Unless you have had a CH you don't really totally know what it feels like.  I compare it to having to walk around and be able to function normally with a long, very sharp No. 2 pencil stuck in your eye. That's exactly how it feels to me. If ppl could actually see the pencil stuck in your eye they would have a lot more sympathy. Even doctors would fight harder to help you, they certainly wouldn't let you leave there office like that. I also have other traits that go along with "the pencil" in my right eye but the pencil is the worst.

My right nostril becomes very stuffy, I have a lot of pressure in my right ear (as if I have water in it), right temple hurts..mainly pressure, the right side of the top of my head hurts...mainly pressure. But the sharp stabbing pain in and behind my right eye is enough to make me seriously consider suicide. 

I just can't take it anymore...I'm in pain and no one should be expected to live like this. 

My husband doesn't understand..he says.."It's just a headache get over it".  I have no support from anyone.

Imitrex has been then only thing to help and it doesn't even work for me anymore.

I'm in the lowest spot I've ever been and desparate for help. I live in Raleigh, NC and have some really good Drs in my area (with Duke) but no one can seem to help me get ride of this unbearable pain.

You'll get plenty of support here at CH.com...  We know what you're going through...  and it doesn't need to be that way. 

There are several treatments and combinations of treatments that will give you back a good quality of life.

However, we're not clairvoyant, so you'll need to tell us a bit more about your cluster headaches and what other medications you've tried to control them.

If you want the clue bird to do a low pass on your husband about what it means to have a cluster headache... show him the video of Chuck Setzco, a.k.a. "ClusterChuck" having an attack at the following link. 

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I would like to point out that oxygen therapy at flow rates that support hyperventilation is very effective at aborting a cluster headache if used early and properly at the onset of an attack.

Unfortunately in this video of Chuck's attack, the oxygen flow rate Chuck was using was far too low and the reservoir bag on the mask was too small.
That made it impossible for Chuck to ventilate his lungs with sufficient volumes of oxygen to obtain a rapid abort of his cluster headache.

The low flow rate and small reservoir bag on the non-rebreathing mask may have been giving Chuck sufficient oxygen, but as the volume of lung ventilation was constrained, he was unable to cast off sufficient CO2.  The longer he used this mask, the higher his blood CO2 levels climbed.  That extended the time required to achieve an abort and likely allowed the pain to climb higher than necessary.

Take care and please keep us posted.

V/R, Batch

1967ssf,

Believe me we feel your pain. I know the pencil in the eye...I also have a pencil in my R nasal sinus too. The pain in the nose and eye is unbearable to me. I can almost take the head pain...but when its nose/eye/head at the same time I would rather die.

I am new here too and suggest you keep reading and posting. Are your headaches chronic? What have you tried to stop them? There are some great people on here who will help you as best they can...but we need to know more about you! Good luck and keep reading!

Good/bad news.....no one here will you it's just a headache because we all "get it." I'm sorry your supporter isn't much of a supporter. If not for my patient, loving wife of almost 30 years I don't know if I could have managed my CH. :'( Lovingly suggest your supporter  join the board and hang out in the supporters section. A supporters life isn't all that easy either, the helpless feeling of watching your loved one suffer from something you don't understand and simply can't relate to.

Read this link:

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It's everything you ever wanted to know about aborting your attacks in 6-8 minutes. NOTHING has changed my view of the beast like oxygen. It's really given me the upper hand on the beast.

Go to the medications sectiuon and read the post "123 pain free days and I think I know why." A daily vitamin//anti inflammatory regimen, all otc stuff, cheap, and even without CH it's good for you! ;) Giving a lot of people some pain free time.

We're damned glad you found us, I hope we can help ease the pain a bit.

Joe