Cluster Headache (cont.)
IN THIS ARTICLE
- Cluster Headache Overview
- Cluster Headache Causes
- Cluster Headache Symptoms
- When to Seek Medical Care
- Exams and Tests
- Cluster Headache Treatment
- Self-Care at Home
- Next Steps
- Outlook
- For More Information
- Web Links
- Synonyms and Keywords
- Authors and Editors
- Pictures of Headache & Migraine Triggers - Slideshow

Cluster Headache Causes
No one knows exactly what causes cluster headaches. As with many other headache syndromes, theories abound, many of which center on your autonomic or "automatic" nervous system or your brain's hypothalamus. These systems play a role in rhythmic or cyclical functions in your body. The involvement of either system in the syndrome would account for the periodic nature of the headache.
- Many experts believe that cluster headache and migraine headache share a common cause that begins in the nerve that carries
sensation from your head to your brain (trigeminal nerve) and ends with the blood vessels that surround your brain.
- Others believe that the pain arises in the deep vascular channels in your head (for example, the cavernous sinus) and does not involve the trigeminal system.
Next: Cluster Headache Symptoms »
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Cluster Headache »
Cluster headache (CH) is an idiopathic syndrome consisting of recurrent brief attacks of sudden, severe, unilateral periorbital pain.
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