Cluster Headache, Migraine and Tension Headache are related – more evidence …

Clinical correspondence in the latest Cephalalgia journal reports the presence of ‘cutaneous allodynia’ in two cluster headache patients.

What is cutaneous allodynia? Cutaneous (relating to or affecting the skin) allodynia (is a painful response to a normally non painful stimulus) so in this case there is a heightened, painful sensitivity to touch. This increased sensitivity to touch, along with other symptoms for e.g. photo-phobia (heightened sensitivity to light) and phono-phobia (heightened sensitivity to sound) is a sign of sensitisation of the brainstem.

Research shows quite clearly that the brainstems of migraineurs and tension headache sufferers are also sensitised …. and what do the ‘triptans’ do? they desensitise the brainstem and that is why they are effective in alleviating the pain in migraine, tension and cluster headache – all three headaches originate from the same condition i.e. a sensitised brainstem.

YourHeadacheSoultions.co.uk is one voice of the Watson Headache Institute.

The Watson Headache Institute was established to increase the awareness of cervicogenic (neck) disorders in headache and migraine by imparting my (and that of others) clinical experience and knowledge; to present and discuss past and present relevant research and to undertake and support rigorous clinical and scientific research in this specialty.

Appropriate and up-to-date knowledge is self-empowering; I believe that every headache sufferer has the right to know their headache diagnosis as precisely as possible (and what it means), to know the nature of their headache disorder, its outcome and possible types of treatment.

What has yet to gain acceptance is my (and that of others) belief, supported by my unparalleled clinical experience and a significant body of international research, that it is incorrect to consider headache and migraine types as totally different entities and that cervicogenic (neck) disorders can be instrumental in the headache and migraine process.

Although Physiotherapy, Chiropractic and Osteopathy are different disciplines, we are supporters of the idea that headache and migraine sufferers, no matter what their diagnoses, can be helped to live their lives more effectively through appropriate neck treatment. However, because treatment of the neck does not fit the medical model of headache and migraine, the model has demonstrated little interest in exploring this as an option. It is essential that all factors, which have the potential to sensitise the brainstem, be investigated equally. Currently this is not the situation – the neck is largely disregarded.

So, whilst YourHeadacheSolutions.com is also about Education, it is also a directory for headache and migraine sufferers to source practitioners who have a particular interest in and are skilled in examination of the neck as a source of your headache or migraine – to create a more comprehensive approach and provide an alternative, medication-free treatment.

Cheers

Dean