Hi, everyone
My name is Gaz, I am an 35 year old English guy who lives and works in Romania, I have been here for about 3 years now and have marrried a great Romanian girl.
I have been suffering from cluster headaches now for about 10 years, I usually get one or two clusters a year that last for about 4-6 weeks. In fact, I am smack bang in the middle of a cycle at the moment, I don't take anything for my headaches but I try to keep away from Alcohol, caffeine and afternoon naps while I am in a cluster, my headaches usually occur twice a day, one around 6pm and another around 1am, the 1am headache tends to be the more intense one and will easily wake me up and start me pacing around my apartment.
Well, thats me, I hope to speak to everyone soon ;)

You didn't ask for info in the area of our collective strength: treatments & self-care.

Is not using meds a philosophical decision which we should know about/respect?

Ask and you will receive! <bg>

You will find loads of info. by exploring the buttons (left) starting with OUCH. Good article:

 
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]

Welcome to the board Gaz! As Bob said, there are numerous treatment options available to you, preventative medications and abortive treatments. Have you had any successes treating your CH? You have thousands of fellow sufferers who'd love to help you out!

Glad you found us, let's see if we can help! :)

Joe

Welcome Gaz,

If not taking medications is part of a philosphical decision, you might want to read up on oxygen therapy.  It is a Godsend to a lot of us in aborting a headache.  

START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE

In my opinion there is no reason to suffer needlessly.


Linda

Hello Gaz, welcome to the family!  I'm very sorry you had to find us, but there is no other place out there like this one.

Take care,
:)mel

Gaz Jones wrote on Apr 10^th, 2009 at 4:37am:

I don't take anything for my headaches but I try to keep away from Alcohol, caffeine and afternoon naps while I am in a cluster,

Hi Gaz

Joe's right their are numerous treatments out there to help you. Until I found this site I also suffered for years with ignorant doctors prescribing me copious amounts of NAISDS  which offered me no pain relief whatsoever.

Gaz my friend take time to look around the site and familiarize your self with the various abortive and preventative treatments available. When You feel confident enough, approach your doctor with your newly acquired information because You do not have to suffer 'Cluster headaches' on your own...

The only way is up from here....


Lefty... ;)

Hi Gaz and welcome, i decided to attempt to go drug free for my latest cluster, although ive never found a truly effective drug. I lasted 2 weeks before i was knocking at the docs door. I f you can knock out a few hits and decrease the intensity its got to be worth it. I found imigran inj this year and it is the best abort ever for me 4-5 mins,
all the best in whatever road you want to go down, Shaun

Thanks to everyone for the friendly hellos ;D
I have never taken anything for my headaches not out any kind of philosphical stoicism but because i didn't know there was anything I could do, when I had my first headache cluster my immediate thought was that I had something really serious wrong with me and went to see the doctor, the doctor did some tests but pretty quickly diagnosed cluster headaches, he then told me there was no real cure and explained what I could expect. To be honest I was so relieved at the time that I didn't have some kind of brain tumour or something i just settled down to the fact these periods in my life would happen and I would just have to live with them.
The problem I have now is the poor state of healthcare in Romania, doctors here are so poorly paid that all the good ones tend to leave the country and the ones that are left leave a lot to be desired. The only good thing is that due to the inherent corruption here the doctor will give you anything you want if you cross his palm with enough silver.