Cluster Headaches Symptoms - How To Recognize Them?
Go to: Previous Article Next Article
Cluster headaches are often confused with migraine headaches, but these are two different maladies entirely. Make no mistake; migraines are terribly painful, and people who have them have a difficult cross to bear. But cluster headaches are, believe it or not, even worse. Only those who have actually experienced the horror of them actually know what it's like. In this article, I'll give an overview of cluster headache symptoms, for those who are living with them but don't know what they're called.
The Major Cluster Headache Symptoms:
Just after falling asleep is the moment most cluster headache symptoms will occur. It's still unknown why this is so, but it's noted as a very common pattern amongst cluster headache sufferers. Still it's not a universal truth, you can have cluster headaches at any moment of day or night. Many people mistakenly think because of the fact that cluster headaches always are centered on one side of the head, but this isn't true, the name comes from the fact that cluster headaches occur in clusters of time. Attacks will be happening over a period of weeks or months, after which they will suddenly stop. With most cluster headache sufferers, the pain will occur always on the same side of the face, but a small minority of people will have attacks alternating between both sides. But in all cases, the pain stays only on one side during a particular cluster period.
The moment a cluster headache starts, you will immediately recognize it as being one, as the first symptoms is feeling a terrible pain in one eye. Every victim will report the same thing: a horrible sensation that feels like a 100 needles are stabbed in the eye. The unbearable pain will be at its worst about 10 minutes after the cluster headache starts. And the pain will be accompanied by another major symptom: the sensation of tiny little electrical shocks. This sensation only worsen the pain during the attac. In most cases the cluster headache will last between 30 minutes to an hour an a half.
Cluster Headache Symptoms: The Minor Symptoms
Cluster headache symptoms fall into two categories, major and minor. The really big one is the stabbing sensation in one eye, or one side of the face. If you've ever had this happen to you, and it lasted for around an hour or so, you probably had a cluster headache. But there are a great many minor symptoms that accompany cluster headaches.
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.
Article Source: Articlelogy.com
- Get Fit the healthy way tons of honest tips and tricks to lead a healthier life, also in progress a guide on how to stop smoking -
Word Count: 679
Reduce Your Debts Without Bankruptcy. See How Much You Can Save. Free Debt Analysis
