Hello, Im a new member to this forum but I have been reading the posts for a while.  My husband suffers from Chronic cluster headaches and we are now going into his 6th month without a break. They seem to be getting worse, lasting longer and becoming more painful if that's even possible. He's not coping anymore. He's close to losing his job because his boss sends him home every time he has an attack and he has up to 10 attacks a day. (Apparently it's bad for business for him to be sat there with his head in his hands!!) He has sumitriptan injections for the pain but can only take 2 of these a day and recently they are just dulling the pain for a short time before the pain comes back just as bad.  I'm at the end of my tether. We have 2 small children who are growing up seeing daddy in agony, he is snapping at us all constantly because he is in so much pain and although I know it's not his fault I can't help but feel like I'm being a bad mother for keeping my children in this environment. I know that when the pain goes away I have my real husband back but I spend that time worrying about when the headaches will start again, how long they will last for, how we will cope financially. Two years ago we lost our house due to him being unable to work and being refused benefits for his condition, it was 3 weeks before Christmas and we had to move into a homeless hostel with the children. I never want to be in that position again. I just need someone to tell me I'm doing the right thing and to know that someone has made it through to the other side. Thanks

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Sorry you are having such a rough go.
Please check out the link Potter provided.  It's #1 for fighting clusters.
Study everything you can on this site.
Ask questions on the message boards.
Get your husband here if you can.  These clusterheads are smart and they can help him and you too.

Hang in there the best you can.  It's hard as hell for sure.

Good luck, Sweetie
Jackie

Hi and welcome

As already mentioned, oxygen is great for aborting CHs. I can kill mine off in about 5 minutes using 25lpm and a non-rebreather mask, which is life changing as you can do it multiple times a day.

You didn't say anything about preventives. Has he got anything to try to prevent the CHs? Something like verapamil, lithium, topomax or similar?

He takes Verapamil, he has also been prescribed pizotifen and amitryptiline to help him sleep as his CH's are worse at night. The tablets haven't helped at all and ended up making him tachycardic. We asked his GP for oxygen therapy and have been refused. We have had to fight for his GP to prescribe the sumitriptan as the surgery would only issue enough for 3 days at a time :( I'm trying to get him on a clinical trial at the moment, thanks guys

Hi, and welcome.
Send a PM to Bob Jonson here at CH.COM. He will guide
you through how to get oxygen for hubby.

Hoppy.

Time to go to someone who has a better understanding of CH and it's treatment than your GP. Both pizotifen and amitryptiline can be used to prevent CH, although they are not the first choice treatments. For the verapamil, is the dose high enough? Most people with CH need 360-480mg a day, some going to over 1000mg, but since you've mentioned tachycadia then this might explain the use of the other two preventives.

Where in the world are you?