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Symptoms of Headache

Tension-type headache:

  • Pain that is usually mild or moderate and is usually felt as a pressure (tightness) on both sides of the head.
  • There may be a feeling of pressure behind the eyes and a tightening of the neck muscles.
  • Pain is constant and pressing (can be described as a tight band around the head) and can build gradually throughout the day.
  • Pain is not aggravated by routine physical activity.
  • The headache is not associated with nausea or vomiting or an unusual sensitivity to light or sound.
  • Mostly they last a few hours or so.
  • The headache normally comes on during the day.

Cluster headache:

  • The pain is extremely severe but the attack relatively short, lasting no more than an hour or two (often less than an hour).
  • The pain starts quickly, without warning and is often described as excruciating.
  • The pain always affects one side of the head, centred around one eye, and generally affects the same side in subsequent attacks, however it does move to the opposite side in some people.
  • Inflammation and watering from the eye and a blocked nose on the affected side of the face are common related symptoms.

The attacks of pain are clustered in groups (often 1 to 3 attacks per day, although there can be more) that usually last for a few weeks to a couple of months, and are usually followed by a pain-free gap for months or years (the average is one year). Although 10% of people have chronic cluster headaches where the attacks occur regularly without significant intervals without pain.

Characteristically, the headaches occur at the same time each day during a cluster, people often report being woken approximately within 2 hours of going to sleep, at the same time each night, or are woken early in the morning. They can also occur during the daytime.