Hi all, I've never had a headache in my life since until 2010 (30 years old).  Since then I've been in and out of the ER, took about a year to see a neurologist.  First it was classic migraine diagnosis then a year later it became cluster migraines.  The pain is always on my right side behind my eye and in the temple area and the pain will radiate sometimes to my jaw, up the side of my head.  They usually start around 3am and it usually starts off once a day then I get more and more everyday until it stops.  Usually lasting 2 weeks and then remission for a month or more.  I have one right now and it's awful, every second feels like an hour.  I want to put my head in a vice or drill a hole in my head and get whatever is in there making the pain out.  I usually feel unusually tired/sick right before a cluster attack starts and exhausted sometimes hungry when it goes away.  I'm not sensitive to light and sound everytime and half the time I will get a visual distortion, I'll hear things, smell things and this time I taste metal in my mouth for the past week since it started.  I'm looking for answers, your experiences and here to support. 

I recently got oxygen treatment, it worked instantly and after a half hour it stopped working, on and off again with the result of not effective.

Then we just tried generic imatrex, it worked the first day, headache free for 24 hours with horrible side effects, next day I had 2 headaches took 1 pill headache came back the following morning.  Took 1 more pill and it got rid of the headache until the next day.  I had to stop the imatrex because I had a very bad reaction after the 3rd day.  I lost movement of the left side of my body as I woke up from a sleep, regained movement after 15 minutes.  I had stomach pain and nausea for days after, I didn't do anything but sleep and rest because I became very dizzy sitting up or standing.  I also had severe bleeding when I went to the bathroom.  Here I am a week later and I'm much better but still suffering from the headaches. 

If you never tried imitrex before, be careful.  I wish people would tell me that before I took it.

So I'm now looking into other ways to deal with the headaches.  Lot's of talk lately about canabis and how it is good for migraine headaches.  I'm aiming to try that next, it can't be any worse than imitrex.

What are you taking for your CHs? Have you got a preventive, something like verapamil or lithium, that should cut down how many CHs you get? Have you got an abortive for when you get a CH to kill it off? Something like oxygen or imitrex injections?

You've mentioned in several posts about using narcotic pain killers. This is normally not a great option as they don't really touch the pain of a CH, take a while to take effect, can result in additiction issues and don't kill the CH itself.

Tell us more about your CH and we might be able to suggest things to help you.

In the meantime keep reading and you'll learn so much.

It took me 25 years to get diagnosed. Spent all the time searching for answers!

One of the most informative tools on this site is the survey, which you can access on the left ("cluster survey"). You'll see the responses which show the meds that work best, starting with oxygen and including imitrex and several others.

In 2008 my CH escalated and I was put on verapamil. Verapamil is primarily a blood pressure drug, has been around a long time, and has a low side effect profile. It's a good starting point for treatment.

The important part is learning about yourself and the disease and working with your neurologist.

I'm surprised you posted while having a CH. I never could.

Someone PM'd me about vitamin D3 and I gave that a try, it actually seems to work!  Going on 24 hours mostly headache free.  I'm working with my doc, we might try verapamil again if they call me back?!!