Cluster headaches are severe and occur in cycles that can last for weeks or years. They are believed to be caused by the dilation of blood vessels and can be triggered by certain foods or the body’s natural cycles. Treatment options include medication and surgery, but there is no cure. Cluster headaches can be debilitating and have been known to drive patients to desperate measures, but they are rare.
Cluster headaches are short, extraordinarily painful headaches that appear in clusters, or clusters, in cycles that can last weeks or years. Cluster headaches are believed to be among the most extreme pains humans can experience, and the intense physical experience of cluster headaches has been known to drive patients to desperate measures. There is no cure for cluster headaches, although several medications can be used to treat patients during an attack or to help prevent headaches. In extreme cases, surgery may be offered.
Like many other chronic headaches, the trigger for cluster headaches is unknown. They often appear suddenly, without any kind of warning, and can disappear within minutes or hours. It has been suggested that cluster headaches may be linked to specific foods, such as alcohol, caffeine and chocolate, and a doctor may place a patient on an elimination diet as part of a treatment plan. They can also be related to the body’s natural cycles, as cluster headaches often appear on a regular and predictable basis.
The mechanism of cluster headache is understood. They are a type of vascular headache, which means that the symptoms are caused by dilation of blood vessels. Blood vessels put pressure on the trigeminal nerve, causing severe, sharp pain. Patients have described the headache as feeling like a hot poker forced into the eye or into the skull. Generally, cluster headaches attack only one side of the face and are accompanied by symptoms such as a runny nose or droopy eyelid.
A patient of any age can experience the onset of cluster headache, although most patients are between the ages of 20 and 40. The headaches start with two or three attacks each day for four to eight weeks, and then the cluster headaches usually stop for about a year. These cluster headache episodes will continue to run in cycles of attack and remission. Chronic cluster headache occurs without remission and can be very debilitating. Sometimes, a period of remission can last for decades, and in some cases, the cluster headache disappears altogether eventually.
Cluster headache pain can interfere with sleep, mental health, and daily life. In rare cases, patients have been known to commit suicide or harm themselves in an attempt to cope with the pain. Doctors keep a close eye on their patients to prevent this from happening, and a patient suffering from unbearable cluster headaches may be offered surgery on the nerve to attempt to reduce the pain. Fortunately, cluster headaches are extremely rare, occurring in about 69 out of 100,000 people.
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