3.1.1 Episodic cluster headache

The patient, a 52-year-old accountant, has endured close to thirty headache attacks in her life, all within bouts that each last about a week. During the present bout she has up to four attacks a day, every one running roughly 70 to 75 minutes before easing off. The pain sits around the eye, remains one-sided throughout, and she rates it as excruciating -- the worst pain of her life -- with visible restlessness and agitation during each episode. She has now had five distinct bouts, each followed by long remissions of many months without any pain.