Headaches: Cluster - Introduction

Highlights	Risk Factors	Surgery
Introduction	Diagnosis	Resources
Cluster Headaches	Managing Cluster Headaches	References
Causes	Treatment
Prognosis	Medications

Introduction

Most people are familiar with headaches, the all too common affliction marked by throbbing, piercing, or vise-like pain around much or a part of the head. There are many different kinds of headaches, and they range from being an infrequent annoyance to a persistent, severe, and disabling medical condition.

The brain itself is insensitive to pain, so that is not what hurts when a headache arises. Rather, the pain occurs in the following locations:

The tissues covering the brain.
The attaching structures at the base of the brain.
Muscles and blood vessels around the scalp, face, and neck.

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It should be noted, however, that the sources for this pain are in the brain itself or are unknown.

Doctorscategorize headaches as either primary or secondary, which helps to distinguish the many different kinds of headaches and to determine appropriate treatments for each.

Primary Headaches

A headache is considered primary when a disease or other medical condition does not cause it. Most primary headaches fall into three main types: tension-type, migraine, and cluster headaches.

Tension headache is the most common primary headache and accounts for 90% of all headaches.
Migraines are the second most frequently occurring primary headaches. It is referred to as a neurovascular headache because it is most likely caused by an interaction between blood vessel and nerve abnormalities.
Cluster headache is a less common type of primary headache. Although it is sometimes referred to as a neurovascular headache, evidence now suggests that its cause lies in the hypothalamus, a region deep in the brain that regulates, among other functions, the biologic rhythms of the body.

It should be noted that symptoms of migraine and tension-type headaches often overlap and a diagnosis is sometimes difficult.

Headaches are usually caused by either muscle tension, vascular problems, or both. Migraines are vascular in origin, and may be preceded by visual disturbances, loss of peripheral vision, and fatigue. Most headaches can be relieved or ameliorated by over-the-counter pain medications.

Secondary Headaches

Secondary headaches are caused by other medical conditions, such as sinus infections, neck injuries, and strokes. About 2% of headaches are secondary to abnormalities or infections in the nasal or sinus passages, and they are commonly referred to as sinus headaches.