After another restless night I stumbled across a link to this site.  I was amazed.  31 years old and been suffering from CH for a couple years now.  It's been a stuggle recently as my headaches have gotten a little longer and stonger in length and intensity.  It was especially nice to see that the "shadows" I had been having were real and not just in my head. lol pardon the pun.  The biggest struggle I have recently is with my sponsor.  As a recovering alcoholic, it is hard to get my sponsor to understand what I am going through.  He thinks I am just slacking off when really I just need to get some rest.  For it is very hard to come by these days.  I printed off the Wikipedia sheet for him as a start which I will give to him today.  Anyways, look forward to talking to and hearing from you all.  I don't feel so alone anymore here in Ga.

HI Patrick,

Welcome to the Epicentre of the CH world!

Print this off for your sponsor

START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE

More peeps will be along soon to say hello and give you the benefit of
their Vast Knowledge and experience.

Things will get easier for you from now on and Well done for getting here!

Respect

Gary

Hey Patrick, and double welcome! Glad you found us. It's really important for your sponsor to know (at least intellectually) what you're going through. Perhaps the best way is to get him on to this site. Maybe do it together and troll for an hour or two. You know the importance of support vs pity, or worse, self pity and the bad places that can take you. So...help him support. Also, there are a lot of docs who want to prescribe narcotics for this. As a rule, they won't help the hit, the CH or the cycle. And maybe you need to be especially careful with that. Anyway, glad you're here. Look forward to hearing more details about what you've tried and what hasn't worked. God bless! lance

Welcome to the board Pat, yeah, we get it! When you get a chance, let us know what has and hasn't worked for you. Do you have oxygen yet? 33 years of CH and NOTHING holds a candle to 02 for cost, effectivesness, speed of abort. Read this link.

START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE

Glad you found us, hope we can help you.

Joe

The most difficult task of our life is to develop autonomy without becoming isolated.

Some of us are in a position where this struggle is harder than for others: Guess I would put you in that group. The bind between your capacity for self-care and the powerful belief system of 12-step-groups can be a tough knot -- but in the end it is OUR life to shape/control/for which we find purpose.

You have needs for self-care which your sponsor, perhaps the group, cannot understand, therefore, support. Then, the choice is: whose life is primary?
=====

It is only possible to succeed at second-rate pursuits—like becoming a millionaire or a prime minister, winning a war, seducing beautiful women, flying through the stratosphere or landing on the moon. First-rate pursuits—involving, as they must, trying to understand what life is about and trying to convey that understanding—inevitably result in a sense of failure. A Napoleon, a Churchill, a Roosevelt can feel themselves to be successful, but never a Socrates, a Pascal, a Blake. Understanding is forever unattainable. There lies the inevitability of failure in embarking upon its quest, which is none the less the only one worthy of serious attention.

           Malcolm Muggeridge,
quoted in, IF IGNORANCE IS BLISS, WHY AREN’T THERE MORE HAPPY PEOPLE
=====

We all row this boat together--yet apart. But we can all find support for our personal trip.

Thanks for the links, they were great and really helpful for myself and others so far.  Yet to see my sponsor far that part of it.  I haven't yet taken any meds to combat the CH.  Initially, when I was diagnosed about 2 years ago, my doctor said that I was sufferin from abnormal CH do to the fact that they were only lasting 20 sec to about a minute and a half. Therefore he said there was no medication I could take to alleviate the pain, since all the madeications were taken after the start of the headaches.  Within the past few weeks though, they have started to progress in length, closer to 30 min or more, with still some short ones here and there throughout the day.  This is why I began to start researching again about looking for a solution.  Alas though, since then I have moved to a new town and started a new life, and with that came the loss of my insurance carrier.  I'm starting to find myself in a scramble to find some again, without over using it right away to get caught up in preexisting condition penalties.  Has anyone else noticed a lengthening of duration since the initial Ch started?

Have you considered that it might be this:

START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE

Way, way back in the dark ages when I first started these, they came and went in such a rush I thought they were sinus attacks. After awhile though they settled down into a predictable episodic cycle of intense pain and moderate duration. Then after about 20 years of episodic crap, they went chronic on me. Not everyone has this same experience. And the beast morphs. It's possible you will have a different experience, but like Brew says, be aware there are other conditions that mimic CHs. Blessings. lance

Sadly, the issue of preexisting conditions may be a hard barrier to overcome. Suggest you work with an insurance agent who represents multiple insurers vs. dealing with one oufit at a time. An agent can get information more quickly, for more companies, making your search easier.

In the meanwhile, use the following info to search for sources of low cost care.
--
LOCATING HEADACHE SPECIALIST

1. Search the OUCH site (button on left) for a list of recommended M.D.s.

2. Yellow Pages phone book: look for "Headache Clinics" in the M.D. section and look under "neurologist" where some docs will list speciality areas of practice.

3.  Call your hospital/medical center. They often have an office to assist in finding a physician. You may have to ask for the social worker/patient advocate.

4. START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE; On-line screen to find a physician.

5. START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE Look for "Physician Finder" search box. They will send a list of M.D.s for your state.I suggest using this source for several reasons: first, we have read several messages from people who, even seeing neurologists, are unhappy with the quality of care and ATTITUDES they have encountered; second, the clinical director of the Jefferson (Philadelphia) Headache Clinic said, in late 1999, that upwards of 40%+ of U.S. doctors have poor training in treating headache and/or hold attitudes about headache ("hysterical female disorder") which block them from sympathetic and effective work with the patient; third, it's necessary to find a doctor who has experience, skill, and a set of attitudes which give hope of success. This is the best method I know of to find such a physician.

6. START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE NEW certification program for "Headache Medicine" by the United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties, an independent, non-profit, professional medical organization.
        Since this is a new program, the initial listing is limited and so it should be checked each time you have an interest in locating a headache doctor.
----
It appears that you don't have a clear diagnosis yet and the changing symptoms compound the issue. These changes are not uncommon but makes it most helpful to be able to work with a headache specialist. (So many docs lack minimal training/experience dealing with complex headache disorders that trying to find a specialist will, ultimately, save you time and $.)

I see that you are not to far away from a couple of population centers which may have more to offer you, even if it involves some travel.

Looking back at age 50, I realize my initial attacks were in my mid to late teens. They built very slowly, never went past about K-5's, and if I felt an attack coming on, and could get to sleep, it would stop the headaches progression and it would go away.

My point being, it's not at all uncommon for the early stages of CH to be very confusing. It may take several years for a CH pattern to develop. Some like Lance end up going chronic, some stay episodic. The only real consistent factor is they get worse as you get older. (the good news is when you start getting REAL old, like me,  ;) they seem to ease up a bit!)

Resist the urge to ignore them and forget them when the cycle ends. When you do that, you find yourself flat footed and completely unprepared when the beast returns.

For a person in your position, oxygen is the ideal abortive. It will in no way affect your recovery, it's fast, effective and cheap. If you go the welders 02 route, you don't need a prescription.

Keep learning and asking questions. :)

Joe