Hi, new here. Woke at 3.30 australia time this morning to the most excruciating cluster headache ive ever had. My gp diag me in 2008 since then theyve had me on concentrator 02 and its worked ok, if i use it straight up but they wont give it to me portable, now i have such a bad attack i want to take off my head. sorry for the dramatic intro to me.

What have you tried as a prevent and where are you located?

             Potter

G'day from the other side of the Tasman sea and welcome to the forums.

Don't worry about a dramatic intro, we all know just what it's like to have a CH.

Hopefully your GP has given you a good preventive, something like verapamil, lithium or topomax. That should prevent most CHs.

For night time hits people are reporting a lot of success using melatonin with about 9mg taken 30 minutes before going to sleep stopping most overnight CHs.

Oxygen can work great to kill CHs although most do not benefit from a concentrator as it only outputs a relatively low flow rate and it's not 100% pure oxygen. I'm killing my CHs using a hight flow rate (25lpm) with a non-rebreather mask and with that combination I can be pain free in 5-8 minutes. Read up the oxygen info on the left.

Imitrex (Imigran) is another good preventive that people can inject to kill a CH in a few minutes which is useful if you've not got your oxygen with you. Although it's much more expensive, has side effects and many people are rationed as to how many they can have per day. Again see the tips on the left to make them go further.

Energy drinks with caffeine and taurine (like Red Bull) are also useful in reducing the intensity / duration of an attack or in chasing away shadows. Just drink it at the first sign of a CH.

Has your GP sent you to see a neurologist, preferibly one who specialises in headaches? Since CHs are pretty rare GPs are often not up to date with the latest techniques and medication for CHs.

And do read around, ask questions and you'll learn so much more about how to deal with CHs.

That's a heap of great advice from our Kiwi mate, Amythest, and welcome home.

Brian up north

0406 068 295

Hi Amythest & welcome
What part of our great country are you from; depending which state your in o2 can be obtained without getting a script from your GP, read the info from the link at the bottom of my post it may help you out.

Cheers
Barry

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Hi amethystgerry,

CH pretty much sucks really really bad doesn't it?   >:( :(

Glad to see that you're getting the excellent advice here right off the bat that could dramatically improve your ability to deliver punishing counterblows to this beast. Now that's the kind of drama we want to see.   :) 8-)

You've been given some great advice by your mates on that side of the pond. Using an 02 concentrator on CH is like pissing on a forest fire! ;D You'll kill a little bit of the flames but it'll still be burning.

A high flow regulator, at least 15 LPM, preferably up to 25 LPM, on a full bottle of 02.....that's like a DC-10 doing a water drop on a campfire! You will find the difference in abort times is THAT dramatic. I kill mine in about 6-8 minutes using 02, that's completely pain free in 6-8 minutes. Good luck on getting the 02! Glad you poked your head in here, lots of great info here.

Joe