Headache

Cluster Headaches

Signs and Symptoms
Diagnosis
Treatment

Signs and Symptoms

Cluster headache is a condition of recurring attacks of excruciating pain — often described as burning or penetrating — on one side of the head, usually behind an eye. Occasionally the pain extends to the forehead, nose, cheek or upper jaw on the same side.

Men experience cluster headache three to four times more often than women. Attacks occur nearly every day or several times a day for weeks or months and may disappear for several months or even years. Attacks may last from 15 minutes to three hours, and often occur during the night. Cluster headache usually does not run in families.

There are two kinds of cluster headache: episodic and chronic. Those suffering from episodic cluster headaches have relatively long, pain-free remissions between headaches. Chronic cluster headache sufferers do not have long remissions. If during the past year or longer, you have had only one month or less of relief between headache attacks, you may have chronic cluster headache. About 10 percent of people with cluster headaches are considered chronic sufferers.

Other symptoms of cluster headaches, which typically occur on the same side as the pain, include:

• Red or teary eyes
• Runny or stuffy nose
• Facial swelling

Reviewed by health care specialists at UCSF Medical Center.
Last updated September 18, 2008