I've had clusters for 16 years (I'm now 30). Now I'm pregnant and don't want to take any medications for fear of harming my baby, but I cannot function as a person while I'm having a HA. Anyone ever been in this situation? Any ideas?

Headache. 2009 Jan;49(1):136-9.
Cluster headache during pregnancy: case report and literature review.

Giraud P, Chauvet S.

Centre hospitalier d'Annecy, Service de Neurologie, Metz-Tessy, France.

A 32-year-old pregnant woman presented with cluster headache (CH) during the third trimester of a normal pregnancy. Pure oxygen mask inhalation was ineffective, and intranasal lidocaine applications were realized associated with oral methylprednisolone, given at 1 mg per kg once daily. These treatments rendered the pain tolerable and the pregnancy went to its term with no consequence on the baby. This case of CH attack during pregnancy raises the issues of the influence of sexual hormonal changes in women with CH and the way to treat this disease in such circumstance. To date, there are no therapeutic guidelines available; this case suggests some possibilities.

PMID: 19125883 [PubMed
=================

I have two longer articles which I can send via e-mail. They are PDF files, so you need a reader. If you want them send me your e-mail address via PM.
======
======
After posting this stuff, did some more digging and found:


Cephalalgia. 2009 Jan 19. [Epub ahead of print]
Treatment of cluster headache in pregnancy and lactation.

Jüergens TP, Schaefer C, May A.

Department of Neurology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany.

Jüergens TP, Schaefer C & May A. Treatment of cluster headache in pregnancy and lactation. Cephalalgia 2009. London. ISSN 0333-1024Cluster headache is a rare disorder in women, but has a serious impact on the affected woman's life, especially on family planning. Women with cluster headache who are pregnant need special support, including the expertise of an experienced headache centre, an experienced gynaecologist and possibly a teratology information centre. The patient should be seen through all stages of the pregnancy. A detailed briefing about the risks and safety of various treatment options is mandatory. In general, both the number of medications and the dosage should be kept as low as possible. Preferred treatments include oxygen, subcutaneous or intranasal sumatriptan for acute pain and verapamil and prednisone/prednisolone as preventatives. If there is a compelling reason to treat the patient with another preventative, gabapentin is the drug of choice. While breastfeeding, oxygen, sumatriptan and lidocaine for acute pain and prednisone/prednisolone, verapamil, and lithium as preventatives are the drugs of choice. As the individual pharmacokinetics differ substantially, adverse drug effects should be considered if unexplained symptoms occur in the newborn.

PMID: 19170693

Talk with your obstetric team.
Some drugs you can take after 12/40 some not after certain points.
I think O2 should be fairly safe unless your pregnancy is complicated but ask.
When I was pregnant my headaches were a lot less painful and whilst I still had migriane I did not have CH during- after now that was a differant story. ;D

I really hope pregnancy does not cause you any headachey problems.
[and if you DO get bad headaches suddenly start do not assume they must be CH get checked out by a doc]

I was fortunate that I did not have a cycle while pregnant, but from what I've observed here over the past 8 years, is the women who HAVE gotten attacks while pregnant were able to abort using Oxygen.  From what I've gathered it is very safe to use while pregnant.

Make sure you try to get your Neuro (if you have one) and OB to work together on a regiment that is right for you and your baby.

Take care and congrats!
mel

Hello,

     Im sorry to hear of the current cycle, But i must say I dont know how you do it. Im 40 and in decent shape and dealing with a cluster turns me into a crying baby myself, Let alone being pregent and getting a cluster. Im out of cycle right now and i only said this a few times, but if i could i would take a hit or two for you.

                                  Hang in there, Coach Bill


                                     

Honestly, I'm not doing it; I'm having loads trouble with this cluster since I'm pregnant. I haven't been to work all week, and I can hardly eat for the residual headache I have in between attacks and I can't sleep for more than a few hours at a time. I'm at my wit's end, and I'm not sure what to do. I've had sphenopalatine ganglion blocks before, and they seemed to help, but the MD who performed these does not like to do them on pregnant women (although lidocaine seems safe during pregnancy). I'm waiting to hear if he will treat me or not, but don't know what to do with myself until then.
I wanted to thank y'all for your responses and kind words; it's nice to know there are people out there who don't think this is some made-up illness.

Talk with your OB and Neurologist (a telephone conference call between all three of you would be great) about oxygen therapy.  It works well to abort your attacks if used properly.  I has no real side effects that would complicate pregnancy and it is the most cost effective abortive you can take.

The rest of the preventative and abortive medications are invasive enough for adults...  I know of two prominent neurologists who treat cluster headache sufferers on a daily basis that will not prescribe anything but oxygen therapy to pregnant cluster headache sufferers.

Take care,

V/R, Batch