well hello there. Im Amber and im a 30 yo female. my first episode hit about 5 yr ago after a horrible crash my family and i endured. For all these years i chalked it up to ear infection and sinus pressure and every other thing you could think of. Spend many hours in the hospital being told "its not a headache" if its not a headache why does my head feel like its going to explode through my ear and eyeball and teeth. I never know your teeth just fill with dry ice whenever it fells like it. I have spend countless hours with my head on the floor in front of a space heater with but in air screaming in pain. Changing diapers became the most scary thing ever. Well i fortunantly got a job where my boss sent me home during a mild attack and told me i had to go to the dr to find out what was going on. So to keep my job i followed and went to er. Finally someone a very rude dr told me i have cluster headaches. WTF are those? i was so lost. now i know more than i ever wanted to know about this stuff. However the new issue. i make to much money to get government assisted medicaid and dont make enough to afford the other insurance that is nice enough to take me since i now have a prediagnosed condition. Home remedies are my favs. I smoke pot to help. eat excedrine migraine like its candy. I cant even taste bc powder anymore. I need some relief. omg. ok gotta go dance with this beast for a few minutes. have a wonderful day. hope everyone is having a decent day

Hey Amber,

Welcome to CH.com.  You've come to the right place.  We know what you're going through and the good news is it doesn't need to be that way.

You need to get with your neurologist or PCP and ask for home oxygen therapy at a flow rate of 12 to 25 liters/minute with a non-rebreathing mask as an abortive for your cluster headache.  It will work far better and faster than the NSAIDs and BC powder you're presently taking.

The Standards of Care recommended preventatives for cluster headache include a prednisone taper as a transitional preventative while titrating up on verapamil, the leading CH preventative.  These are the text book solutions so if your neurologist prescribes anything different hand him or her a printed copy of the following link:

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I've also sent you a PM you'll need to discuss with your PCP or neurologist.

Take care and please keep us posted.

V/R, Batch

Thank you for your reply. I dont have a pcp or neurologist. I can not afford one. So im a little stuck just suffering. But i will take any advice you got