Shortlasting, Unilateral Neuralgiform Headache Attacks with Conjunctival Injection, Tearing, Sweating, and Rhinorrhea

Three grown-up males with a long-lasting history of rather uniform, unilateral headache in the ocular-periocular area, in cluster fashion, are examined. Pain paroxysms of short duration (15-60 sec) appear up to 5-30 times per h. The headache is unilateral without side shift. Conjunctival injection appears at the very beginning of the attack and is partly massive, lasting the entire duration of the attack, and fading away at the end of it. Tearing (massive), forehead sweating (subclinical) and rhinorrhea, all on the symptomatic side, accompany the attack. In the youngest patient, the headache became chronic after clustering for six months initially, and after approximately 3 1/2 years it became bilateral. However, even in this patient, a clear unilateral pain preponderance prevails, and the autonomic disturbances are all on the original pain side. Attacks can partly be precipitated by chewing, eating (e.g. citrus fruits), moving the head, etc. The headache is completely refractory to drug therapy, including indomethacin.