I am 62 years old and have suffered with chronic cluster headaches since the age of 22. I have tried so many meds and treatments it is impossible to count them. 8 months ago a GP gave me a perscription for oxycodone/acetaminophen 10-325mg tb, I take 1/2 a pill 3 times daily. the miricale after all these years is that my clusters are almost gone completly. I still get a shadow now and then and take an extra 1/2 pill in 15 mins. the shadow is gone. This sounds awful simple but for the first time in fourty years I can sleep through the night and don't have to pace,scream,pull my hair out or any of the awful things we go through. If you have not tried this please do. If it helps one other person it would be a wonderful thing!

G'day Glennb, and welcome. Good to hear that you're getting some relief after forty years of hell and this is the second time in ten years we've heard good results about oxycodone.

The hundreds and hundreds of other stories have been about the misery of addiction, rebound headaches, loss of control, severe psychological problems and the horrors of withdrawal.

You are far from alone in enjoying short term relief from this beast, but we beg you consider other alternatives.

Given the marvels of modern science there's many honest options and we'll happily show you every one of them, leaving you perfectly free to make your decisions about how to attack the monster we all hate so much.

Great to have you aboard, old mate, and we look forward to hearing from you some more.

Cheers and beers,

Brian down under.

Two indications that you may not be dealing with Cluster are: pain meds work; when using the standard Cluster treatments they either don't work or work for a short time and then stop being effective.

See,
Link to: cluster-LIKE headache.

Section, "Medications, Treatments, Therapies --> "Important Topics" --> "Cluster-LIKE headache"

i appreciate the time you took to reply. but for 40 years  i have fought clusters. they are on the right side of my head. they come quickly and last for about 45 mins to an hour. the pain is unreal and i need to move around. I HAVE BEEN ON THIS SITE YEARS AGO. I know what clusters are and trust me I wish I did have something else. Over the years I have seen some treatments that have helped some people but did not work for me. we all react different to different things.

Your reply suggests that you have missed the point of m comments: You can have all the classic symptoms of Cluster BUT not have Cluster headache.

Sort the wheat from the chaff is essential.

It is also possible that whilst you've tried lots of different medications for CH you have either not been prescribed a high enough dose or been given long enough for the dose to become effective.

When nothing seems to work it is worth exploring all possibilities to see what can cause relief.