The treatment of cluster headache, which is characterized by a high-intensity headache that affects only one side of the face, especially around one eye, should be guided by a neurologist and may involve the use of medication to relieve headaches. symptoms or oxygen, through a face mask.
With these remedies, the pain decreases in time and intensity, but there is still no treatment that can cure cluster headaches and make the crises disappear permanently.
Cluster headache remedies
Cluster headache can be alleviated with the use of drugs prescribed by the neurologist to prevent the onset of pain, and also at the time of the crisis to relieve symptoms.
In addition to these, the neurologist may also prescribe other remedies to reduce the frequency of seizures during the night and supplementation with melatonin to promote sleep. Another strategy that achieves great results is to use an oxygen mask because it substantially reduces the time of each headache cycle, with few side effects.
Thus, drug treatment of cluster headaches can be done with:
| Pain prevention (during seizures) | At the time of pain | For night crises |
| Verapamil | Oxygen mask | Lithium carbonate |
| Topiramate | Sumatriptan | Naratriptan |
| Ergotamine (1 hour before the onset of pain) | --- | Ergotamine tartrate |
| --- | --- | Melatonin |
Side effects of medications
Despite the benefits of pain relief, prescription drugs for cluster headaches can have nausea, dizziness, weakness, redness in the face, heat in the head, numbness and tingling in the body, for example.
However, the use of oxygen masks for 15 to 20 minutes, with the patient seated and leaning forward, brings rapid pain relief between 5 and 10 minutes and has no side effects when the patient does not have associated respiratory diseases.
Common painkillers like Paracetamol have no effect on pain relief and are therefore not indicated, but soaking your feet in a bucket of hot water and placing compresses with ice on your face can be a good home remedy because this reduces the caliber of cerebral blood vessels, being very useful in fighting pain.
In addition to these treatments, acupuncture has already been tested by many patients and appears to relieve symptoms and decrease the time of crisis, but there is little scientific evidence of the effect of acupuncture on cluster headache.
