Migraine Cluster Headaches

Although people with cluster headaches do not feel nauseous and vomit, they may also suffer from migraine. Recent studies indicate that fourteen percent of patients with cluster headache encounter aura, fifty-one percent have family history of migraine, and fifty-six percent experience photophobia. Thus, doctors should not rule out a diagnosis of cluster headache even in the presence of aura, nausea, vomiting, or photophobia

Both migraine and cluster headaches share some similarities. Both of them are primary headache. Migraine and cluster headaches are episodic and recurring conditions. Their treatments also involve similar prophylactic and abortive medications which require doctors' prescription. In this manner, migraine can mimic symptoms of cluster headache.

Headache researchers believe that the cause of migraine and cluster headaches begins in the brain. It starts off as a neurologic dysfunction, with subsequent involvement of the trigeminal nerve and cranial vessels. In both cases, most suffers experience pain around the eye on one side of the head.

This oftentimes cause cluster headaches to be misdiagnosed as migraines but they are not the same. One way to tell the difference is by the frequency and duration. Cluster headache attacks typically lasts for thirty minutes to a few hours and can recur several times a day. A single migraine attack is continuous over a period of four to seventy-two hours. Migraine sufferers normally get two to four migraine headaches per month.

In both migraine and cluster headaches, suffers behave differently. For example, cluster headache sufferers get restless which make them to pace while migraine sufferers usually want to lie down or keep their physical movement to the minimum.

Regardless of what type of headache you think you may have, you should see doctors who specializes in headache treatment. They can dismiss other headaches and disorders. If the outcomes of the physical examination and medical history reveal other causes of headaches or serious complications, they can perform extensive imaging tests to confirm their diagnosis.

There are other disorders that mimic certain headache types. Cluster headaches may not kill you. However, if you treat yourself and ignore other possibilities of the cause of your headache, you are putting your life on the line.