The Mystery of Cluster Headaches
Provided By:
www.headachepainrelief.org
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Cluster headaches affect primarily young males; statistically males under the age of thirty are the most severely affected. This is a rare form of headache, affecting only about one in one thousand people. In recent years there has been a rise in females affected with cluster headaches, but men still are affected about twice as often as are women.
What Are Cluster Headaches?
Cluster headaches are defined as a series of reoccurring headaches that are severe in intensity and have episodes that often last days or even weeks. In between these attacks the sufferer is usually pain free. Sometimes the attacks will start while a person is sleeping, and these attacks are often more painful than daytime attacks. The duration of these headaches may vary from fifteen minutes three hours in most cases.
Triggers of Cluster Headaches
The most common trigger is actually season changes. This is thought to be due to the fact that the nerves that are activated during an attack are those of the internal clock. Nicotine and alcohol can intensify the seasonal affects of the cluster headaches; alcohol is especially harmful as small amounts can trigger an attack during the spring and fall. Most sufferers do not experience any ill reaction to moderate alcohol use or smoking when not experiencing a cluster event.
Causes of Cluster Headaches
The actually biophysical cause of most headaches are still a mystery to scientists and doctors, however, by observing this particular type of headache, certain common areas have been detected. There is a cluster of nerves throughout the face that are thought to trigger these severely painful episodes. When initially activated, the first sensations a sufferer will feel are usually in the eye, including tearing or redness. Also, this nerve is connected to each person's internal clock, which could explain why these attacks are more severe at night.
Some symptoms of these headaches are similar to other severe headaches, for example, one sided pain that remains on the same side. The pain has been known to be so severe that those affected may feel antsy and need to walk about a room to cope. The pain in cluster headaches is not localized to the head like other headaches, and often a person's entire face can hurt, even teeth and gums. The very top of a persons head may feel tender to the touch. Affected people are often so sensitive during an attack that they can feel their pulse and even that may cause them further discomfort.
Most cluster headache sufferers will have some respite throughout the year, and only be affected by their pains for a week at during major seasonal changes; some people are affected more while others are affected less. The majority of people living with cluster headaches have episodes that last a week to a year with intervals of at least two weeks between episodes. Some people aren't so lucky; their chronic condition allows them less than fourteen headache free days per year.
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