It's said that cluster headache is probably the worst pain that humans experience. I know that’s hard to believe, but if you ask a cluster headache sufferer if they have had a worse experience, they will say they haven't.

Women that have cluster headaches will tell you that an attack is worse than giving birth.

But more men get these, where women are more prone to migraines.

People describe the pain as a red hot poker inserted into the eye, or a spike penetrating from the top of the head, behind one eye, radiating down to the neck. Like having your leg cut off without anesthetic.

Years ago cluster migraines would hurt so bad (no relieve at that time) that some would commit suicide.

That is why cluster headaches are also known by the nickname "suicide headaches".

The pain of cluster headaches is markedly greater than in other headache conditions, including severe migraines, and experts believe that it may be the most severe pain known to medical science.

The cause of the disease is currently unknown. But it affects approximately one percent of the population, and men are more commonly affected than women.

Treatment for cluster migraines

Cluster migraines are excruciating unilateral headaches, of extreme intensity. The amount of time of the common attack ranges from as short as 15 minutes, to three hours or more.

The onset of an attack is rapid, and most often without the preliminary signs that are characteristic of a migraine.

However,some people report preliminary sensations of pain in the general area of attack, often referred to as "shadows", that may warn them an attack is about to come on.

Though the headaches are almost exclusively unilateral, there are many documented as cases of "side-shifting" between cluster periods, or even rarer, simultaneously (within the same cluster period) bilateral headache.

Until they are checked, sometimes they are mistaken for brain tumors, or multiple sclerosis, until patients are treated with corticosteroids, and then imaged.

Trigeminal neuralgia can also produce headaches with similar qualities.

However, with Trigeminal neuralgia the pain is mostly located around the "cheek" area and is described as being more lance like in quality.

My daughter has this.

The pain of cluster headaches is markedly greater than in any other headache you can have.

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