Hey I'm Nick a 23 year old CHer living in Chicago.   got my first cluster at 18 and been getting about 2 2 weekers a year since then, usually 20 mg nasal imitrex clears em up (sometimes 40mg is needed), but what a hassle still! (as you all know!!) takes awhile to hit and spaces me out for the next hour or two, not stellar for school or work. gives me f'ed up dreams too, and god help me if im out of imitrex, they last all day.  

So anyway came here cause I've been in a cluster that has lasted for about 6 weeks now.. had some pretty rough ones occur that time too, no fun..  To clarify though, I usually only get them monday to thursday, not because I have a stressful job (I recently graduated colllege, and I'm working only part time and screwing around as a musician), but frankly I tend to go out drinking on the weekends, and I almost never, never get a CH after a night of whiskey.  I know this is counterintuitive, but true, heck I went to Mexico a couple weeks ago and didn't get one all week (mid-cluster here), I was praising tequilla by the end of the week.  Anyway thats a topic for another post, because I know booze could be extending my cluster too.

Look forward to gettin some help here.  I really just want to find ways to end this cluster I got goin, hoping it didnt turn chronic.   Gonna look into Verapamil first off when I get to the neurologist next week.  Also would be interested in "clusterbusting" if it really does work, if you've spotted me at a phish concert you'd know I would not be adverse to trying things like this  :) , but I'd def rather get some real medicine first...

Anyway thanks for reading, would like to hear any tips you may have and I'm looking forward to helping others out as much as I can, I know these things can really be hell.

Ever tried oxygen?


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I'm episodic like you....don't sweat going chronic yet I've had cycles go as long as 8 months and 30 years later I'm still episodic.  ;)

You should be looking more towards a 2 pronged approach to dealing with your CH. A good preventative medication, like verapamil, you take daily while in cycle to help reduce the number and intensity of your hits. I use lithium, at 1200 mg a day. For the verapamil many find they need to go higher then the dosing most docs are used to when prescribing it to their bp patients. Some go as high as 960 mg  a day to get relief. Work with your doc on the dosing as verapamil is a serious med and dosing must be monitored.

Then a good abortive. As Steph mentioned, oxygen should be your fist line abortive. Read the link on oxygen as it must be used correctly or it's useless. I can abort an attack in 6-8 minutes just by huffing 02, and no nasty med hang over afterwards! Imitrex also comes in injectable form using a stat pen, easy to get used to and FAST on the relief!

As to alternatives, for obvious legal reasons, they're not discussed at length on this forum. Go to clusterbusters.com   for an extensive review of alternative treatments. Enjoying quite the success over there and if you're leaning that way well worth looking into.

Welcome to the board, hope we can help you out.

Joe

Goodness! with all those attacks I was holding my breath hoping you were using a preventive.
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Cluster headache.
From: START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE (Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases)
[Easy to read; one of the better overview articles I've seen. Suggest printing the full length article if you are serious about keeping a good medical library on the subject.]

Leroux E, Ducros A.

ABSTRACT: Cluster headache (CH) is a primary headache disease characterized by recurrent short-lasting attacks (15 to 180 minutes) of excruciating unilateral periorbital pain accompanied by ipsilateral autonomic signs (lacrimation, nasal congestion, ptosis, miosis, lid edema, redness of the eye). It affects young adults, predominantly males. Prevalence is estimated at 0.5-1.0/1,000. CH has a circannual and circadian periodicity, attacks being clustered (hence the name) in bouts that can occur during specific months of the year. ALCOHOL IS THE ONLY DIETARY TRIGGER OF CH, STRONG ODORS (MAINLY SOLVENTS AND CIGARETTE SMOKE) AND NAPPING MAY ALSO TRIGGER CH ATTACKS. During bouts, attacks may happen at precise hours, especially during the night. During the attacks, patients tend to be restless. CH may be episodic or chronic, depending on the presence of remission periods. CH IS ASSOCIATED WITH TRIGEMINOVASCULAR ACTIVATION AND NEUROENDOCRINE AND VEGETATIVE DISTURBANCES, HOWEVER, THE PRECISE CAUSATIVE MECHANISMS REMAIN UNKNOWN. Involvement of the hypothalamus (a structure regulating endocrine function and sleep-wake rhythms) has been confirmed, explaining, at least in part, the cyclic aspects of CH. The disease is familial in about 10% of cases. Genetic factors play a role in CH susceptibility, and a causative role has been suggested for the hypocretin receptor gene. Diagnosis is clinical. Differential diagnoses include other primary headache diseases such as migraine, paroxysmal hemicrania and SUNCT syndrome. At present, there is no curative treatment. There are efficient treatments to shorten the painful attacks (acute treatments) and to reduce the number of daily attacks (prophylactic treatments). Acute treatment is based on subcutaneous administration of sumatriptan and high-flow oxygen. Verapamil, lithium, methysergide, prednisone, greater occipital nerve blocks and topiramate may be used for prophylaxis. In refractory cases, deep-brain stimulation of the hypothalamus and greater occipital nerve stimulators have been tried in experimental settings.THE DISEASE COURSE OVER A LIFETIME IS UNPREDICTABLE. Some patients have only one period of attacks, while in others the disease evolves from episodic to chronic form.

PMID: 18651939 [PubMed]
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Here is a link to read and print and take to your doctor.  It describes preventive, transitional, abortive and surgical treatments for CH. Written by one of the better headache docs in the U.S.  (2002)
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Michigan Headache & Neurological Institute for another list of treatments and other articles:

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Not that it's important, but I was born three blocks down the right field line from Cubs Land.
But it's been many decades.......


 

Ya I know I have been missing the boat on preventives.  I'm also gonna try oxygen, seems much better.  Thanks for the suggestions, I shoulda done my homework years ago.

No time like the present!!! We'll help you every step of the way.

Joe