Cluster headache, a neurological disorder is a condition characterized by severe headaches recurring on one side of the head usually around the eye. Cluster headache is often accompanied by autonomic symptoms such as excessive tears, swelling of the eye and nasal decongestion. In cluster headache syndrome, individuals often suffer from excruciating attacks of unilateral headaches. Some symptoms like migraine such as sensitivity to light and sound, nausea may also occur with a cluster headache. The causes of cluster headache are not completely known, though some of the rare causes may be hereditary, smoking and dysfunction of hypothalamus. The intense pain is known to be caused by dilation of blood vessels creating pressure on the trigeminal nerve. Diagnosis of cluster headache syndrome can be often misleading, mismanaged and misdiagnosed. The cluster headache attacks often occur multiple times in a day, each attack lasting not more than three hours without treatment.
