Article Advise

submitted: Aug 17th 2008 | by: DonaldSaunders | Total views: 1 | Word Count: 471 | |

Cluster headaches are arquably one of the most painful conditions known and their only one and only saving grace is that they are fortunately relatively rare. For example, though roughly one person out of every ten of the population suffers from migraine headaches, only about one person in three hundred will ever experience a cluster headache.

A cluster headache generally appears as what many sufferers describe as a hot and stabbing pain behind just one eye or in the region of the temple. Their main characteristic however is that they run to a timetable and will appear at roughly the same time every day often appearing for several days, weeks or months at a time. They also tend to occur without warning, unlike migraine headaches which are often preceded by several warning signs.

Noone is exactly certain what causes these extremely painful headaches though research tends to favor the theory that they are the result of abnormalities in the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus is a small gland that plays an important role in regulating the body clock and this might explain why these headaches occur at the same time every day.

Another feature of cluster headaches that distinguishes them from migraine headaches is that are seen far more in men than in women. In the case of migraines about three times as many women as men are sufferers however, with cluster headaches, studies indicate that they are seen up to eight times more often in men.

Treatments for ordinary headaches are virtually always ineffective for cluster headaches and this is one type of headache for which you have to seek advice from your doctor.

One frequently used treatment is that of inhaling pure oxygen for several minutes once the headache begins. This particular form of treatment will not work for everyone but normally works extremely well for those people who do find it is helpful. It cannot however be used to prevent a cluster headache and is only effective in treating a headache once it has started.

Another extremely effective treatment is the use of a new form of drugs known as triptans which are at present being used to treat migraines. These drugs must however be taken in a fast acting form to be effective and this often means using them in the form of a nasal spray. However, in many cases cluster headaches can also cause inflammation of the nasal passages making this sort of treatment difficult. Here, triptans can occasionally be administered by way of an injection.

At the moment there are no terribly effective preventative treatments available though some sufferers do find that calcium channel blockers work fairly well. Also, in very severe cases surgery may be considered as a treatment of last resort and a number of neurological procedures are available including procedures that block certain nerves and which remove part of the brain.

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Visit TheMigraineHeadacheCenter for information on not only migrane headaches but other forms of headache including cluster migraines

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