Has anyone heard of cluster headaches and if so can someone please tell me why they happen ?
My husband suffers with cluster headaches and he suffers very badly from them. Do cluster headaches go on for days at a time and then suddenly stop. What causes them and what is the best cure? Thanks for your help.
Public Comments
1. This website has a lot of good information about cluster headaches. My brief perusal of the information says....yes they can come and go, they happen in cycles, (you may be able to chart your husband's over a period of time), Imitrex looked like the drug of choice (there is no cure), men are MUCH more likely than women to suffer from them.They sound perfectly horrid, I hope you find some relief for your husband very soon.
2. Yes, I was actually diagnosed with that too. I underwent a lot of tests and that was their conclusion. Unfortunately, I was told I would "out grow" them. They are similar to migraines and you can take migraine medicine for them.
3. The exact cause of cluster headaches is not known. Many experts believe that cluster headaches and migraine headaches have a common cause that begins in the trigeminal nerve, a nerve that carries sensations from the head to the brain and that ends in the blood vessels that surround the brain. Other experts link cluster headaches to the hypothalamus, an area of the brain. Either explanation would account for the periodic nature of the headache.People with cluster headaches usually receive drug therapies. These treatments may be classified as abortive or preventive.
Abortive treatments are directed at stopping or reducing the severity of an attack, and include:
Inhalation of high-flow, concentrated oxygen
Injection of Depo-Medrol
Imitrex injection
Dihydroergotoamine injection and ergotomine tartrate tablets
Zomig, Zomig-ZMT, and Zomig nasal spray
Maxalt, Maxalt-MLT
Axert
Deltasone
Preventive treatments are used to reduce the frequency and intensity of cluster headaches and improve the person's quality of life. Preventive drugs include:Blood pressure medications, such as beta-blockers and calcium channel blockers,Antidepressants ,Anticonvulsants, Periactin
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such asNaprosyn ,Sansert Calan, Verelan, Covera-HS
Eskalith, Lithane, Lithobid, Lithonate, Lithotabs
Surgeries including nerve blocks, ablative neurosurgical procedures and radiosurgery have helped some people with cluster headaches. Nerve blocks involve the injection of pain medicine into or around a nerve or the spine. Ablative neurosurgical procedures are operations that involve the removal or destruction of a part of the brain, the spinal cord, or a nerve. Radiosurgery, a type of surgery that uses radiant energy and does not involve cutting, recently has been used to provide a less invasive alternative for people who have persistent cluster headaches.Some people with cluster headaches have been helped by alternative or complementary therapies such as chiropractic, acupuncture, osteopathic manipulation, and herbal remedies.
NREMT-P
4. Cluster headache is classified as vascular headache.It is due to dilataion of brain vasculater and the real causes are not fully understood.It may be due any problem in hyporthalamus or it may be genetically in origine.Any way , some diets and behaviors can trigger it .
