Hello to everyone!
First I'd like to say Happy Holidays to all.
After lurking on your website for a while I decieded to join! Everyone is so wonderful, and supportive on this website and I'd like to say thank you!
My story is I am 28 , live in upstate Ny with 3 wonderful boys and a great husband. I have been a CH suffered for about 10 years now. Just recently diagnosed by the headache center (the doc was hesitant because I am a woman). I have been through hell trying to figure out what this is, only to stumble on your website about a year ago and figured out what "the beast" is. It was your website that gave me hope that there was help out there for this thing that was waking me up at night.

So to make a long story short. I am on verapamil, with imitrex injections, with a steroid med to break the cycle. I do have to say that the imitrex is like heaven! I would cry and pace and squeeze my head till I thought my brains were going to fall out for almost an hour at night. My poor husband would just stare at me helpless unable to do anything but watch.  He definetly thought I was going through bouts of madness! So with the imitrex I am pain free in 10 minutes or less. My cycle is lastng longer than usual, but I am hopeful it will end soon....

So again THANK YOU to everyone on this site for giving me hope! ;D  

Blessed by youth! Now you have much more knowledge of CH, meds to use, and awareness which was largely missing 30-years ago. Glad that you have found a doc who, by his treatment plan, knows his stuff.

For interest:

Cephalalgia. 2002 Mar;22(2):94-100.  


Age at onset and sex ratio in cluster headache: observations over three decades.

Ekbom K, Svensson DA, Träff H, Waldenlind E.

Department of Neurology at the Karolinska Institute, Huddinge University Hospital, Huddinge, Sweden.

Five hundred and fifty-four patients with episodic cluster headache (ECH) and chronic cluster headache (CCH) were examined between 1963 and 1997. Mean age at onset was significantly higher in women with CCH compared with women with ECH and in men with ECH or CCH. In women with CCH age at onset was evenly distributed from 10 to 69 years, whereas in men with CCH and in both sexes with ECH, there was a peak when they were in their 20s. In women with ECH a second peak of onset occurred in their 50s. Although not statistically significant, primary CCH started later in women (mean 50.8 years) than secondary CCH (mean 35.5 years). There was a significant variation in the male : female ratio with respect to age at onset, being largest between 30 and 49 years of age (ECH 7.2 : 1; CCH 11.0 : 1) and lowest after 50 (ECH 2.3 : 1; CCH 0.6 : 1).

DURING THE OBSERVATION PERIOD OF MORE THAN 30 YEARS THERE WAS A TREND TOWARDS A DECREASING MALE PREPONDERANCE; THE MALE : FEMALE RATIO WAS SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER AMONG PATIENTS WITH ONSET BEFORE RATHER THAN AFTER 1970. THE PROPORTION OF EPISODIC VS. CHRONIC CH DID NOT CHANGE DURING THE STUDY PERIOD. THE NATURE OF THE SEX- AND AGE-RELATED PATTERN OF CLUSTER HEADACHE ONSET REMAINS TO BE ELUCIDATED BUT MECHANISMS ASSOCIATED WITH SEX HORMONE REGULATION, PERHAPS OF HYPOTHALAMIC ORIGIN, MAY BE INVOLVED, AS WELL AS ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS RELATED TO LIFESTYLE.

PMID: 11972575 [PubMed]

 Welcome sorry you have to be here but this is a great place for any clusterhead.  Have you tried Oxygen as an abortive it works like imitrex without all the side effects.
 Hang in there others will chime in with more info.
        Phil 8-)

Welcome to our club Tracey.

    ditto to what Phil said.   check out the oxygen info in the Medications section

    Good luck to ya and have a happy PF holiday.

                           JPC

Hi Tracey and welcome. I too agree fully on you giving o2 a try as an abortive. It is clean without side effects or what some of us call the Cluster hangover.

I have an Imitrex Injection Stat kit with me 24/7 but have not used it yet so I do not know what if any side effects I might get from Imitrex. So far I have been able to get to my o2 and abort a hit within minutes. Please give it a try.

  Barry :)