SYNOPSIS
40 cluster headache patients and 49 migraine patients described their personality using the Freiburg Personality Inventory (FPI). Cluster headache patients had a slightly elevated score in scale 1 (nervousness) and a slightly diminished score on scale M (masculinity). On scale 1 migraine patients displayed a score at the upper borderline of the average range. Both groups evidenced normal values in all the other scales. Our results do not favour the view that neurotic mechanisms play a decisive role in these patients.
Treatment with the histamine H2 receptor antagonist, cimetidine, alone and/or in combination with the histamine H1 receptor antagonist, chlorpyramine, in 13 patients showed that cimetidine alone was ineffective. 7 of 9 patients taking the combination of H1 and H2 receptor antagonists responded well to the treatment; in 1 patient, medication was ineffective and in 1 patient, success was doubtful. In 3 patients with chronic cluster headache, the effect faded after 4 weeks. The results are discussed.
Predisposing factors and concomitant diseases were examined in cluster headache patients. A positive or negative correlation to a particular disease, e.g. gastrointestinal ulcerative disease, could not be showen. Factors indicating a genetic predisposition could also not be found. In the Freiburg Personality Inventory cluster and migraine patients had an essentially normal profile; however, both groups evidenced a tendency towards psychosomatic reactions.
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