Most people have heard of\u00a0migraines. But there is a lesser known\u00a0type of headache\u2014a cluster\u00a0headache\u2014that is often referred to as\u00a0a \u201csuicide headache\u201d because the pain\u00a0is so intense that patients have taken\u00a0their own lives to escape it.<\/p>\n
The pain from a cluster headache\u00a0is worse than childbirth, patients say.\u00a0Worse than kidney stones. More like\u00a0getting shot in the head or being jabbed\u00a0in the eye by a sharp object.<\/p>\n
This is where Mark Burish comes\u00a0in. A neurologist and Ph.D., Burish is\u00a0director of the Will Erwin Headache\u00a0Research Center, part of the Memorial\u00a0Hermann Mischer Neuroscience\u00a0Institute at the Texas Medical Center\u00a0and The University of Texas Health\u00a0Science Center at Houston.<\/p>\n
Burish and his team of neurologists,\u00a0nurses, scientists and industry startups\u00a0hope to demystify and find new\u00a0treatments for cluster headaches and\u00a0migraines at the center, which gets its\u00a0name from a man who suffered from\u00a0cluster headaches and ended his life\u00a0when he was unable to find relief.<\/p>\n
Some 47 percent of adults suffer\u00a0from some type of headache disorder.\u00a0Migraines can vary from person\u00a0to person and tend to incorporate\u00a0pulsing pain, nausea,\u00a0vomiting and sensitivity to light. They\u00a0can last from two to 72 hours.<\/p>\n
By contrast, cluster headaches,\u00a0which occur in clusters, or patterns,\u00a0tend to follow certain rules, Burish says.\u00a0Typically, an intense pain is felt on one\u00a0half of the face, and some features of\u00a0the headache can be outwardly apparent.\u00a0On the painful side of the face, the\u00a0eye may be droopy, bloodshot, swollen\u00a0and watery\u2014to the point where the\u00a0patient may go through an entire box\u00a0of tissues.<\/p>\n
\u201cPatients also get agitated and\u00a0restless and may rock back and forth,\u201d\u00a0Burish said. \u201cThat is different from a\u00a0migraine, where the person wants to lie\u00a0still in a dark room.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cluster headaches have been around\u00a0for centuries, but only properly diagnosed\u00a0over the past 20 years. In part,\u00a0that\u2019s because very little research\u00a0has been done on them. Between\u00a01997 and 2007, the National Institutes\u00a0of Health funded just two cluster\u00a0headache studies.<\/p>\n
One of the newer pieces of\u00a0Burish\u2019s research relates to the\u00a0timing and circadian rhythm\u00a0of cluster headaches.\u00a0They tend to last three\u00a0hours or less, Burish\u00a0said, and might\u00a0happen many times\u00a0per day. In addition,\u00a0most people with cluster headaches get\u00a0them the same time every year.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of them can say something\u00a0like, \u2018On Jan. 1 at 11 a.m., I will get a\u00a0headache, and it will go on like that for\u00a0about a month,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cThey go away\u00a0and come back the next January. You\u00a0can set your watch to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Diagnosing cluster headaches is\u00a0tricky because doctors often take into\u00a0account the time of year, the runny\u00a0nose and the watery eye and assume\u00a0a patient is suffering from a sinus\u00a0infection, Burish said. Doctors may also\u00a0prescribe steroids and antibiotics that\u00a0tend to alleviate cluster headaches for\u00a0short periods.\u00a0Burish\u2019s team intends to build a\u00a0laboratory model of a cluster headache\u00a0to study its patterns.<\/p>\n
Treatments for cluster headaches\u00a0include oxygen, certain types of blood\u00a0pressure and seizure medications, and,\u00a0more recently, electrical stimulation\u00a0of nerves in the head and neck, Burish\u00a0said. In addition, there is a drug for\u00a0migraine and cluster headaches in\u00a0clinical trials that blocks the activity\u00a0of a molecule called calcitonin\u00a0gene-related peptide.<\/p>\n
In April, a new non-invasive\u00a0device to treat headaches\u00a0called gammaCore was\u00a0approved by the U.S.\u00a0Food and Drug\u00a0Administration.\u00a0The device stimulates the vagus\u00a0nerve\u2014a large nerve in the neck\u2014which\u00a0may help patients who want to avoid\u00a0surgery or some of the side effects\u00a0caused by medications.<\/p>\n
Burish would like to do more\u00a0research on circadian rhythms and\u00a0cluster headaches, but says it could\u00a0take five years to collect samples that\u00a0will help his team. And because\u00a0cluster headaches are somewhat\u00a0uncommon, affecting 1 in 1,000 people,\u00a0gathering data and funding research\u00a0is challenging.<\/p>\n
Burish is interested in the kind of data\u00a0Cory Kennedy, co-founder and CEO\u00a0of SensorRx, is collecting. The startup,\u00a0part of the current digital health class\u00a0at the TMCx accelerator program, is\u00a0developing an automated migraine\u00a0management tool\u2014an app\u2014called\u00a0MigrnX.<\/p>\n
Some of the data collected comes\u00a0from Keely Towne, a patient who was\u00a0testing MigrnX as part of a clinical\u00a0trial SensorRx did with Carolinas\u00a0HealthCare System.<\/p>\n
Towne\u2019s migraines began more\u00a0than 20 years ago around the age of\u00a012. Nausea and a sharp, throbbing pain\u00a0in her head forced her to miss work\u00a0and family activities on a regular\u00a0basis. Only on the days she was able\u00a0to take medication could she control\u00a0her headaches.<\/p>\n
Towne tried several treatments and\u00a0has found Botox injections to work\u00a0best, in addition to anti-inflammatory\u00a0medication.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis has brought the frequency\u00a0of my migraines down tremendously,\u201d\u00a0Towne said.<\/p>\n
The app, which she downloaded to\u00a0her phone, helps her track her progress\u00a0and identify trends in her migraines.<\/p>\n
Towne has some hormonal\u00a0migraines that she can target around\u00a0the time of her menstrual cycle, but\u00a0her main headaches occur with drastic\u00a0weather changes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is nice to be able to glance at my\u00a0month and see where any trouble spots\u00a0may occur,\u201d Towne said. \u201cAnd then I am\u00a0able to share the information with my\u00a0doctor in order for us to make a plan to\u00a0continue preventing more migraines.\u201d<\/p>\n
The clinical trial of MigrnX found\u00a0that more than 60 percent of patients\u00a0were not receiving appropriate care\u00a0for their headaches, Kennedy said. In\u00a0addition, patients had been under- or\u00a0over-reporting the frequency of\u00a0headaches to their doctor, a critical\u00a0threshold in determining treatment.<\/p>\n
There are 50 possible triggers\u00a0for migraines, Kennedy said, and\u00a0doctors rely on patients to provide\u00a0that information.<\/p>\n
He hopes the long-term data on\u00a0the circadian nature of headaches will\u00a0help in devising new treatments. For\u00a0example, data shows that many people\u00a0wake up with migraines, so doctors\u00a0are trying to determine if treatments\u00a0of melatonin could help put the sleep\u00a0cycle back in line.<\/p>\n
Kennedy thinks this sort of data\u00a0could be relevant for Burnish\u2019s research\u00a0on cluster headaches.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe time of day and time of week\u00a0matters,\u201d Kennedy said. \u201cSome patients\u00a0are so worried about when the next\u00a0headache will occur that they actually\u00a0trigger a headache. We don\u2019t want\u00a0patients to have to think, but put it all\u00a0down in the app.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Most people have heard of\u00a0migraines. But there is a lesser known\u00a0type of headache\u2014a cluster\u00a0headache\u2014that is often referred to as\u00a0a \u201csuicide headache\u201d because the pain\u00a0is so intense that patients have taken\u00a0their own lives to escape it. The pain from a cluster headache\u00a0is worse than childbirth, patients say.\u00a0Worse than kidney stones. More like\u00a0getting shot in the head […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":9741,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1923,1921,1922,1924],"yoast_head":"\n