In most cases cluster headaches are confused with migraine headaches, but those two are entirely different from each other. Don’t take this the wrong way: when you suffer from migraines, you have to endure terrible pain, but cluster headaches are, if you believe it or not, even worse. If you have experienced them before, you will know what I’m talking about. This article will list the most common cluster headache symptoms, so if you suffer from them and you aren’t properly diagnosed, you will find out here.
The Major Symptoms of Cluster Headaches:
Very often cluster headache symptoms start just after you fall asleep. It is unknown by doctors why this is the case, but it’s a very common pattern amongst cluster headache sufferers. But it’s not universal, you can get a cluster headache attack at any time of night or day. You will also notice that the pain of cluster headaches centers it on only one side of your head, that’s where most people think the names comes from. (This isn’t the case, the names comes from the fact that cluster headaches will occur in clusters of time, attacks can happen over a period of weeks or months, after which they suddenly stop.) The biggest percentage of sufferers will feel the pain on the same side of the face nearly every attack, only with a minority of sufferers the pain will switch between both sides, meaning, one attack the pain will be located left, while during another attack the pain will be centered at the right side of the face. But in every case, during an attack the pain will remain only on one side.
The moment a cluster headache starts, you will know for sure that this is the real, and you won’t mistaken it for another headache: the first symptom is the feeling like a 1000 needles or a pair of scissors is stabbed right in your eye. After 10 minutes the unbearable pain will be at its worst. And while you have to endure this pain, you will get the second major cluster headache symptom: little electrical shocks which only worsen the pain during the attack. Overal, the cluster headache will last between half an hour to up to an hour and a half.
Cluster Headache Symptoms: The Minor Symptoms
The cluster headache symptoms are divided in two categories: major and minor ones. The most important symptoms we have discussed above: the stabbing feeling you have to endure in one eye or on one side of the face. If you have ever suffered from this and it has lasted for over an hour, it’s quiet possible that you have had a cluster headache. But to be sure, you will need to know more symptoms, the minor ones, to help you diagnose your headache.
The first minor cluster headache symptoms you might notice are problems with your eye on the affected side of your face, in addition to the terrible pain. Cluster headaches are poorly understood by medical experts even today, so doctors really can’t say what causes this reaction, but the affected eyelid may have a noticeable droop during the duration of the headache. In addition, the eye itself may shed tears. These aren’t really tears of pain, because both eyes would tear up in that case. And the droopiness and tearing may occur individually, or together. But they’ll always happen to the eye on the same side of the face as the headache.
Nasal problems are also classic cluster headache symptoms. It’s common to experience either a runny nose or a stopped up nose, and, just as with the eye, it only happens in the nostril on the affected side of the face. Other symptoms include a pronounced restlessness, or anxiety, which is certainly understandable given the intense pain. Finally, profuse sweating and a flushed face are common cluster headache symptoms. One thing to note, although it’s not really a symptom, but more of an indicator, is that cluster headaches usually occur in January or July. The reason for this is not known, and is part of the medical mystery of cluster headaches.
If you’ve been suffering from these symptoms, you’ve probably been having cluster headaches but didn’t know it. It’s important that you seek an effective treatment, because they rarely stop occurring on their own.
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