New daily persistent headache (NDPH) is a frustrating headache disorder for patients and doctors alike. NDPH is not very well understood and there not much research on causes, symptoms or treatments for it. “Rare” and “poorly understood” with “no known treatment” is how abstracts from two studies on NDPH that were present at the American Headache Society’s conference in June describe NDPH. Fortunately, one of these studies established some symptoms that are characteristics of this baffling headache disorder.

In the study of 36 patients at the Stanford headache clinic, NDPH patients:

• Typically said the pain felt like pressure in the front of the head
• 75% had pain was on both sides of the head (unlike migraine, which is usually one-sided)
• 69% described migraine-like characteristics of their headaches
• 46% had photophobia
• 46% had phonophobia
• 37% had nausea
• 17% had another headache disorder or episodic migraine before being diagnosed with NDPH
• 53% had family members with headaches

Three-quarters of patients had an illness or event happen right before the headache began:

• Infection (typically viral): 48%
• Recent surgery: 26%
• Physical trauma: 7.4%
• Psychological stress: 7.4%
• Another precipitating event: 11%

Demographics of study participants:

• 56% male, 44% female
• 53% Caucasian, 8% Asian, 39% of unknown or other ethnicity
• 41 was the average age of onset