{"id":7110,"date":"2019-07-05T07:02:51","date_gmt":"2019-07-05T07:02:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/simplyhealth.io\/?p=7110"},"modified":"2021-06-11T19:35:54","modified_gmt":"2021-06-11T19:35:54","slug":"14-distressing-symptoms-of-cluster-headaches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/simplyhealth.io\/14-distressing-symptoms-of-cluster-headaches\/","title":{"rendered":"14 Distressing Symptoms of Cluster Headaches"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Cluster headaches typically occur in cycles, patterns or clusters, and are one of the most painful types of headaches that someone can suffer from. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, cluster headaches are extremely rare and not life-threatening, although, for the 1 in 1000 people who are affected by cluster headaches, this is little consolation. The excruciating pain is usually felt on one side of the face, often stretching down the same side of the face and can even be felt behind the eye. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whilst the obvious main symptom of a cluster headache is the pain, there are a number of other symptoms that make the condition an altogether miserable experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

People are usually affected between the ages of 20 and 50 and although men are a little more likely to be affected than women, the usual demographic has done absolutely nothing to help researchers pin down the exact causes of the condition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are 8 of the most troubling symptoms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Excruciating pain<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Imagine being stabbed in the head with a rusty sword and you’re about halfway there. The terrible pain endured by people affected by cluster headaches <\/a>has been described as the worst pain a person can actually feel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anecdotally, women who have been through painful childbirth and who are also sufferers of cluster headaches, have reported that they would much rather endure labor again than be on the receiving end of an attack of cluster headaches. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Men too have had their say anecdotally and the word on the street is that the vast majority of men would much rather accept a kick in the genitals than sit through a few days of cluster headaches. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The severity of the pain is matched by the length of the episode and some people claim to suffer for anywhere up to a couple of weeks, with at least one headache a day in that time frame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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2.     One-sided pain<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Very rarely are cluster headaches ever felt on both sides of the head at the same time. Research in Miami showed that 85% of participants in a study only ever felt cluster headaches on one side of their head and had never experienced the pain on the other side. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whilst there are plenty of other conditions that tend to affect people unilaterally like this, cluster headaches are defined by this one side pain almost uniquely. The pain can reach from the back of the skull down to the front of the chin, affecting everywhere in between as it does so. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pain <\/a>on one side of the face might seem to be preferable to pain that covers the whole head, but the pain is that bad that it really is no consolation to a sufferer that their pain is limited to just the one side of their head, no matter how you dress it up or try to sugar the pill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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3. Restlessness<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If trying to get to sleep with a banging head isn’t too much of a problem for you, then the restlessness that is often associated with cluster headaches might just be the icing on the cake. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

People who suffer from cluster headaches often complain of an accompanying restlessness that they just can’t seem to shake. When all you feel like doing is sleeping, if only to try and escape the pain for a little while, it is a particularly cruel trick of the human body to throw in some restlessness for good measure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Restlessness isn’t just an inability to sleep<\/a>, it’s an infuriating inability to even sit still for a while without the urge to get up and go or to do something other than rest. Simply feeling tired isn’t enough to fight restlessness, and often feeling tired can just make it worse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ask any insomniac and they’ll tell you that the harder you try to rest and fall asleep, the harder that task becomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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4. Excessive tearing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Are cluster headaches a cause to make some cry? You bet they are! That said, whether you’re someone who cries or not, you could end up reaching for the tissues <\/a>if you’re stuck with an episode of cluster headaches. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only is the pain felt behind the eyes, but the tear ducts on the affected side can be sent into overdrive, causing excessive tearing to occur. If you’re seen as the stoic type or known for your hard man lack of visible emotion, this might present you with an unlikely silver lining in the curse of cluster headaches. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You could very well use the cluster headache as an opportunity to show your emotional side and to break the image of the callous and heartless monster that you\u2019ve allowed yourself to become. Or you could just head to your bedroom and cry all day long about your awful cluster headaches and your leaky eye. The choice is yours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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5.     Stuffy or runny nose<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As with the teary eye, the nostrils can decide to fall out with one another when it comes to cluster headaches. A person suffering from cluster headaches, whether it\u2019s for the first time or the thirteenth time, might find to their surprise that they start experiencing nasal symptoms but only on the one side of the face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The side of the head where the pain is focused will always be the side where the discomfort occurs in the nose. If the left side of the head hurts, the left nostril <\/a>will hurt. If it\u2019s the right side of the head that hurts, it\u2019ll be the right nostril. In the incredibly unlikely and unlucky occurrence that both sides of the head are affected by the pain, then both nostrils will be affected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whilst a runny or a stuffy nose may not seem like too much to worry about, when this is piled on top of the excruciating pain, it can be quite distressing for the affected person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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6. \tForehead or facial sweating<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Just when you\u2019re feeling at a particularly low ebb with a bout of very painful headaches, that\u2019s about the last time you want to find yourself on the receiving end of a sweat attack, but unfortunately for you, that\u2019s likely to happen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You might have been used to relying on your flawless good looks to get you through the tough times but with cluster headaches, even the most naturally beautiful people will find it hard to disguise their pain with a pretty smile and an unspoiled complexion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cluster headaches can cause someone to break out into a pretty brutal sweat, even when the temperature is fairly cool. The sweats <\/a>resemble those to the sweats you might experience during a high fever and they do nothing to make the miserable occurrence of cluster headaches any more bearable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Make sure you keep a cold compress close to hand and ensure you stay as hydrated as possible if you want to try and keep clear of the sweats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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7. \tPale skin or flushing on your face<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

With cluster headaches, you can be pretty certain that your complexion is going to be affected in one way or another. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The interesting thing here is that some people are affected in one way and others are affected in an almost opposite fashion. One group of people who suffer from cluster headaches might find that their skin turns much paler than it normally would when they are suffering, whilst another group might experience flushing or redness <\/a>on their face. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The third group of people might experience both changes intermittently and whilst this may seem like a minor symptom compared to some of the others listed here, any change in the way a person looks can affect someone mentally and psychologically, no matter how short-lived and temporary that change may turn out to be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a banging head that keeps coming and going, the last thing you want is to turn into a ghost or a tomato, but that’s what you get, so there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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8. \tSwelling around the eye<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re spending the day telling people that you haven\u2019t been stung by a bee or that you haven\u2019t gotten into a fight with a violent ex, there\u2019s a chance that your eye might have swollen up as part of an episode of cluster headaches. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just like the tearing up of the eye and the stuffiness of the nostril, this is a symptom <\/a>that only tends to affect someone on the side of the head where the pain is concentrated. The eye on that side of the face can swell up as if a good right hook has made contact or as if that person has angered an entire hive of bees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walking around like you\u2019ve had an argument with Mike Tyson can only make the experience of cluster headaches an even less enjoyable experience, and let\u2019s face it, it was never all that enjoyable, to begin with, was it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\r\n

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