Clusterheadaches
Created | Updated Jul 7, 2003
**THIS ARTICLE IS STILL IN PROGRESS**
Imagine you are sound asleep, but suddenly you are wide awake. You hope you are dreaming, but you know that you are not.Somebody is shoving a hot steelrod through your temple and right into the back of one of your eyes. You want to cry out because of the pain, but you dare not, because you do not want to wake and scare your loved ones. Silently you make your way to the basement, where no one can hear you. That is good, you want to be alone. No one could help you anway and you would not want anybody to see you. To see your slow, bright red eye, your runny nose and the expression on your face. You start to cry, you bang your head against the wall, you pace the room like a tiger in his cage, all you want is this excrutiating pain to stop. Endlessly you walk, back and forth and back...
And then it does. Just like a button is pressed, it stops. Exhausted you go back to sleep.
Imagine you are a clusterhead.
What is Clusterheadache?
Also known as Bing-Horton-Syndrom, clusterheadaches are a very rare form of headaches. There are about 69 cases in 100.000 people. They happen clustered (hence the name) over a period of time and then leave for a longer period and come back again. During a pain-period, the headaches come in quite regular attacks. They will happen at almost always the same time(s) during the day. Very often they start while the sufferer is sleeping. Those attacks can last up to 90 minutes.
Usually patients describe the pain as an excrutiating sting. It is located only on one side of the skull, near the temple, and often right behind one eye. Patients are usually able to locate the pain very precisely. Other symptoms include a red eye and a stuffed nostril on the side of the pain. Sometimes sufferers also get slow eyelids.
What happens during an attack?
Often Clusterheadaches will wake the patient from sleep. Mostly they are not reaching full force right after the patient wakes up, but reach their peak a couple of minutes later. Lying down makes the headache even more severe, so patients get restless. Patients cannot sit, let alone lie, so they start walking.
Ice or cold in general is regarded as being good, if applied to the temple. Depending on the strength of the attack the sufferer may resort to more extreme methods. Pain in any other part of the body also helps, it distracts from the headache. The restlessness and all the more extreme methods are referred to as "the dance" by many sufferers.
As fast as they started, will the attacks subside. In a matter of minutes the pain goes from full force to not existant. Often the sufferer will be quite exhausted form doing the dance and fall into a deep sleep.
Do I have clusterheadache?
If any of the above symptoms seem familliar to you, go and see a doctor. Go there quickly. After all we are talking about having a headache and usually its the brain that hurts. Tell the doctor your symptoms, if they can´t place them, tell them about cluster-headaches. Remember it is a rare sickness, many doctors won´t have a clue about it. But: let them make the diagnosis. There are so many things in your head which could hurt or go bad and kill you...
Is there anything you can do to fight the pain?
In short: Yes, there are quite a few things that can help fight the pain. As soon as the sufferer is diagnosed with having clusters, there won´t be too much of a problem to stop the pain or at least reduce it to a bearable level. The problem is to get the diagnosis or toknow that you have clusterheadaches. It is not uncommon for sufferes to spend 10 or more years in pain without even knowing what they have.
longterm:
during an attack:
Imagine you are sound asleep, but suddenly you are wide awake. You hope you are dreaming, but you know that you are not.Somebody is shoving a hot steelrod through your temple and right into the back of one of your eyes. You want to cry out because of the pain, but you dare not, because you do not want to wake and scare your loved ones. Silently you make your way to the basement, where no one can hear you. That is good, you want to be alone. No one could help you anway and you would not want anybody to see you. To see your slow, bright red eye, your runny nose and the expression on your face. You start to cry, you bang your head against the wall, you pace the room like a tiger in his cage, all you want is this excrutiating pain to stop. Endlessly you walk, back and forth and back...
And then it does. Just like a button is pressed, it stops. Exhausted you go back to sleep.
Imagine you are a clusterhead.
What is Clusterheadache?
Also known as Bing-Horton-Syndrom, clusterheadaches are a very rare form of headaches. There are about 69 cases in 100.000 people. They happen clustered (hence the name) over a period of time and then leave for a longer period and come back again. During a pain-period, the headaches come in quite regular attacks. They will happen at almost always the same time(s) during the day. Very often they start while the sufferer is sleeping. Those attacks can last up to 90 minutes.
Usually patients describe the pain as an excrutiating sting. It is located only on one side of the skull, near the temple, and often right behind one eye. Patients are usually able to locate the pain very precisely. Other symptoms include a red eye and a stuffed nostril on the side of the pain. Sometimes sufferers also get slow eyelids.
What happens during an attack?
Often Clusterheadaches will wake the patient from sleep. Mostly they are not reaching full force right after the patient wakes up, but reach their peak a couple of minutes later. Lying down makes the headache even more severe, so patients get restless. Patients cannot sit, let alone lie, so they start walking.
Ice or cold in general is regarded as being good, if applied to the temple. Depending on the strength of the attack the sufferer may resort to more extreme methods. Pain in any other part of the body also helps, it distracts from the headache. The restlessness and all the more extreme methods are referred to as "the dance" by many sufferers.
As fast as they started, will the attacks subside. In a matter of minutes the pain goes from full force to not existant. Often the sufferer will be quite exhausted form doing the dance and fall into a deep sleep.
Do I have clusterheadache?
If any of the above symptoms seem familliar to you, go and see a doctor. Go there quickly. After all we are talking about having a headache and usually its the brain that hurts. Tell the doctor your symptoms, if they can´t place them, tell them about cluster-headaches. Remember it is a rare sickness, many doctors won´t have a clue about it. But: let them make the diagnosis. There are so many things in your head which could hurt or go bad and kill you...
Is there anything you can do to fight the pain?
In short: Yes, there are quite a few things that can help fight the pain. As soon as the sufferer is diagnosed with having clusters, there won´t be too much of a problem to stop the pain or at least reduce it to a bearable level. The problem is to get the diagnosis or toknow that you have clusterheadaches. It is not uncommon for sufferes to spend 10 or more years in pain without even knowing what they have.
longterm:
during an attack:
