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Taking caffeine at bedtime is reported to be helpful in preventing hypnic headache attacks for some people .
AWAKE … AGAIN
I am a 63-year-old woman with some type of headache that generally occurs during the night . I wake up because of severe pain above my right eye . Sometimes it travels down the right side of my head . I have to get up , and then I typically take two Excedrin ® Migraine . If I stay up for 20 minutes , take a shower or eat something , it eases up and is almost gone .
Recently , however , I had the most severe attack yet . I followed my regular pattern , but this headache stayed for about five hours . I also experienced numbness on the right side of my head when the headache was at its worst . My family physician did a CT scan and other tests , which came out clear . I wonder , could this be a tension-type headache ?
The normal test results are reassuring . I assume you had a blood test called a “ sedimentation rate ” to rule out temporal arteritis . If not , this should be done , because temporal arteritis occurs in persons over age 50 and can lead to loss of vision if not diagnosed and treated promptly . The headache of temporal arteritis , however , is usually more constant and persistent , not episodic as your headache appears to be .
It would be quite unusual for a tension-type headache to awaken a person , but it can happen , especially if bruxism — grinding or clenching of the teeth — is involved . Bruxism can occur at night and may be due to stress and / or a disorder of the temporal mandibular ( jaw ) joint ( TMJ ). A dentist can usually tell you if you have a bite problem or if you show signs of excessive clenching . If your headache occurs only sporadically , a TMJ disorder or clenching could be a factor .
The most common headache that wakes people up is cluster headache . Cluster attacks cause very severe pain , occur almost nightly for several weeks and then cease . The attacks are usually , but not always , accompanied by redness and tearing of the involved eye along with nasal congestion on the same side . The attacks last 30 to 120 minutes .
Another form of nocturnal headache is hypnic headache , and this is what I suspect you have . This is not a very common condition , and very little is known about it . It typically wakes a person up in the early morning hours . The pain is not as intense as in cluster headache and does not have the associated eye redness and tearing . It may be one-sided as in your case , but often www
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10 HEAD WISE | Volume 1 , Issue 1 • 2011