Health Guide

Cluster Headache



The brain is insensitive to pain, so that is not what hurts when you have a headache. Rather, the pain occurs in the following locations:

  • The tissues covering the brain
  • The attaching structures at the base of the brain


Primary Headaches

A headache is considered primary when a disease or other medical condition does not cause it. Most primary headaches fall into three main types: tension-type, migraine, and cluster headaches.

  • Tension headache is the most common primary headache and accounts for 90% of all headaches.
  • Migraines are the second most frequently occurring primary headaches. Migraine is referred to as a neurovascular headache because it is most likely caused by an interaction between blood vessel and nerve abnormalities.
  • Cluster headache is a less common type of primary headache. Although it is sometimes referred to as a neurovascular headache, evidence now suggests that its cause may lie in the hypothalamus, a region deep in the brain that regulates, among other functions, the biologic rhythms of the body.

Secondary Headaches


Chronic Daily Headaches

The International Headache Society has developed a classification system that includes a category called chronic daily headaches. They may originate as tension headaches, migraines, or a combination of these or other headache types. Chronic daily headaches affect 4 - 5% of the population.


Chronic daily headaches are, in turn, subdivided into two categories:


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