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Cluster Headache

A

Av8r3400

Gone Flyin'
Have any of you ever heard of Cluster Headache?

It is something I have suffered from for over 20 years. As I sit here in a hotel room in Connecticut wondering if my medication will last through the rest of my trip (I fly home Thursday), I don't look forward to fighting with a strange pharmacy to try and get the meds I need to stay out of the hospital. I've been fighting 'the beast' since the holidays and I'm getting tired now from the meds and lack of sleep.

If you think you have it bad, sometime read through some of this information. What would you do if an employee gave you this? Or a friend gave you this?

I have been lucky. I am episodic, which means I go into remission often. My 'clusters' last for 6-8 weeks then go away for 6 months to 3 years was my longest. Some people who suffer from this are 'chronic' which means they never go into remission. They live with this for ever.



I'm not looking for sympathy here, just something that I'm dealing with right now and thought some may find it interesting.
Some of you may even enjoy my being in pain. :bonk:
 
Wow ! My wife has been having headaches like this and been to numberous doctors . I wonder If she has something along these lines . The other nite she was throwing up and in bed . We finally got it under control with Meds , hot wet compresses and massage . I really feel for her when she goes through that . Like you it seems to come and go every couple of months . I hope you get to feeling better soon . That must be a bitch trying to work like that !
 
It is more prevalent in men than women, BUT that is not to say women do not suffer clusters too.

The symptoms are very specific: Localized pain in one quadrant of the head (usually eye-temple area on one side), drooping eye lid, watering eye, nasal congestion, intense pain. The onset of the pain is lighting quick, 5-10 minutes from zero to hell. Untreated the bout can last (for me) up to 4-5 hours. The pain would often cause me to get sick, too.

They are called "Suicide Headaches" for a reason.
 
By the way, this little guy: :bonk:

I have done this. I knocked myself unconscious to stop the pain. Using the proper medication is better, though.
 
Av8r3400 said:
It is more prevalent in men than women, BUT that is not to say women do not suffer clusters too.

The symptoms are very specific: Localized pain in one quadrant of the head (usually eye-temple area on one side), drooping eye lid, watering eye, nasal congestion, intense pain. The onset of the pain is lighting quick, 5-10 minutes from zero to hell. Untreated the bout can last (for me) up to 4-5 hours. The pain would often cause me to get sick, too.

They are called "Suicide Headaches" for a reason.
Click to expand...

Holy Cow ! You just descibed her headaches to a T !!!!
 
Classical Cluster.

Get her to a neurologist that will listen to you and read the links I posted above. Most doctors don't understand cluster and don't want to. You need to be your own advocate in this.
 
Several people know, but others don't, but I get very frequent severe migraine headaches. Because of what is most likely the source for my migraines, most of the new migraine relief meds do not help me at all. I broke my the C2 bone in my neck back in high school wrestling. I suffered very temporary paralysis but was able to recover without any surgery. I just had to wear that damn neck stabilizer for what seemed like forever. The bad thing is that when it healed it formed a calcium lump that puts some pressure on my spinal column. Due to it's location, several surgeons told me that a real possible downside to any surgery could be paralysis from that point down. So...I obviously live with these headaches.

Sometimes they are so bad that I call the pain blinding pain. My vision suffers and any noise, light or motion will cause extreme nausea. Which, as you obviously know, is the absolute last thing you want with your head pounding. My biggest concern, now that I have a family that depends on me, is the odd side effect of extremely high blood pressure when I'm in such pain. I used to just "suffer through it", even with the worst ones; my only consolation was that I knew it would eventually go away. However, a couple of years ago when I went to the hospital with a particularly nasty one I was told that my blood pressure was something like 240/130. I had no idea previously that blood pressure rises in direct correlation to the amount of extreme pain you are in. Being a pragmatic sort of person and relatively well versed in the human body, this reaction still confuses me but seems to be fact.

Given that such high blood pressure, even if only for 12 hours or so, could lead to a stroke I am less hesitant to take medication for the pain. I positively could not take it if I were a burden to my family rather than being the provider and protector. Anyway, when not in pain, my blood pressure seems to run about 115-120/70-80. This seems to be relatively normal from what I can read and have been told. So, to gage how bad my migraines are and to help decide when I need to go to the hospital, I purchased a couple of high end and accurate sphygmomanometers. If you get the extreme pain where you :puke1: constantly, I'd recommend you invest in one.
 
One of the common meds (I'm taking 600 mg daily, now) for cluster is a drug called Verapamil. It is (normally used as) a high blood pressure medication at the rate of 80 to 240 mg daily. Some CH sufferers use up tp 1200 mg per day to get the relief they need.

At this high of a dosage, hypotention is more of a problem than hypertension. My BP is normally in the 110/70-ish range, but when I'm on the meds it will drop to the 90/50 range or lower. Care must be taken if lightheadedness happens.

It's all fun and games until you fall over and knock yourself out. :smileywac
 
I get severe headaches at times maybe once or twice a year. It knocks me in bed, I am constantly vomiting and the pain is terrible. But I have no meds for it at this time. Nothing like what you guys get and I feel for you.



murph
 
I used to get the most horrific migraines in my mid-30s.
Turns out, I was entering menopause quite early.
After about 3 years of suffering through wild hormonal changes, my periods stopped just like that, as did the headaches.

Come to think of it, I can't remember the last time I even had a slight tension headache.
I simply don't get them these days.
 
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