Cluster headaches when pregnant: what to know

Cluster headache usually causes severe pain on one side around the eye, with features such as tearing, redness, a blocked or runny nostril, and marked restlessness. Pregnancy can bring other causes of headache, including conditions associated with high blood pressure, so familiar-sounding pain should not be self-diagnosed. Tell the maternity team or clinician whether the headache is new, where it is located, how quickly it started, and whether eye, neurological, abdominal, or blood-pressure symptoms are present.

Contact your maternity team, GP, or obstetric clinician about a new cluster-like headache. Do not start, stop, or repeat prescription or pharmacy medicines without checking that they are suitable for your pregnancy and stage of pregnancy. Rest in a quiet setting, drink normally if you can, and keep an exact record of attacks, sleep, possible triggers, medicines, and fetal concerns. A GP consultation can coordinate assessment with maternity care and create an attack plan.

Seek urgent maternity or emergency care for a sudden severe headache, persistent worsening pain, blurred or lost vision, flashing lights, weakness, numbness, trouble speaking, confusion, fainting, seizure, fever with a stiff neck, chest pain, shortness of breath, severe upper abdominal pain, or markedly reduced fetal movement. Do not wait for a painkiller to work when these symptoms occur.

Could this be cluster headache or a pregnancy-related cause? Which acute treatments are suitable at my stage of pregnancy? Should my blood pressure or urine be checked? What symptoms mean I should go directly to maternity triage?