Cluster headache is a serious bout. Soreness begins to be felt suddenly and almost immediately becomes very strong. Symptoms of clustered cephalalgia syndrome are similar to migraine manifestations, but in fact, it is a completely different kind of headache, and it is treated by other methods.
Cluster headache - what is it?
This is the term pronounced pain syndrome. Unpleasant sensations arise in the areas of the projection of the brain on the walls of the skull. As a rule, when the cluster headache starts, it takes the person out of a comfortable state. Symptoms of cephalgia are so strong that some patients even think about committing a suicide attempt to get rid of them.
Knowing what a cluster headache is, you can go on to study its main types. Cephalgia is episodic and chronic. The latter may not pass for years. Episodic cluster pain worries for a limited period of time, after which it stops. However, between attacks, patients do not notice any symptoms at all.
The pathogenesis of cluster headaches
This type of cephalalgia is not the most common phenomenon. According to statistics, cluster pain occurs in three people out of a thousand. The problem affects representatives of different sex, but men suffer from it, as a rule, five times more often. The first attack can happen at any age, but the greatest likelihood of its onset in people from 20 to 40 years.
Cluster headache during the cycle always occurs at the same time, so the experts put forward a theory of its connection with human biorhythms. The latter are responsible for the production of hormones, temperature, enzymatic activity and other important physiological processes. Beginning, the attack breaks them, the hypothalamus sends impulses to the nervous system, and the blood vessels take them for signals to expand.
For the first time a cluster headache can begin because of:
- stress ;
- effects of alcohol;
- busy schedule;
- reception of nitroglycerin and some other medicines;
- raising to a significant height;
- unpleasant odor;
- too bright a flash of light.
Cluster headache causes
The main triggers of the attack described above are the factors that contribute to its onset. The causes for which the syndrome of cephalgia develops are different. The main of them are associated with all sorts of deviations in the work of the nervous system - such as:
- abnormalities in the hypothalamus;
- inflammation of the nerves, located eyes, or dilated blood vessels;
- violation of habitual biorhythms;
- disorders in the work of the sympathetic nervous system.
In addition, a clustered severe headache may depend on heredity and genetic component. The appearance of an attack is sometimes affected by head injuries and sleep disorders. Medicine had to deal with cases when clustered cephalalgia developed against a background of failure in the neurophysical processes of the body. Victims in this case in most cases were women during menopause, pregnancy or before menstruation.
Beam Headache Symptoms
Such a cephalgia is characterized as a sharp one-sided attack. The strength of pain reaches its maximum in a few minutes. Precursors have no attack. As a rule, unpleasant sensations appear in the ear area. Very soon the cluster pain in the eye begins to give. Because of the bursting sensation begins a tearing, a runny nose, sound and photophobia , swelling of the eyelids. Many patients blush their cheeks during an attack, develops a tachycardia, raises temperature and sweats.
How many cluster headaches last?
The duration and frequency of seizures vary from patient to patient. One beam headache torments 10 - 15 minutes, others have to deal with the attack for several hours. Seizures can be repeated several times a day or a week. The gaps between them are also different. In some cases, cluster headache returns 2-3 times a year, and there are also lucky ones who forget about it for several years.
Cluster headache - treatment
The therapy of beam pain suggests:
- acute treatment - for arresting an attack;
- preventive treatment - to reduce the number of relapses and complete cessation of seizures in the future.
Recommendations for how to treat cluster headaches - which drugs to use - should be given by a specialist. In addition to medications, a change in behavior and lifestyle will help prevent an attack. People prone to beam pain, should try to avoid stress, reduce the amount of alcohol consumed, if possible, stop smoking (or at least give up a cigarette at the first sign of the onset of an attack).
Cluster headache - treatment of an attack
The therapy that neutralizes the attack is called neutralizing. The most rapid cluster head pain is eliminated by:
- oxygen therapy (pure oxygen is fed through the mask for 15 minutes);
- local anesthetics (lidocaine);
- Ergotamine injections;
- a compound derived from hot pepper - Capsaicin;
- application of triptans.
Cluster headache - treatment, drugs
Tablets from a cluster headache for prophylactic purposes should be taken daily during each painful cluster. The most popular are such drugs:
- Verelan. Reduces the number of attacks. Suitable for the prevention of both episodic and chronic cephalalgia.
- Prednisone. A corticosteroid that relieves the pain syndrome, but for a very short period.
- Escalite and Lithobid. They influence the body's biological clock and are prescribed for chronic pain.
- Decapote or Topamax. They are prescribed only when all other medicines do not help.
Cluster headache - treatment with folk remedies
At attacks of a bundle pain alternative methods of treatment help very poorly, but they help to cope with consequences of attack. As practice shows, cluster cephalalgia is better tolerated if the following products are added to the diet:
- Cayenne pepper. Contains a large amount of capsaicin - a substance that makes the pain signals coming to the brain less intense, thereby reducing the attack.
- Leaves of ginkgo. They have a lot of terpenoids, which stimulate the flow of blood to the brain. Due to this, the throbbing pain gradually comes to naught.
- Walnuts. Delicious analgesic medicine. Painful syndrome nuts eliminate due to hormone melatonin.
- Turmeric. It is an excellent sedative, which in small amounts can be added to food at least every day.
- Kudzu. Roots and leaves of this herb are considered to be one of the most powerful plant anesthetics. They help with clustered cephalalgia and migraines.
Neurosurgical operation with cluster pain
This is one of the modern methods of treatment of beam cephalalgia. How to get rid of a cluster headache with the help of a neurosurgical operation? During the procedure, the roots of the trigeminal nerve - the very one that is responsible for carrying out the pain impulses - are destroyed. The operation is minimally invasive, performed without anesthesia. The impact occurs through a 3 mm hole in the base of the skull. Specialists monitor all manipulations through an X-ray machine. Rehabilitation after such intervention is almost not required, and the patient is released home on the same day.