just wondering if im crazy or do my clusters actually start in my shoulder? and then radiate through my jaw then finally to my eye? anyone ever get a headache in there shoulder right before an attack/

i feel pain in my shoulder, neck and even sometimes in my arm.   i am thinking that it is the result of all of the tensing i do during hits.  it could be that you are feeling an oncoming hit that is making you tense.     someone else may come along with a better idea but, that's my uneducated guess.

pf wishes,

jeannie

The way you describe how the pain radiates is right on target with the progression I feel along the trigeminal. Neck, teeth, ear and eye. Shoulder? Don't know but then again, does it matter? If it's a precursor, or predictor, for you then use it as a sign you need to hit the O2 before it goes further. Blessings. lance

It literally took months of  not having a headache, few good massages, to get the KNOT out of my shoulder.  I carried around a ball.   people were fascinated  and grossed out.   

I get a tight, painful "ball" between my shoulder and neck on the affected side before, during and after an attack. Thought it was just me....

While pondering CH in between cycles, I thought I could beat the Beast by keeping chronically tight muscles loose with regular stretching and massage. But that's not the case, at least with me. 

One early morning I had two attacks about two hours apart that I was able to abort both by aggressively stretching a very tight band of muscles that went from my upper back all the way to the base of my skull. I was elated and emailed a massage therapist friend of mine at 3:00 AM about my wonderful discovery!  Two hours later a third attack forced me to abandon my earlier elation because there was no stopping the Beast, it came on like a runaway freight train and I had to run home crying to Mama Imitrex!!

The very next day I got my prescription for Oxygen and gave up on the muscular connection.  The muscles weren't the cause but were "along for the ride."  About three weeks after the end of my cycle the muscles started to calm down and only then massage started to help.
-Gary

I totally get the shoulder pain immediately following a hit.  It's just part of the program....unfortunately.