HI  :)
OK - so my daughter who's 14 is complaining of headaches.  She wakes up in the middle of the night - once a week or so and asks me for ibuprophen and then goes back to bed.  She also has headaches "all day".

At her 9th grade physical, she mentions this to our Dr. and IMMEDIATELY, knowing that her father has clusters, say's  
"Lets get her a CT scan and send her to the headache specialist.  She may be developing clusters too."

CT scan was normal...

My question is - did you "DEVELOP" clusters or did they just hit you all the sudden?  Before you started getting HITS... did you get "regular" headaches?   I just dont know if you "develop" clusters.   Ramon doesnt remember if his came on slowly or differently.

Im going to take her to this headache specialist, they may be migraines or sinuses, or normal growing pains .... or she might be faking it for all I know.
I just wanted to ask you guys....
did you "develop" clusters?

either way - atleast if she "develops" clusters, we know what to do and have the equipment here to do it.   I just hope she doesnt.   I hope they are just tension headaches.   :)

thanks...
woobs :-*

Hi Woobs. Sorry about your daughter.

To answer your question: I was 23 and all was well so I sat down in my chair, turned on Johnny Carson and wham! It hit me like a ton of bricks. No build up, nothing at all. After about 20 minutes of bouncing off the walls......Sally didn't even ask me WTF was going on  >:(.....it just "drained away" in a few seconds. They lasted about 4 weeks and went away. They made two visits....sometimes three.... a year until I was 45 when I gradually realized that they missed a visit and or didn't hang around much any more.  I have no idea why.

Hoping they go away quickly and that it's just her being 14

Charlie

Same as Charlie... first hit me like a hand of God. There was nothing gradual about it.  I thought a small bomb had gone off behind my right eyeball, or that a lawn dart had suddenly landed on my head.

I'm the opposite of Fubar and Charlie, I vaguely remember in my early teens these "sharp" headaches that would disappear as fast as they started. Didn't get what I now recognize as classic CH cycles until my late teens. Didn't have my first KIP 8-9 until my early 20's.

However both of my daughters had nasty period related headaches, starting when their cycles started, age 12-13. They are 24 and 22 now, neither developed CH.

Here's hoping it's just those damned hormones! ;)

Guiseppi

Sorry Woobie, but mine started out as a teenager with intense HAs that would then settle down into a nagging HA all day.  In a lot of ways they resembled migraines, but with an intense start.  Only occasionally would I be awakened with one.  That changed when I was about 23/24 when it became full fledged CH.  

I hope Guiseppi is right though, and that it is just hormones.  I wouldn't wish this on anyone.  At least though, you know how to deal with it from the beginning if it turns out to be CH.

Jerry

Before I had my first real hit, some 15 years ago, I had some minor headpains in the 1 or 2 weeks prior. Not sure if they were the precursor to my CH, shadows or whatever, but it most likely was. They were however nothing in comparison to that fateful day I got the Beast in all it's unholy glory.
Even now, when my cycle starts, the first week is just some sharp stabbing in my temple and forehead. And allthough I don't remember exactly the headhurt prior to my very first hit, I assume they are kinda the same birds of a feather.

I really hope your daughter is not bound to be a clusterhead, but if so, you do have the knowledge and material to work with, which is a lot more than most people here had in the beginning (there's your silver lining).

Please keep us posted, and here's hoping that it isn't CH.

All the best from the Netherlands, Pascal.

Hi Woobie,
I had occasional migraine headaches beginning around age 8.  The pace picked up in high school, probably due to hormones.  The onset of my CH was abrupt--not until my 30's.  But there was no mistaking the difference from the migraines (which for the most part stopped when the CH started).  I'll probably be flamed for suggesting this, but I think there are gender differences when it comes to how CH first appears, and what things may influence and trigger.

I hope you find that your daughter is just experiencing random stress headaches.  Good luck with getting this sorted out.

Patti

I never had a ha in my life before this one day when bam I was hit with a cluster headache and it just was very intense and miserable ha.  They came on like gang busters with 8 ha a day and that is the way they remain.  My son who has ch came on suddenly also.  

I had my first migraine around the time my period started and had a concusion earlier that year. My mom had migraines too so it didn't seem that odd. Mine never became more than migraines. Lisa used to complain about bad headaches in high school but didn't need more than sleep and ibuprofen. By college they turned into true migraines and her last year at 21 she had cluster headaches. It seems everyone is different.

Charlotte

Another thought, the year before Lisa got CH, she used to wake up with flashing blue lights for the first five min.The eye doctor confirmed it wasn't an issue in the eyes and referred her to a nuerologist. She never went because this wasn't any pain, just annoying. Once the CH started the nuerologist said this was conected to the onset of CH. I haven't heard anyone else say mention the blue light thing though.

I always hate to mention this here, but I have "structural migraines."  My neck and back are screwed up and I get screaming headaches due to that.  Bad posture, slouching over a desk or work station, too much time on the computer, and reading a good book for too long in one position are all triggers to send my back into overdrive.  Sleeping without a good neck support pillow wakes me up in pain, in the night just like your daughter.

One "doctor" told me my headaches were due to the fact that one leg is 1/2' shorter than the other and the only cure was cutting my other leg down by 1/2" to compensate . . . . pfffffffffft.  Needless to say I ran from her and never looked back.

Chiropractic makes my headaches quite manageable.  I get adjusted every 8 weeks or so and it keeps the headaches down to once or twice a month.  If I have been doing lots of mosaicking or reading, I'll go in to my Chiro at the first twinge to keep my personal beast away.

Your daughter's growing and changing, maybe she'd benefit from a consult and adjustments?  JrBrew's been adjusted since he was a baby and he knows when he needs to see our Chiro.  

Standard disclaimer: I know Chiros can't treat or cure everything, but their adjustments work in my case.  And just like in any other field, there are quacks and charlatans who practice chiropractic.  Find one who uses the Thompson technique (manual adjustments) and doesn't drop vitamins on your stomach and claim Godlike qualities.  Ask people you know who they use.

Good luck Woobs!

I was very similar to joe and Jerry yet I recall random massive headache when I was as young as 9-10.

for me first ever cycle this year @ 50.................................just regular headaches throughout life, a bout with migraines years ago.............
deb

Quote:

One "doctor" told me my headaches were due to the fact that one leg is 1/2' shorter than the other and the only cure was cutting my other leg down by 1/2" to compensate . . . . pfffffffffft.  Needless to say I ran from her and never looked back.

Where did he do his internship..Dachau?

Next time some quack comes up with this; cut off his legs and use him for taget practice. You gotta be kidding.

Charlie

My DAHLINK Woobs ...

You will always be a MOTHER!   LOL!

How do kids survive overprotective, always worrying Moms?  LOL!

(BUT, thank the good man/woman, up above, for providing us with them!)

If it develops into clusters (I hope not) then it does.  There is nothing you can do about it.  If it will be, it will be.  Worrying isn't going to help you or her any.  Just be there for her, regardless of the outcome, as I know you will.

Mine started with a bang.  No build up.  BUT, I DID have lots of tension headaches when I was a young'un, (8,942 years ago) and then after getting clusters, I can't remember having ONE tension headache.  I guess the maker decided that I couldn't handle more than one type of headache.  I jes ain't that strong of an individual.  I am a wimp!

Chuck

Interesting question...

never had headaches before...started as tooth pain, gradually moved to eye,temple and top of head...In my 20's, BLAST OFF...they were all 8+ kip...

Best,

Jon

I had HA's all through my teens but no clusters.
I can still remmeber the day of my first CH attack over fifteen years ago,  I had just got home from a stressful day at work and was starting relax then bam [smiley=hammer.gif]felt like someone drove an ice pick through my eye with a sledge hammer,  it lasted about 45min and was gone but it returned every night for over a month.     Phil

Another one whose CH started with a bang.

   1987.  Sitting on the floor trying to program my T.V. when I was hit with pain that I was certain was going to kill me immediately.  No build up previously.   Just 0 to 10  in about 5 mins. flat.

Hello Woobie:

I started having occasional migraines at age 5.  They went away in a year or so and didn't come back until I was a senior in High School.  They lasted through college, then quit.  7 years later, out of the blue, I got whacked with my first cluster headache.  I thought I was having a stroke or something fatal!  Anyway, I've been chronic since the first one in 1987.

With best wishes for your daughter,

Ray

Mine started with a bang also.  Lasted 28 years and quit just as suddenly as they started.  Haven't had one since 1986...thank God!

My son was a different story.  He started with what the Doc diagnosed as migraines in the 6th grade.  He was prescribed Periactin, which didn't help.  When he was 17, they presented as full blown CH.  He's now 37 and still episodic.

Well, it was a long time ago, but...

Mine also started with a bang.  I got the first one at the age of thirteen.  Summer of 1966.  I was working for a neighboring farmer.  (Kids did things like operate heavy machinery then, and no one thought much about it--but I digress.)  Anyway, I came home after pitching hay bales in the sun all day, and the thing hit me like a truck.  I thought I was dying.  Then it went away as quickly as it came on.  

After that, I had intense, sporadic hits for a year or so--no pattern, no rhyme or reason.  They quickly settled into 6-8 week cycles, invariably twice a year.  I was diagnosed for the first time at the age of 16.

Before that first attack, I'd never had a headache of any kind.  To this day, I've never had a migraine, or any other significant head pain.  Nothing but CH.  If I've had a tension headache (and I suppose that I have) I've never really noticed them.  You all know how the pain threshold thing is with us.   ::)

Hope that it isn't CH--but if it is, how fortunate your daughter is to have you there to help her.   :)

All the best,

George

My first couple of years the hits were pretty sporadic and not nearly as painful as they have been later on.  I don't know if developing is the correct word, but they did seem to progress in frequency and intensity as time went on.

Mine started at around 25 yrs old and came on fast... no warning. Thought I was going to DIE!! No build up that
i can remember. Just all of a sudden severe pain. First cycle lasted about 3 weeks.

My came on without warning when I was 18 or 19.  Felt like someone was in my head and teed up on my right eye with a bat.

ClusterChuck wrote on Oct 5^th, 2008 at 12:52pm:

I jes ain't that strong of an individual.  I am a wimp! Chuck

Aint no wimps in clusterville, Chuck....

Quote:

Aint no wimps in clusterville,

    Words of wisdom Jon.

Mine just started one day at age 24 or 25 ( can't remember which) which was 14 years ago.  Was driving down the road, rainy day and bam... got worst pain , and I remember being blinded by the pain.  pulled over etc.  Remember thinking I had a brain tumor or something.  Got myself quickly to a doctor!

My left eye, inside part, turned bright red for weeks before my first hit. Went to the opthamologist, who gave me some drops to kill the red. My eye hurt to touch it. Then, when I was at work one day, WHAM, I got hit, and it lasted about 45 min. I was waiting on a guy at the counter, and couldn't wait for him to leave, so I could get the hell out of there. I couldn't speak very well due to the pain.  He finally left, my boss walked in, I walked out, and it was gone before I reached my truck.

I've had migraines all my life, but this just came out of no where. The eye getting red has turned out to be a warning sign for me... I know they are coming.

If she can take an ibuprofen, and go back to bed, maybe she is getting migraines? I've never been able to go back to bed after waking up with a hit.

Well, there are a lot of things that it could be... (I should know, they've tested me for every one of 'em XD ) there are a few things CT scans and MRI's don't show though.

For me, I had dealt with sinus headaches. intracranial hypertension/ intracranial pressure headaches, migraines, tension, etc...

Well, I kept having what I thought were sinus headaches. I'd just had a nasty infection that we had proof of on an X-ray, I went to a ENT 2 weeks later and was clear by then but my sinuses were still hurting... He said it sounded like I was having cluster headaches. I kinda ignored it, because hey, they checked me for that when I was 9. I figured they would have found it then, right? But they just found complicated migraines so... I convinced myself it was probably just allergies making my sinuses hurt so badly.

The next day, May 28th of this year, I could not ignore it.

I thought I was having a stroke.  I knew it was a possibility because I have small vessel disease of the brain... I knew it felt like I was having a migraine (which I was) but I was also having sharp stabbing pain in my left eye, and kept wanting to kill myself to end it. We wound up at the ER and they did a CT, it came back clear... So they sent me home. My Mom wound up looking up cluster headaches, because I was in too much agony to, and was refusing to come out of my room much. She found I had all of the symptoms and we went to the neurologist from there and they diagnosed it.

I'm not sure how many of what I thought were just mild migraines, were actually shadows in the months before the first 'real' one hit me.

My first cluster came out of nowhere - I was 10 yo.  Thought I was dying and was screaming my head off - by the time my mom got me to the hospital the ha was gone...they had no idea what it could be.  They were even more stumped by a nornal cat scan.
My mom does remember me crying and holding my head at the age of 3 or 4.  My first cycle was when I was 16.  

Hugs,
Langa

Damn hun I worry about my daughter too.

Me, well I got hit with a bad migraine - take whatever the hell I could to do to sleep for a day and then they would go away, about 2 times a year from about 13 on.  Then at 32, I got a hit at work. It floored me, I thought I was insane.  It last one hour and then I was fine.  Except for looking like I had gone 5 mins in the UFC.  That night I got hit again right as I was getting ready for bed. After the 1st day I could set my watch by them. After a week and thinking that I was dying, I finally went to the doctor.  (That is another mind screw all together to get the actual diagnosis) So I cant say that I build up they just attacked my life without warning.

I hope that she does not have them.  That it is simply the fact that she is growing up and all of the crap that is going on with her body is causing headaches.

Blessed Be,\Tia

I just remember days spent in bed, in the dark with headaches that were sometimes killers and then would wear off, then wham!  Then would ease off again.  My parents always said they were migraines but when I would be out for maybe a day, maybe a few days,they started to think I was making it up as they didn't know anyone who had a migraine for that long.  I even got admitted to hospital and was given 3 lumbar punctures!  It's the worst thing in the world to think your nearest and dearest think you're making this up so tread steady approaching this with her as if she has CH she has a long road ahead of her getting the world to understand, she'll need you to believe in her.  And you've made good steps so far, this site is amazingly helpful.  Wothout it I wouldn't even have been diagnosed.