Cluster Headache
Cluster headache is a very rare disorder, which sometimes causes years of delay in diagnosing a patient. Patients are often misdiagnosed with migraine. This will lead to a non-effective treatment. Correct treatment can prevent the occurrence of cluster headache attacks or effectively abort an attack. It is therefore very important to recognize this disorder already early in the disease course.
Below you will find a short summary of the symptoms and treatment of cluster headache.
Symptoms of cluster headache
Cluster headache attacks can vary in clinical presentation. Typically:
- Attacks occur every other day up to 8 times per day
- Attacks last between 15 minutes and 3 hours
- There is severe, unilateral peri-orbital or temporal pain
- Attacks are accompanied by one or more of the following symptoms:
- Red, tearing eye or swollen eye-lid, ipsilateral to the pain
- Congestion or running nose, ipsilateral to the pain
- Sweating of forehead/face, ipsilateral to the pain
- Restlessness/agitation
Treatment of cluster headache
Treatment of cluster headache consists of both prophylactic (to prevent the occurrence of attacks) and acute treatment (to abort the attack). Options for prophylactic treatment are verapamil and lithium. Options for acute treatment are subcutaneous sumatriptran injections or inhalation of pure oxygen.
