====== Cluster headache ======

>Cluster headache (CH) always involves pain that is one sided (although it can switch sides) and the main defining feature is the association with one or more of the 'cranial autonomic' features normally described as follows:\\ • Reddening and tearing of the eye  • A runny or blocked nostril  • Droopy eyelid  • Constriction of the pupil  • Flushing and facial sweating  __There is, as yet, no known cause for cluster headache.__ However, cluster headache has two major clinical features: the trigeminal (nerve) distribution of pain and the associated ipsilateral (same-sided) autonomic symptoms."\\ \\ //Source// [[https://ouchuk.org/what-is-cluster-headache|Organisation for the Understanding of Cluster Headache]] based at UK's Royal Free Hospital and King's College Hospital.

Cluster headaches, which are exceptionally painful, always affect just one side of the head, and are known to be linked to day/night cycles, often occurring just after falling asleep. As the excerpt above describes, the cause for the condition is currently unknown.

Current theory is suggesting that it's probably due to an abnormality in the circadian hypothalamic generator with subsequent trigeminovascular activation.

(There appears to be a weak hereditary link - around 7% of cases run in families.)

>A unifying pathophysiologic explanation of cluster headache is not yet available**.** For any hypothesis to be complete, it must account for the three major features of the syndrome, which include the trigeminal distribution of the pain, the ipsilateral autonomic features, and the tendency for attacks to cluster with striking circadian and circannual consistency, which is the signature feature of cluster headache.\\ \\ For extensive technical details see : [[https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1046/j.1468-2982.2000.00118.x|Cephalalgia, Volume 20, Issue 9, ]]{{:oa_padlock_grn.png?16| .}}

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Also see: [[content:medicine:diseases:m-q:migraine|Migraine]]