Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine is a Toronto naturopathic clinic dedicated to providing safe and effective treatment of a wide variety of health conditions using natural therapies and the principles of natural medicine.
Cluster headaches are well treated using naturopathic medicine. Cluster headaches are amongst the most painful types of headache, and occur in cyclical “clusters” lasting from weeks to months, that usually recur one or two times yearly. Although intensely painful, cluster headaches are not life threatening.
Seek emergency medical care if your headache:
- Is sudden and severe
- Accompanies a fever, stiff neck, rash, confusion, seizure, double vision, weakness, numbness or difficulty speaking
- Follows a head injury
- Gets worse despite rest and pain medication
- If you have never had a cluster headache in the past
Symptoms of cluster headaches
Possible symptoms of cluster headaches include:
- Sudden onset
- Pain affecting one side of your head, possibly radiating to other areas of your face, head, neck and shoulders
- Pain of a sharp, penetrating or burning quality
- Severe pain intensity
- Paleness and sweating of your face
- Eyelid drooping
- Redness and swelling of the eye on the affected side
- Pupil constriction of the affected side
- Possibly some migraine-like symptoms (e.g., aura, nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to light and sound)
- Restlessness
- Aggravated by lying down
Cluster headache treatment at Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine
There is no known cure for cluster headaches. At Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine, the goals of cluster headache treatment are significant pain reduction during pain episodes and decrease in frequency of headache clusters.
Conventional treatment for cluster headaches may include a variety of medications, including triptans, corticosteroids, ergotamine, calcium channel blockers, lithium carbonate, anti-seizure medications; or injectable synthetic hormones or anesthetics which may have short- or long-term side effects. For this reason, you may choose to try natural treatment to possibly avoid use of conventional medications, or together with conventional medications in order to decrease dosages of conventional medications required to manage your cluster headache symptoms.
Naturopathic treatment of any chronic health concern must be recognized as a process that involves identifying specific treatment goals, a thorough understanding by your naturopathic doctor of all factors affecting your health, including physical, psychological, emotional and lifestyle factors, development of a comprehensive treatment plan and execution of that plan through periodic monitoring and adjustment.
At Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine a typical approach to treating cluster headaches is to first identify and address underlying factors in your lifestyle (e.g., diet high in food additives, irregular sleep cycles, exposure to environmental toxins, smoking and alcohol use). Where appropriate, a number of therapeutic options are available, to be used alone, or more often in a complementary fashion, including:
- Acupuncture
- Cleansing protocols
- Nutritional supplements
- Botanical (herbal) medicines
- Homeopathic medicines
- Bowen Therapy
Reference
Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Cluster headache [Online]. [cited 2009 Feb 18]; Available from: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cluster-headache/DS00487