controls the body's other cycles like sleep. Cluster headaches also do not appear to be triggered by certain foods, and hormones or stress also do not seem to have any additional impact on the onset of the headaches themselves. Researchers have found a connection between drinking alcohol and cluster headaches, however, so you may find that alcohol does exacerbate or sets them off when you are not expecting them.

Symptoms and Differences From Other Headaches

Most people have had a headache at some time in their lives - that aching pain behind the eyes or the throbbing between your temples can be frustrating and hard to deal with. Cluster headaches on the other hand, are generally much more debilitating than the average headache and cause pretty severe distress. On the pain scale, a cluster headache is usually rated at the absolute highest number and can occur up to eight times over the course of a day within a person's cluster period. People who have these types of headaches are generally unable to sleep through them and can even be awakened in the middle of the night from the pain they are experiencing. Unlike the average headache, a cluster headache will also usually occur on just one side of the head which separates it further from what you may think of as a normal headache.

Getting Treatment

Treatment of the disease is possible though, and while they are pretty awful, having cluster headaches is thankfully not life-threatening. You cannot be cured from cluster headaches, but there are many ways to treat them that will allow you to live your life in much less pain and with many less headaches. Both acute and preventative treatments are available so you can keep flare ups under control as best as possible, while being ready for them in case they do strike. Most treatments involve medication in one form or another. Sometimes, alternative options are available like breathing pure oxygen.