Cluster Headaches

Cluster headache sufferers typically experience very severe headaches of a piercing quality near one eye or temple that last for fifteen minutes to three hours. The headaches are unilateral and occasionally change sides. Cluster headaches are frequently associated with drooping eyelids, conjunctival injection (which results in red, watery eyes), tearing, constricted pupil, eyelid edema, nasal congestion, runny nose, and sweating on the affected side of the face. The neck is often stiff or tender in association with cluster headaches, and jaw and teeth pain is sometimes reported.

The location and type of pain has been compared to a headache felt after rapidly drinking or eating something very cold; this analogy is limited, but may offer some insight into the cluster headache experience. During an attack, the person is restless and cannot sit still and may pace or even become severely agitated. Sensitivity to light is more typical of a migraine, as is vomiting, but they can be present in some sufferers of cluster headache.

Cluster headaches are occasionally referred to as "alarm clock headaches", as they can occur at night and wake a person from sleep at the same time each night or at a certain period after falling asleep. Other synonyms for cluster headache include Horton’s syndrome and "suicide headaches" (a reference to the excruciating pain and resulting desperation).

In episodic cluster headache, these attacks occur once or more daily, often at the same times each day, for a period of several weeks, followed by a headache-free period lasting weeks, months, or even years. Approximately 10–15% of cluster headache sufferers are chronic; they can experience multiple headaches every day for years. Cluster headaches occurring in two or more cluster periods lasting from 7 to 365 days with a pain-free remission of one month or longer between the clusters are considered episodic. If the attacks occur for more than a year without a pain-free remission of at least one month, the condition is considered chronic. The condition may change from chronic to episodic and from episodic to chronic. Remission periods lasting for decades before the resumption of clusters have been known to occur.

For further information:

• This site is devoted completely and exclusively to those that suffer from, and to the supporters of those who suffer from Cluster Headaches!
• The Organization for Understanding Cluster Headaches (O.U.C.H.) provides information and emotional support to cluster headache sufferers throughout the world. We encourage, support and participate in research to develop new and improved therapies and practices for treating cluster headaches.

Last modified: 2006-10-18