'We Live With The Constant Fear Of An Attack'

'We Live With The Constant Fear Of An Attack', Some female sufferers have compared the absolute agony of cluster headaches to that of childbirth. Cluster headaches explained, We've all experienced some form of headache at one time or another. Maybe we've had too much coffee, not enough water, or the sinuses are playing up after a cold.

But cluster headaches are in a whole other league of pain. Women sufferers describe an attack as comparable to the pain of childbirth and around half of sufferers have to give up full time work to try and manage their condition. Some sufferers have even committed suicide, so intense is the pain of an attack, giving the condition the unfortunate name of the 'suicide headache'.

Cluster headaches are usually concentrated on one side of the head, and last between 15 minutes and several hours. They often wake people from sleep and sufferers tend to experience three to twelve attacks during an episode. One in every 1,000 people in the UK is affected - children and adults alike - and the pain is so severe that sufferers are often driven to wailing or groaning during an attack, sometimes banging their heads against the wall or pacing the room.

'We Live With The Constant Fear Of An Attack'