Some patients allege that certain items of food induce attacks (chocolate, peanuts, hot dogs, smoked meats, oranges, and red wine are the ones most commonly mentioned), and it is obvious enough that they should avoid these foods if possible. Limiting caffeinated beverages may be helpful. In certain cases, the correction of a refractive error, an elimination diet, or behavioral modification is said to have reduced the frequency and severity of migraine and of tension headaches. However, the methods of study and the results have been so poorly controlled that it is difficult to evaluate them. All experienced physicians appreciate the importance of helping patients rearrange their schedules with a view to controlling tensions and hard-driving lifestyles. There is no single program to accomplish this. Psychotherapy has not been helpful, or at least one can say that there is no evidence of its value. The claims for sustained improvement of migraine with chiropractic manipulation are similarly unsubstantiated and do not accord with our experience. Meditation, acupuncture, and especially biofeedback, which has shown benefit in reasonably conducted trials, all have their advocates, but again, the results, while not to be entirely discounted, are uninterpretable.
This is a group of relatively uncommon syndromes that may be allied with migraine but respond very well and specifically to indomethacin both acutely and as prophylaxis, so much so that some authors have defined a category of indomethacin-responsive headaches. These include orgasmic migraine, chronic paroxysmal hemicrania (see further on), hemicrania continua, exertional headache, hypnic headache, brief head pains (jabs and jolts and “ice-pick” headaches), and some instances of premenstrual migraine, (which respond to many nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents). These are summarized in Table 9-3 and discussed further on.
This type of headache has been described in the past under a variety of names, including paroxysmal nocturnal cephalalgia, migrainous neuralgia, histamine cephalalgia (Horton’s headache), and others. Kunkle and colleagues, who were impressed with the characteristic temporal “cluster pattern” of the attacks, coined the term in current use—cluster headache. This headache pattern occurs predominantly in adult men (age range: 20 to 50 years; male-to-female ratio approximately 5:1) and is characterized by a severe consistent unilateral orbital localization. The pain is felt deep in and around the eye, is very intense and nonthrobbing as a rule, and often radiates into the forehead, temple, and cheek—less often to the ear, occiput, and neck. Its denominative feature is the nightly recurrence, between 1 and 2 h after the onset of sleep, or several times during the night for several or more consecutive days; thus “cluster.” Less often, it occurs during the day or early evening, unattended by aura or vomiting. The headache has been called the “alarm clock headache” because it may recur with remarkable regularity each night for periods extending as long as many weeks, followed thereafter by complete freedom for many months or even years. However, in approximately 10 percent of patients, the headache becomes chronic, persisting over days, months, or even years.
There are several associated vasomotor phenomena by which cluster headache can be identified: a blocked nostril, rhinorrhea, injected conjunctivum, lacrimation, miosis, and a flush and edema of the cheek, all lasting on average for 45 min (range: 15 to 180 min). Some of our patients, when alerted to the sign, also report a slight ptosis on the side of the orbital pain; in a few, the ptosis has become permanent after repeated attacks. The homolateral temporal artery may become prominent and tender during an attack, and the skin over the scalp and face may be hyperalgesic.