Hello everyone, I am a 25yr old guy who has been suffering from cluster headaches since I was about 15. Until just recently I have been unable to get proper meds to help out with the pain. I tried Zomig for about a week, that didnt work, then I tried Imitrex and I didnt really see a difference. Then I got the injections for imitrex and they work. I am not a fan of needles AT ALL but when Im in that much pain, I will do anything to relieve it as Im sure many of you would. My pain ONLY occurs on the left side of my head, all of where the Trigeminal Nerve runs is where I have sharp bursts of pain while having an attack. My body temp almost always goes way up and I have to ice the back of my neck. I've tried massaging my temples etc and Im just not able to touch any part on my face while having an attack or it will make it worse. Its been about 2 years since a cycle, until about 2 weeks ago when they just showed up again. Im now getting anywhere between 2 - 6 attacks a day, most of which are debilitating. I wish there was something else that I could do to prevent this pain, I would do almost anything not to have these attacks anymore. Any helpful hints or tips would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.

leftsidedpain wrote on Feb 10^th, 2010 at 2:49pm:

Im now getting anywhere between 2 - 6 attacks a day, most of which are debilitating.  I wish there was something else that I could do to prevent this pain, ...

A headache specialist for diagnosis and treatment?

Abortives like the trex you used can stop an attack, but 2-6 (clusters) leans toward oxygen as a practical effective abortive.

A preventive med regimen can keep the attacks from occurring, which are different for many and include alternative routes.

Welcome to the board, Kevin is spot on. Read the oxygen info link on the left. Used correctly most find they can abort attacks very quickly using 02.

You need to talk to your doc about a preventative regimen. A med you take daily while on cycle to reduce the number and the intensity of your attacks. Verapamil is a popular and pretty efective prevent for many. I use lithium, Topomax has also shown success.

If you're not already seeing a headache specialist, get to one. CH is too unusual a condition for most general practitioners to know much about. Read all you can on the board here, find a knowledgeable neuro who knows headaches, and work with them. We haven't found a cure yet, but with a little bit of effort they're manageable.

Glad you found us, hang in there.

Joe

You're going to find some very helpful tips here - good move, you came to the right place.

This very important imitrex tip will at least double the amount of doses available to you, and lower your risk. There are lots of imitrex users here including myself who swear by this:
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The already mentioned O2 could be a real lifesaver - you want to do it in this newer more effective manner that doctors generally haven't caught onto yet:
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And that's just for starters.  :)

Oh yeah - you'll find the abdomen to be an easy and fairly painless spot to inject using the above imitrex tip.