im a new sufferer.i've had these horrible headaches for close to 3months. but i there is something i fail to understand that i hope you can clarify for me.
i get hard-hitting clusters(which on the kip scale are between 7-10).these last for about 15mins-30monis,never more than than BUT i have shadows (which range from 3-6 on the kip scale) almost all day evey single day!!they are excruciating,but obviously not so much as the actual beast.i am on immegran medication which keeps the clusters at bay but not the shadows.
my questions are as follows:

1.is it normal to have persistent shadows every day?
2.does this make me a chronic sufferer?
3.could it be a sign of somthing more serious?i've done a ct scan but not a mri.the ct scan showed an inflammation of a nerve in the right side of my brain
3.what can i do to completely rid the shadows?

thank you for taking your time to read and answer this

Have you asked your neuro any of these questions?

Quote:

1.is it normal to have persistent shadows every day?

Many sufferers find that the regular use of Imigran (Imitrex) can cause this. In my own case, I found that both the hits and the shadows became less frequent and less intense the less Imitrex I used. The first couple of days coming off it were hell, and I stuck by my O₂ tank like a duck on a Junebug.

Medical literature is notably free of any discussion of shadows. Which is to say, there is no scientific understanding of what they are all about nor, it appears, any concern about them.

It's clear, from reading the multiples messages here, that shadows are a highly individual experience with folks finding different ways of handling them.

Understand that if someone said: "my shadows always come the day after I eat Swiss cheese", others with the same experience would chime in a say, "yes, Swiss cheese causes shadows." So, I'm being silly--but with the purpose of repeating the old saying: "correlation is not causation", i.e., because two things occur in sequence does not mean that one caused two.

Find a fix and don't worry. Shadows do not forecast chronic or anything else, it appears.

Chronic refers to the length of time of a cycle.  1 yr or longer without pain free time is considered chronic.

I find caffine helps with shadows sometimes.  Worth a try I'd guess.

Persistent shadows are not uncommon during a cluster period and don't mean you are going chronic or have a more serious condition.

Persistent shadows are not uncommon during a cluster period and don't mean you are going chronic or have a more serious condition.