Migraine and Cluster Headache
Headache is a general problem of people around the world. The attack can occur in every age, every opportunity and both sex. To diagnose and treatment of headache, the physicians have to know the cause and characteristic of each type headache.
Migraine and cluster headache are the severe head pain. The basic physiology of migraine and cluster headache involve with the dysfunction of trigemino vascular system cause vasodilation (enlargement of blood vessel) and neurologic inflammation. But migraine is afflicted more than cluster headache. However many patients can suffer from mixed both type.
In general symptoms of migraine are attack lasting 4-72 hours, nausea and/or vomiting, most commonly unilateral (one sided) location, aggravated by causing avoidance for routine physical activities such as walking, running, sensitive to the light and may have aura(visual) before head pain.
Do you know the difference of migraine and cluster headache?
1. Sex
Male and female are afflicted with both type headaches. In migraine headache, Female afflicted than male but the occurrence of cluster headache, male afflicted than female.
2. Duration of headache
The periodicity of the headache may implicate hypothalamic dysfunction but migraine has longer duration of head than cluster. The attack time in migraine is 4 - 72 hours and in cluster headache is 20 min - 3 hours.
3. Frequent of attacks
Cluster attacks more frequently than migraine. Cluster headache attacks every 1-3 day, although migraine attacks to the patients every 1-8 month.
4. Occurrence of attacks
The period time of attack in cluster headache is about 2 weeks - 2 month but migraine headache occurs 2-8 times a month.
5. Lacrimation (tear drop)
The clinical symptom presentations of pain around the eyes cause lacrimation. It is found frequent in cluster headache but migraine is found less than cluster headache.
6. Blurred vision
The patient may have blurred vision from both headaches but migraine is found more often than cluster headache
7. Nausea/Vomiting
About 85% chance of nausea and vomiting present in migraine headache, although 2-5% chance of the symptoms are found in cluster headache.
Treatment
The goal of treatment include: pain relief, reducing the frequency of attack and prophylactic the recurrent.
Normally, treatment with medication and evaluate the efficacy of therapeutic is the first guideline. Other treatment is without medicine by improvement the quality life and reducing the stress that trigger to migraine.
Conclusion
Not only migraine and cluster headache are the problems of head pain but the other headaches may cause from serious and life threatening condition such as brain tumor, sinus meningitis or stroke. So if you have signs and symptoms of headache you should go to see the physician.
Navivar Athi is a pharmacist. Any questions of health and medicines, you can consult him at Health-Care. His websites include: Computer Games and Home-Garden.
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