An eye of hemicrania continua
- Department of Neurology, Geisinger Headache Clinic, Geisinger Health System, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, USA
- Correspondence to Dr Todd D Rozen, Geisinger Specialty Clinic, MC 37-32, 1000 East Mountain Blvd Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711, USA; tdrozmigraine{at}yahoo.com
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Contributors Both authors contributed equally in the production of this manuscript.
- Received 8 May 2012
- Revised 15 June 2012
- Accepted 20 June 2012
- Published Online First 11 July 2012
Hemicrania continua is a recognised form of primary chronic daily headache manifested by daily one-sided head pain of mild to moderate intensity, with intermittent pain exacerbation periods marked by migrainous and cranial autonomic symptoms (conjunctival injection, lacrimation, nasal congestion, rhinorrhoea, eyelid oedema, ptosis and/or miosis).1 Hemicrania continua is one of the indomethacin-responsive headaches, thus, once a patient is given the correct dose of indomethacin they will become pain-free and remain so as long as they are on this particular non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agent (NSAID). Basically, all other treatments, including other NSAIDs, will provide minimal or no relief. Hemicrania continua is often missed as a diagnosis. The probable leading cause for misdiagnosis is the focus …
