Greetings and salutations everyone!  I cannot begin to express how thankful I am for finding this site if for no other reason that I now know I am not alone!  I'll give you the campbell's soup version of my story:

Started to get what I termed "My Headaches" in 1988.  Diagnosed with chronic sinus infections and chewed Sudafed (to no avail) like they were tic tacs.  Nowadays, I'd be accused of running a meth lab if I bought that much Sudafed.

Saw doc after doc, cat scan, mri, nothing...and then they would disappear.....until next spring/fall

Saw a nutritionist in my early 20's who said i had cluster headaches.  I thought he was nuts and ignored him.  No internet around then, so no way to research on my own. Went into remission for a few years.

They came back in my early 30's.  Found a certain allergy med that worked.  Only med to ever work.  Can't remember the name of it though because they went into remission in 2005.

About 2 weeks ago I woke up out of a dead sleep with that old familiar pain.  I didn't want to admit it.  I have been in denial.  I popped a few advil, chalked it up to stress, changing weather, and toughed it out, finally fell back to sleep.  Has happened a few time since, but going on 3 days in a row now.  Finally decided to google "cluster headaches" to see if that nutrionist from 18+ years ago was onto something....and that led me here.

It is comforting to know so much now, to see that I am not crazy, not imagining things.  Great advice all around in here, I am not currently under a doctor's care for them, they aren't as intense as they have been in the past.  I am reluctant to start any regular medicine as I am trying to rid my body of that kind of stuff, stick with all natural remedies.  I haven't had the chance to read through a lot of the site yet, so I will hold off on any questions until I do.  Just wanted to say "Hi!" and give a sincere "thank you" to those of you who make this place possible.

Jeff

Hi Jeff,
Welcome to our dysfunctional little family... ;)

I would recommend finding a good Neurologist and be definitively diagnosed. You should rule out possible other causes. Finding a Neuro with CH experience is most helpful, hard to do sometimes but very helpful.

Read... Read... Read... ask questions and repeat.

Great information here, and better forum members. I've been suffering for the worst part of 20 years. You are amongst friends.

Look to the menu to the left of the page and familiarize yourself with the wealth of information available.

Others will come along shortly and offer help and advise. I have truly learned how to deal with the Beast because of this site... or deal as best we can.

High flow Oxygen has been a God send to me and many others as a front line abort. I suggest reading up on it if you've not tried it.

All the best,

Baer

Hey  Jeff,

If you do go to neuro, pretty much the only good one is  going to be a headache specialist. Going to a garden variety neuro is very risky because they tend to be clueless and do harm to patients.

As Jeff mentioned, high flow 100% O2 as outlined in the  oxygen info tab at the left of this page is a real game changer!

These preventatives can be too IMO:

The vitamin D3 regimen - START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE

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