Table of Contents
About half of people with cluster headache have a personal or family history of migraine. Studies have reported that about 15% of patients have both kinds of headache.
Head Injury
Head injury with brain concussion appears to increase the risk of cluster headaches, although a causal relationship has not been proven.
Sleep Apnea and Other Sleep Disorders
Cluster headaches tend to occur during specific sleep stages and have been associated with several sleep disorders, including narcolepsy, insomnia, and sleep apnea.
Sleep apnea, a disorder in which a person's breathing pauses during the night, perhaps hundreds of times, is of particular interest. In some people, apnea may trigger a cluster headache during the first few hours of sleep, making patients susceptible to follow-up attacks during the following midday to afternoon periods. Treating patients who have both disorders with a device called CPAP, which opens the airways, may help improve both conditions. [For more information, see In-Depth Report #65: Sleep apnea.]
Cluster Headache Triggers
The following conditions and substances might trigger cluster attacks:
- Alcohol and cigarette smoking
- High altitudes (trekking, air travel)
- Bright light (including sunlight)
- Exertion
- Heat (hot weather, hot baths)
- Foods high in nitrites (such as bacon and preserved meats)
- Certain medications (including those that cause blood vessel dilation, such as nitroglycerin, and various blood pressure medications)
- Cocaine
Triggers usually have an effect only during active cluster cycles. When the disorder is in remission, such triggers rarely set off the headaches.
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Review Date: 09/29/2010
Reviewed By: Harvey Simon, MD, Editor-in-Chief, Associate Professor of Medicine,
Harvard Medical School; Physician, Massachusetts General Hospital.
Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M.,
Inc.
A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)
