1A In Good Health: Why Headaches Are Misunderstood
Nov 26, 2025
Tom Zeller Jr., an author and journalist on science topics, shares his intense struggles with cluster headaches, detailing their life-altering nature. Dr. Amal Starling, a Mayo Clinic neurologist, explains the different types of headaches and the specific challenges in diagnosis and treatment. They discuss the social stigma surrounding migraines, particularly affecting women, and highlight funding gaps in headache research. Personal coping strategies, including innovative treatments and the role of psychedelics, round out this insightful conversation.
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Cluster Headaches Come In Relentless Cycles
- Tom Zeller Jr. recounts cluster headaches as excruciating, like keeping your hand on a hot burner for hours without relief.
- He says they come in predictable clusters for months then remit, but always return unpredictably over years.
Headache Is A Symptom, Not A Diagnosis
- Amaal Starling compares the term "headache" to "fever": it's a symptom, not a diagnosis, and hides many distinct disorders.
- She stresses that head pain is only one symptom among many in primary headache disorders.
Migraine Is A Sensory Processing Disorder
- Migraine is a sensory processing disorder where light, sound, smell, motion, nausea, and pain are abnormally processed.
- Some people with migraine may have minimal head pain but severe sensory symptoms and functional impairment.
