Hi there.
Been thinking of how to say hi for a couple of days now.
I'm 26 and male and been attacked by the beast every winter (oct/nov to jan/feb) for the last 4 years.
1st thought to be migraines and who was i to say otherwise. Very bad head pain=migraines, right?
This year i wouldnt accept it though. People can have migraines for days, if i had one of my "headaches" for days i would, well i dont think about that.

Anyway through various searches and links i found this site. When i read the few reports on the home page i honestly started to cry and i'm not the sort of guy that crys. I was reading exactly what i go through.

I took all the info i found to my doc. It seemed to annoy him that i had researched it myself and he continued to ask me all his questions about it. In the end he agreed i had CH and then said in my notes it mentioned i might have CH from my first visit!

I'm at home from work today as 1st thing this morning my friend asked how i was feeling and i just broke down in tears. Its really gettin to me this time.
My CH always go from 0-9kips in 2-3 minutes then even with a 100mg imigran tablet taken in the early shadows it hits 10kips for a good soild 10mins then reverse from 9-0kips.
The doc has now given me the injectors so i'm praying they will work better.

I'm now laying in bed waiting for 3pm as i normally have one then. I had the one at 2am this morning, normally get another 8pm-9pm then back again to the 2am one.

Anyway thats me. sorry for going on but feels so good knowing EVERYONE who reads this will no what i'm going through.

Thanks for reading.

You'll find the injections are considerably more speed and effective.

Sounds like your doc was, at the very least, listening. I think they all get peaved when you do your research. They should be teaching this interaction in med school If I hear another doc denigrate the time I spent researching before my appointment....

Anyway, a really big help to you may getting your doc to give you a prescription for oxygen. See the oxygen info on the site. Mine are also mostly nocturnal and the O2 knocks them back in less than 10 minutes- and I don't have to stick myself with the imitrex very often as a result.

Glad you found us and good luck.

Scott

Hi John

Glad to hear that you've got Imigran, but you should have O2 as well. Ask your doctor to look in his BNF(British National Formulary - GP's prescribing bible) section 4.7.4.3 on CH where it states that subcutaneous sumatriptan (Imigran jabs) AND oxygen are used for the relief of the pain of CH.

Why don't you give the OUCK(UK) Helpline a ring on 01646 651979.  Leave your number and somebody will get back to you. You could also have a look round the website for more information on CH

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I see that your in Norfolk - where?  I'm from Gt. Yarmouth.

Hope this helps.

I agree with Scott, your doc did respond with acknowledgment of clusters, perhaps with your help in direction he listened and took you from the trex pills to the injectors as a first response.  I see though your cycle lasts about three months with maybe three hits a day.  The thing is, there seems no way to get a prescription for 90 injectors over three months.  To the left on the tabs is a trex tip for using less per hit and conserving.  

Beginnings of diagnosis and treatment started similar for me, trex because he had samples.  It worked, but then a referral to a neuro who handed me a headache book and opened to clusters and had me read, this site wasn't here yet, but the description overwhelmed me... exclusively on one side, in and around the eye and temple, drooping of the eyelid, tearing of the eye, running nostril... so excruciating it that it brings even the strongest of men literally to their knees.

A scan followed and he tried to help by getting me more trex, adding esgic (discontinued, fiorcet) for some hits, and starting a preventative search.  Yes, he could diagnose but we went through a few useless preventive meds and constant aborting became a heavy reliance on trex when fiorcet failed a couple cycles later.  That was not a good time but I could stop them, a great concern in itself as often as they came, and it seemed very often with constant trex.

Reading this site inspired me to do better.  A trip to a headache specialist added oxygen and as Scott mentions, trex usage dropped back significantly.  The O2 script written not as I hoped but changes were made from advise here.  
Also we worked with preventatives again and found some success, a much more manageable way to go through this, tailoring a preventative to the cycle or times helps immensely not getting hit.  A step too long in coming for me.  

Stick around here, it can get better.  There are even alternatives working at completely missing cycles or helping through with some minimal periodic management.  

Just stopping the hits was at first a great control over CH, but there is more, better, and good things to hear from other's success that can keep one not getting complacent, learning of treatment that allows life to be less painfully affected.   :)