Cluster headaches

I woke up last night at 11:47 with a fairly strong cluster. It caused my nose to run copiously. I spent 15 minutes at the sink with a hot washcloth on my eye and then I went back to bed and I could feel it release. I hope to hell it was an isolated incident. I haven't had a cluster cycle in years. I'm already thinking call the headache Dr so I can get an appt and he can order oxygen for me. Only problem with oxygen is it doesn't work for every headache and when it does, they bounce back in a couple of hours. Oh boy fun ahead. Cluster headaches are recurring bouts of excruciating unilateral headache attacks[5] of extreme intensity.[6] The duration of a typical CH attack ranges from about 15 to 180 minutes.[3] Most untreated attacks (about 75%) last less than 60 minutes.[7] The onset of an attack is rapid and most often without preliminary signs that are characteristic in migraine. Preliminary sensations of pain in the general area of attack, referred to as "shadows", may signal an imminent CH, or these symptoms may linger after an attack has passed, or even between attacks.[8] Though a CH is strictly unilateral, there are some documented cases of "side-shift" between cluster periods, extremely rare, simultaneously (within the same cluster period) bilateral headache.[9] Pain The pain occurs on one side only (unilateral), around the eye (orbital), particularly above the eye (supraorbital), in the temple (temporal), in any combination. The pain of CH is remarkably greater than in other headache conditions, including severe migraine. The term "headache" does not adequately convey the severity of the condition; the disease may be the most painful condition known to medical science.[10] The pain is described as stabbing, burning or squeezing and may be located near or behind the eye and at the back of the head or neck.[11] Other symptoms The typical symptoms of cluster headache are grouping (cluster) of recurring headache attacks of severe or very severe unilateral orbital, supraorbital and/or temporal pain. If left untreated, attack frequency will range from one attack every two days to eight attacks a day.[2][3] The headache attack is accompanied by at least one of the following autonomic symptoms: drooping eyelid, pupil constriction, redness of the conjunctiva, tearing, runny nose, and, less commonly, facial blushing, swelling, or sweating, commonly but not always appearing on the same side of the head as the pain.[2] Restlessness (for example, pacing or rocking back and forth), photosensitivity, aversion to light (photophobia) or sensitivity to noise (phonophobia) may occur during a CH. Nausea is a rare symptom, although it has been reported.[5] Secondary effects may include inability to organize thoughts and plans, physical exhaustion, confusion, agitation, aggressiveness, depression and anxiety.[12] People with CH may dread facing another headache and adjust their physical or social activities around a possible future occurrence. Likewise they may seek assistance to accomplish what would otherwise be normal tasks. They may hesitate to make plans because of the regularity, or conversely, the unpredictability of the pain schedule. These factors can lead to generalized anxiety disorders, panic disorder,[13] serious depressive disorders,[14] social withdrawal and isolation.[15] Recurrence Cluster headaches are occasionally referred to as "alarm clock headaches" because of the regularity of their timing and they may awaken individuals from sleep. Both individual attacks and the cluster grouping can have a metronomic regularity; attacks striking at a precise time of day each morning or night is typical. The grouping of headache clusters can occur more often around solstices, or spring and autumn equinoxes, sometimes showing circannual periodicity. This has prompted researchers to speculate involvement, or dysfunction of the brain's hypothalamus, which controls the body's "biological clock" and circadian rhythm.[16][17] Conversely, attack frequency may be highly unpredictable, showing no periodicity at all. In episodic cluster headaches, attacks occur once or more daily, often at the same time each day, for a period of several weeks, followed by a headache-free period lasting weeks, months, or years. Approximately 10–15% of cluster headaches chronic, with multiple headaches occurring every day for years, sometimes without any remission.[medical citation needed] In accordance with the International Headache Society (IHS) diagnostic criteria, cluster headaches occurring in two or more cluster periods, lasting from 7 to 365 days with a pain-free remission of one month or longer between the clusters may be classified as episodic. If attacks occur for more than a year without pain-free remission of at least one month, the condition is classified chronic.[2] Chronic CH occurs continuously without any remission periods between cycles; there may be high and low variation in cycles, meaning the frequency and severity of attacks may change without predictability, for a period of time. The amount of change during these cycles varies between individuals and does not demonstrate complete remission of the episodic form. The condition may change unpredictably, from chronic to episodic and from episodic to chronic.[18] Remission periods lasting for decades have been known to occur.[medical citation needed]