KOCHI: Kindly bear with me, it has been a painful start to the week. Devastatingly painful. For, yours truly is one in a thousand who is ‘blessed’ with the mysterious condition called cluster headache.
Now, this can be excruciating in its truest sense. Cluster headache is said to be one of the most painful conditions known to mankind. In fact, it is well-placed above labour pain, according to experts. The intensity of the pain and its enigmatic nature got me researching it.
Here is a pain ranking published by the National Center for Biotechnology Information under the US National Library of Medicine:
Cluster headache attack: 9.7
Labour pain: 7.2
Pancreatitis: 7.0
Nephrolithiasis (kidney stone): 6.9
Chloelithiasis (gallstone): 6.3
Gunshot wound: 6
Disc herniation: 5.9
Migraine attack: 5.4
Fibromyalgia (musculoskeletal pain): 5.2
Bone fracture: 5.2
(On a numerical ranking scale)
The word ‘pain’ has its roots in the 13th-century reference to peine or “the agony suffered by Christ”. Peine is an 11th-century Old French usage for “difficulty, woe, suffering, punishment, Hell’s torments” that was derived from the Latin poena for “punishment, penalty, retribution, indemnification”. And poena came from the Greek poine, which conveyed “retribution, penalty, or quit-money for spilled blood.”
Cluster headache can best be summed up as “Hell’s torments”. It strikes with a pattern — aura, bloating, stuffy nose, teary, droopy and bloodshot eyes, nausea, breathlessness and, of course, throbbing pain on one side of the head.
The onset feels as if one’s cranial and optical nerves are being set afire, after being mangled and kneaded with glass splinters. Like whiplashes from hell on the brain. There have been times when I have crawled on the floor, wailing, writhing in tears. Trust me, it can make even the staunchest of rationalists plead for divine intervention.
Some experts say it’s seasonal. Some believe it is an allergic reaction to unknown triggers. There are also studies that point to the hypothalamus. I recall a good friend and founder of the World Headache Society, Dr Pravin Thomas, saying cluster headache can be so devastating there are victims who contemplate suicide. According to him, the condition is often under - as well as misdiagnosed in India.
And unlike the West, there has been little research on the condition. Normal painkillers don’t work, period. Besides the pain, the condition may also lead to the wrecking of career and social life, anxiety, and depression. Due to sustained nausea, and vomiting due to pain, some develop cibophobia or the fear of food.
Cluster headache strikes and disappears at will. In most cases, there would be a remission of a year or two after a season of clusters. Some unfortunate souls remain chronic sufferers.
Of late, ‘cluster buster’ solidarity groups are being formed for mutual help and info-sharing. Empathy and understanding do help. Doctors such as Pravin, who is currently a neuro specialist at Narayana Health in Bengaluru, have been calling for deeper research into the condition to help cluster sufferers manage their conditions better. That would certainly be a godsend.
Okay, time for me to go try some trial-and-error homemade concoctions to soothe those mangled nerves. Wish you a pain-free week ahead!
Racked with pain: “Suffering from an overwhelming amount of pain, especially to the degree that one’s body is contorted or seized up”
Pain barrier: “The peak of physical pain, discomfort, or exhaustion, especially during exercise or exertion, past which the intensity begins to lessen”
Pain threshold: “The point at which one begins to feel physical pain in response to some stimulus”, or (informal) “The maximum level of physical pain that one can endure”
A royal pain: “Someone or something that causes a large or severe amount of frustration, annoyance, or aggravation”
Pain in the neck: “An especially irritating, aggravating, or obnoxious person, thing, or situation”
Take (great) pains: “To expend a lot of time and energy doing something”
Genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains: “(Proverb) What appears as exceptional intellectual or creative capacity is actually the ability to continually exert great effort and attention to detail”
Be at pains: “To put forth effort toward some goal or end”
There is no pleasure without pain: “Every enjoyable thing in life requires some amount of sacrifice or suffering to obtain it”
No pain, no gain: “Only by facing, dealing with, or subjecting oneself to difficulty or hardship will one truly improve or progress”