Cluster Headaches may ease in Pregnancy (and other surprising facts about women and cluster)

A recently published study explored the unique character of cluster headache in women.  Cluster in women has not been studied a lot because it’s so rare.  In fact, cluster in men is rare, but it’s much more common in men than in women.

So how are woman clusterheads unique?  Here are a few of the findings:

• Women tend to develop cluster at a younger age
• About half the time, symptoms improve with pregnancy
• Women generally don’t respond as well to sumatriptan (nasal spray/injection), but respond better to inhaled lidocaine.  Women tend to be less responsive to preventatives in general.
• Women tend to have more attacks per day
• Cluster attacks are more likely to be triggered by migraine triggers
• Women are more likely to have pain in the jaw, cheek and ear
• Comorbid conditions for women are more likely to include asthma and/or depression
• Women tend to have shorter aura duration than men

The researchers admit that one drawback of this study is that often cluster patients do not get properly diagnosed, or people are diagnosed with cluster when they have something else.  Finding a large group to study is very difficult with a rare condition such as cluster.

To read more of the details, check out Female cluster headache in the United States of America: What are the gender differences?