Hello all...
I have been getting CHs since I was 15yrs old. I am now 34. When they first began during my 10th Grade yr at high-school, I thought I was going to die. I would get them everyday at 10:15am during Biology class.
Now in adulthood, the CHs have not stopped and I sometimes think the pain will make my heart stop or head explode. Does anyone know of any people who have died from this condition? Not suicide deaths, but deaths related to this disorder...
I had an uncle recently die from a brain aneurysm, and in the week or so before his death, he complained about intense, frequent headaches..No one else in my family suffers from this condition.
So I'm a little concerned, though death doesnt sound so bad when Im in the middle of an attack....

Short answer--NO.

There are dozens of medical conditions which generate headaches. Stroke may have taken your uncle and it may or may not have been preceded by a headache. It makes it important to have a good diagnosis before assuming the source of your headaches, one of the reasons that, in the last couple of years, some docs suggest having brain scans done as part of the initial diagnostic work-up. (Still, an unsettled issue.)

But, to cluster: prevailing evidence suggests that they arise from a dysfunction within the hypothalamus--not fatal, more like a very irritated nerve which can create much pain but without other effects.

welcome,



            And what dont kill ya will only make you stronger.


             Coach Bill

It does seem amazing to go through such intense pain, without causing any permanent, or fatal problem, but it is so!  I have NEVER heard or read of anyone dying from a cluster attack.

It surprises me, that I have not died from it, due to the heart attacks that I have had.  I know my blood pressure sky rockets, while I am getting hit, yet it has never caused a heart attack.

So, like Bob said,
Quote:

Short answer--NO.

Chuck

Yeah amazingly enough, it doesn't kill us. I think the biggest danger to most CH'ers is not following doctors orders on meds, taking too much when the pain really rockets. I've been wrestling with the beast for 31 years and he hasn't done me in yet!

Do you have any effective treatments to get you through your attacks???

Joe