{"id":135008,"date":"2026-03-11T01:35:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T01:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/135008\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T01:35:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T01:35:07","slug":"how-jefferson-health-in-philadelphia-is-finding-new-ways-to-treat-cluster-headaches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/135008\/","title":{"rendered":"How Jefferson Health in Philadelphia is finding new ways to treat cluster headaches"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jeffersonhealth.org\/locations\/900-walnut-st-headache-center\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Jefferson Health is finding new ways to treat cluster headaches<\/a>, which are described as being more painful than childbirth or being shot. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Philadelphia has one of the few centers dedicated to treating cluster headaches. For patients, finding help is life-changing.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You just want to bang your head off something to make the pain stop,&#8221; Cory Kutzler said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It feels like somebody&#8217;s taking a hot dagger and poking my eye out from the inside,&#8221; he added. &#8220;You just feel hopeless, like you know there&#8217;s just nothing you can do.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Kutzler, 40, finally found relief with Dr. William Young, who runs the cluster headache center at Jefferson Health.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Cluster patients need very different care from migraine patients,&#8221; Young said.<\/p>\n<p>Young said it&#8217;s not known what causes cluster headaches, which are rare and usually have specific symptoms. They happen in episodes, often impacting one side of the face.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The eye itself is watering, and even the nose is watering,&#8221; Young said.<\/p>\n<p>The pain is intense and described as being worse than having a baby.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This is the most severe pain known to man, and you&#8217;ve got to be ready to help the patient get through that,&#8221; Young said.<\/p>\n<p>Young said breathing pure oxygen can help control the pain of a cluster headaches, along with a variety of medications. An electrical stimulator used on the neck is helpful for some.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s really evolving, and the treatments that are available are improving, and we&#8217;re trying to learn more,&#8221; Young said.<\/p>\n<p>Kutzler said he finally has the right combination of medications that help control his pain.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And I feel that tingling, and then the headache goes away,&#8221; said.<\/p>\n<p>Kutzler said the medications don&#8217;t prevent his cluster headaches, but now being able to control the pain, he&#8217;s back to enjoying life and having fun with his family.<\/p>\n<p>Doctors said cluster headaches are more likely to strike men, but it&#8217;s not known why.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"content__tags__label\">In:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jefferson Health is finding new ways to treat cluster headaches, which are described as being more painful than&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135009,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[3806,69,71,70],"class_list":["post-135008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-jefferson-health","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}