Please explain what a cluster headache is and why we get them
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This is hard to explain to a 5 year old, but the gist is we don’t fully understand, we know it’s related to a certain nerve and blood vessel bundle that serves areas of the face and brain coverings. The standing theory is that is related to part of our brain that helps us adjust our sleep-wake cycles based on day light, which is not working as effectively as it could, somehow causing problematic activation/stimulation of the neurovascular bundle. Its thought often worst in times in the year when there is a change in daylight hours (causing a typical cyclical pattern of attacks annually).
Why someone might get this is known to be likely largely genetically driven. We know there is higher risk in relatives of someone who gets them, but it is possible the generic mutation that causes it can also occur randomly in someone with no family with it, we don’t know the detail because we haven’t isolated a gene or mutation.
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