Chronic and episodic paroxysmal hemicrania and hemicrania continua are rare types of headaches that have one common feature – they respond very well to indomethacin (Indocin). The diagnosis is actually based not only on clinical features but also on the response to indomethacin. Indomethacin belongs to the category of NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) such as aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen, and other. Indomethacin is somewhat unique in the way it works and it is often stronger, however it also causes more gastrointestinal side effects than other NSAIDs. Symptoms of paroxysmal hemicrania are similar to those of cluster headaches: the pain is very severe, very brief (lasting a few minutes) and occurs anywhere from a few times to a few hundred times a day. The pain is always one-sided, localized to the eye and it is often accompanied by tearing, nasal congestion, and redness of the eye. Hemicrania continua is very different in that it is present constantly and it is not very severe, but it also involves only one side of the head. Hemicrania continua is often mistaken for chronic migraine or chronic tension-type headache, which leads to ineffective treatments. The dose of indomethacin varies from 25 to 75 mg, taken three times a day. Some patients with these headache types do not tolerate indomethacin, which can cause heartburn, stomach ulcers, bleeding ulcers and other side effects. In those patients we try epilepsy drugs, other NSAIDs (which may or may not be better tolerated), as well as Botox injections and sometimes these treatment do help, if not as well as indomethacin, at least enough to improve patients’ quality of life.
