What is a cluster headache? A first-person account of the most painful condition known to man
Cluster headaches often top online ‘most painful’ lists, beating gunshot wounds, childbirth and amputation without anaesthetic. What is it like to have ‘the beast’ inside your head? One sufferer shares his story
Warning: the videos below showing people having a cluster headache may be disturbing for some.
It wakes me from a deep sleep. The agony is all-encompassing. It feels like having a white-hot screwdriver thrust through my eyeball and left there. The screwdriver is then wired up to an electric current and the voltage is continually increased.
My sinus feels like it has been washed out with acid, my temple is swollen and hot, the area under my cheek burns, my upper jaw feels like I have a toothache in every tooth. Even the roof of my mouth is sore.
Most of the pain is focused on my eyeball: as well as the screwdriver, it feels like there is a red-hot metal ball, the size of a golf ball, directly behind it, pushing it out of the socket.
If only this was a migraine, a hangover or a tension headache. In that case some painkillers and/or finding a more comfortable position and lying still in a quiet dark place would ease the pain.
I constantly rub the side of my head that is affected, I rock back and forth, I pace around, I sit with my head on a bed or chair, I kneel with my head on the ground. I lie on the floor then get up again. I moan, whimper, exhale loudly. I swear, mutter, open my eyes, close my eyes. I press my finger hard into the side of my nose by my tear duct. I slap my head. I dig my fingernails into my palms. Nothing offers any relief. Nothing.
