so my name is roxie. i started getting migraines 3months ago. have had 9 so far. im bi- polar type 1 and already taking lithium. i know they use lithium to help regulate but my clusters have prevented me at times from keeping the dosage regular. im scared crapless all the time of when another attack will happen . i feel like im loosin my life for days at a time. can someone help me sort through my scared emotions? please.

meant to say cluster migraines sorry. ive been getting migraines all my life tho. roxie

is there anyone who lives near round rock texas. it would mean alot to just sit with a fellow cluster migraine suffer. please it would mean the world

What's a cluster migraine?

Brew, C-M is a disorder where you have elements of both migraine and cluster. Makes diagnosis confusing unless you have an expert doc.
============

Curr Pain Headache Rep. 2007 Apr;11(2):154-7. 


Cluster-migraine: does it exist?

Applebee AM, Shapiro RE.

Given C219B, Department of Neurology, University of Vermont College of Medicine, 89 Beaumont Avenue, Burlington, VT 05405, USA. robert.shapiro@uvm.edu.

The nosological boundaries between cluster headache and migraine are sometimes ill-defined. Although the two disorders are distinct clinical entities, patients sometimes present with clinical scenarios having characteristics of both headache types, but either do not fully meet International Classification of Headache Disorders, Second Edition diagnostic criteria for either disorder or have sufficient symptoms and signs to allow both diagnoses to be present. These occasions provide diagnostic challenges and include what is variously described as migraine-cluster, cyclical migraine, clustering episodes of migraine, cluster with aura, or atypical cluster without autonomic symptoms or severe pain. Patients with symptoms overlapping cluster headache and migraine likely reflect the inherent clinical variability in each of these two disorders, rather than distinct diagnostic entities in their own right.

PMID: 17367596

Oh. I don't have those. And I don't live near Round Rock, TX. So I guess we'll wait for somebody else to chime in.

Could you please describe one of your attacks? What part(s) of the head, how long, any other symptoms?

Read all you can on this site including the tabs on the left of this screen, the "cluster quiz" etc. Did a neurologist diagnose you?  Most Dr's including neuro's know little about CH or migraines so educating yourself is in your best interest.

Don

I have never heard of a cluster migraine either, but now I wonder about myself.  I was dx'd 5 yrs ago with migraines and ch.  start of a ch cycle is hard to catch sometimes b/c of the migraines.  Maybe I should ask my neuro about that.
I am not near Tx but roxie this site is a great place to learn and vent some times if you need to.

Roxie - it's not clear from your post whether you have been diagnosed with CH and then the migraines came on later in life. Or you have both and I'm just not understanding correctly.

If you are new to clusters you have found a good site. Read all you can. The few folks on this thread are especially knowlegeable and helpful. But you will need to provide more specifics - are you on any specific meds for ch? They are out there and effective. Acute treatments can be handled also with triptans and high flow oxygen.

If you have not, get to your dr or a neuro doc. I had great success with my gp but from what i've read most ch'ers end up at a neuro doc.

There is help but ya got to go get it.

Forgot to mention I live near Austin, quite close to Round Rock. In Volente near Lake Travis. My email address is betweenthebuoys@gmail.com if you have some other questions or would like to correspond.