Cluster headache are arquably one of the most painful conditions known to man and their only saving grace is that they are fortunately fairly rare. For instance, although approximately one person out of every ten of the population suffers from migraine headaches, only about one person in three hundred will experience a cluster headache.

A cluster headache generally appears as what many sufferers describe as a hot and stabbing pain behind just one eye or in the region of the temple. Their main characteristic however is that they run to a timetable and will appear at roughly the same time every day often appearing for several days, weeks or months at a time. They also tend to occur without warning, unlike migraine headaches which are often preceded by several warning signs.

Noone is exactly certain what causes these extremely painful headaches though research tends to favor the theory that they are the result of abnormalities in the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus is a small gland that plays an important role in regulating the body clock and this might explain why these headaches occur at the same time every day.

Another feature of cluster headaches that sets them apart from migraines is that are far more commonly seen in men than in women. In the case of migraines about three times as many women as men are afflicted but, with cluster headaches, studies show that they are seen up to eight times more often in men.

Treatments for ordinary headaches are virtually always useless for cluster headaches and this is one type of headache for which you have to seek professional advice from your physician.

One commonly used treatment is that of inhaling pure oxygen for a few minutes once the headache starts. This form of treatment does not work for everyone but generally works extremely well for those who do find it helps. It cannot however be used to prevent a cluster headache and is only effective in treating a headache once it has begun.

Another extremely effective treatment is the use of a new form of drugs known as triptans which are at present being used to treat migraines. These drugs must however be taken in a fast acting form to be effective and this often means using them in the form of a nasal spray. However, in many cases cluster headaches can also cause inflammation of the nasal passages making this sort of treatment difficult. Here, triptans can occasionally be administered by way of an injection.

At the moment there are no terribly effective preventative treatments available though some sufferers do find that calcium channel blockers work fairly well. Also, in very severe cases surgery may be considered as a treatment of last resort and a number of neurological procedures are available including procedures that block certain nerves and which remove part of the brain.