My one of my ending cluster sequences headaches landed me in the E.R. Because I was losing vision due to pain and my normal regimen of Imitrex injections, oxycodone, and other medications were not touching the pain.

In the emergency room they gave me Zofran (for the nausea), fentanyl, and dexamethasone.  The treatment left me pain free for about 5 hours after leaving the hospital.

My original prescription (after the injection in the er) was for 24mg of dexamethasone tapered down over a week and a half.

Near the end of the taper I started to show signs of Cushing's Syndrome (random cuts and bruises, moon face, swollen eyes (similar to having an allergic reaction), losing hair in patches on my legs and arms, et cetera).

I made an appointment with my PCP doctor who (as per his consult with an endocrinologist) started me on the dexamethasone again.  This time we used 7 weeks to taper down to 1mg every other day and the n stopping.

After 2 days of no dexamethasone the Cushing's came back.  It has been over a week since my last dose and I am still having multiple issues (random bruising, random cuts (the skin actually shrinks and causes the upper dermal level to rupture, severe acne, the moon face, swollen eyes, et cetera).

Has anyone else had this experience?   I don't want to go back on the dexamethasone again.  I'm a bit concerned at how long the effects of both the cluster AND the medication have lasted.

Any hints, suggestions, prayers?

Those steriods have awful side effects.  They always faded for me after time though. I dont understand why your doc would give you the pain meds though.  they usually wont help CH,  and have you tried plain old o2? 
     Stay away from the pain meds, and sometimes the side effects of the treatments are too much to handle.  I had the same probs with the steriods, but they slowly faded.

good luck, and get your hands on some O2!
Christine