So I am a clusterhead, started my first cycle in 7 years this weekend. (logging in the introductory thread) Had alot to think about, and had a few questions.

Has anyone ever linked CH with traumatic brain injury, or head injury?

Dad had cluster headaches for years, not chronic, but rapidly recurring cycles. Until about 2003, when he rolled a truck on an icy winters Colorado road. He crawled away from what should have been a fatal accident, but paid for it. He was diagnosed with a "traumatic brain injury", which I hear to be like a really bad concussion, but worse. Perhaps a concussion with slight brain damage? Anyways, after this accident/injury, he became a chronic cluster sufferer. And, At the age of 65+, he may never recover from the TBI, but recently the clusters seem to be getting less chronic, or more managed. Sings of improvement and encouragement!

I had a few bad concussions as I was growing up, both from a blow to the same spot, low on the back of the head. (Imagine if you were to fall backwards, almost horizontal, but your head is the first thing to hit.) One at age 6, another at age 14. Both resulted in loss of consciousness, and concussion that had me unable to speak properly for 2-3 days.

It is so hard to pin the onset on a hard blow to the head as causing us have clusters.

We all can remember a time when we had some kind of trauma to the head ie fall, car wreck, hit by baseball bat etc. Plus there are millions upon millions of people that have and did not get clusters.

I guess what I am saying is ...who knows. :)

I would say it is a definite maybe.

I've had several concussions also, but all years before onset of CH.  I went 20+ yrs before going chronic, but there was no head injury that could be attributed to it.  There have been several threads related to head injury over the years, but they would be scattered all through the archives.  You might dig through there and find some answers, but I really doubt it as I remember no conclusions being drawn from the threads.

Jerry

In my particular case (and of course, that's completely anecdotal) I've never had any notable head trauma.

There has been some association between head injury and subsequent CH, but from everything I've seen here, it's by no means universal.

Best,

George

My mother is convinced I have CH because i jumped out of a shopping cart when I was 2 and landed on my head in the area where I get the HAs.  I stood up in the seat and jumped out.  Of course I didn't fall directly on my eye but right above the left eyebrow.  I must admit at this point I go back and forth between thinking it was something I was born with (faulty hypothalamus) and hearing my mother's voice saying it is because I fell out of the shopping cart.  I remember doing it too and it really hurt!

Two factors: how old this material is and, how contradictory.

Headache. 1992 Nov;32(10):504-6.

Cluster headache following head injury: a case report and review of the literature.

Turkewitz LJ, Wirth O, Dawson GA, Casaly JS.

Midwest Center for Head-Pain Management, Troy, Ohio 45373.

A relation between head trauma and cluster headache is frequently described in the literature. The percentage of cluster patients with a history of head injury is approximately 16.5 when several large studies are reviewed. The present paper reports another case where there is close proximity between head injury and the onset of cluster headache. A review of the literature attempts to document the supposition that there is indeed a causal or precipitous role for head injury in cluster cephalgia pathogenesis.

PMID: 1468909 
=====
Curr Pain Headache Rep. 2006 Apr;10(2):130-6. Links
Head trauma and cluster headache.Manzoni GC, Lambru G, Torelli P.
Headache Centre, Department of Neurology, University of Parma and University Centre for Adaptive Disorders and Headache, Via Gramsci, 14, 43100 Parma, Italy. giancamillo.manzoni@unipr.it

Post-traumatic cluster headache (CH) is a very rare occurrence. Only one such case has been verified in the literature thus far. On the other hand, a non-casual association is almost certain to exist between previous head trauma and future CH onset. Considering the generally long interval of time separating the two events, it is not easy to accurately explain the nature of the head trauma/CH relationship. Head trauma may damage extra- or intracranial peripheral or central nervous structures, hence predisposing to the future development of CH. However, there also is the possibility that previous head injuries may be more frequent among CH patients because of their lifestyle, which may leave them more exposed to the risk of traumatic events.

PMID: 16539866 [PubMed

I realize that this is merely an aside, and off topic to boot, but:


Quote:

However, there also is the possibility that previous head injuries may be more frequent among CH patients because of their lifestyle, which may leave them more exposed to the risk of traumatic events.

Priceless.   ;D

Best,

George

LOL...thats true. I didn't have any brain injuries until I started banging my head against the wall during an attack.

As far as the article is concerned, I remember the old articles talking about clusterheadache men were all ruggid and macho. I kinda liked that.  8-)

Of course our studies have clearly indicted that cluster men are all 90% more handsome than the general population. ;)

All I know is that I am never jumping out of a shopping cart again!

There is strong research that links the role of the hypothalamus to CHs. So the $64,000 question is why did the hypothalamus start to function abnormally? There are a number of possibilities, everything from being born with a defective one to it being damaged. Obviously a head injury could result in brain damage that includes the hypothalamus.

As Bob has posted, there is published research that shows links between the two.

My CHs started a few weeks after a concussion, so there is certainly a strong temporal relationship between the two.