Headache Treatment

Cluster headache has two main features. Firstly, cluster headache is extremely painful. The pain is so intense that some victims even feel that the condition is life threatening, it is not. The second feature is the cyclical nature of cluster headache. They tend to come a certain time and then take several weeks or months, then disappear, sometimes for years, to return again. So before you seek treatment of cluster headaches, make sure that is what you have.

The best treatment of cluster headache is available abortive oxygen treatment. The patient breathes pure oxygen through a mask for several minutes until the pain is gone. This treatment is very effective for many patients. Often, inhalation of oxygen pain is gone after only a few minutes. For others, relief may be temporary and return after the patient stops breathing oxygen.

The only problem with the use of oxygen in the treatment of cluster headache is the inconvenience. Oxygen cylinders are bulky, heavy and difficult to carry with you. Many people are able to have them in their homes in anticipation of the onset of an attack. However, attacks can come when driving or at work. Unless you buy a home, car and oxygen, and then the treatment of cluster headache may not always be available for you.

There are also some options for drug treatment of cluster headache. Imitrex (sumatriptan) is an injection which is often used to treat migraine, but has also been found to be effective with cluster headache. Imitrex has side effects that patients may wish to consider together with their doctor before using this option.

There is also an IV drug that can be used to treat headaches cluster. This is called dihydroergotamine and requires the patient to go to the doctor's office to have the drug administered intravenously. The remedy for headaches is also very annoying because it requires a visit to the doctor's office.

Consider the cause of your headaches

Remember that even if we must depend on doctors for help in the treatment of cluster headaches, they are not always able to diagnose diseases. What may have all the symptoms of a cluster headache may actually be something else. For example, certain foods cause headaches in some people. If you eat these foods occasionally, then the headaches they cause you headaches can behave like clusters, coming and going in the episodes. Alternatively, some foods can cause headaches you think some of the time. Since the pain would come in the episodes headache seems to be the variety Cluster.

If you suffer from headaches with cluster, you should listen to your doctor, but do not give to experiment with your diet to see if certain foods may actually be the cause. Or, if you eat something that is not the cause of headaches, it could make them more painful.

Finally, you're out of shape and do not eat healthily? Although exercise and diet are not scientifically established causes of cluster headaches, I would definitely consider taking more exercise and eating better if I was constantly in great pain. It is my sneaking suspicion that many diseases are the result of an unhealthy lifestyle, not just inevitable, and unfortunate events that we have no control over.