Hi everyone,

I think it was about 7-8 years ago (I was around 30) when for the first I had a terrible acute headache lasting for about an hour and strong like nothing I ever experienced before (apart from very short lasting stuff like hitting a nerve). At first I thought it was a tooth pain radiating upwards but going to the dentist I learned that it's probably a neurological problem. I started researching various types of headaches and to my terror found that CH fits the description most accurately apart from two points:

- I never experienced an actual full size cluster - it's more like two, at most four attacks spread around a week (most often at the beginning of spring) separated by a year or two of remission.
- The pain at its peak is very strong (I can't help crying a bit or moan from pain) however knowing that it will pass soon makes the torture much easier to cope with - I still imagine there must be worse kind of suffering when you have cancer or loose a limb and it lasts longer, so it doesn't fit the "worst imaginable" label to me but if it happened more often it probably could be. 

Of course reading the real sufferers' horror stories I really hope what I get is just some wicked kind of migraine but so many points are right (one side of head, location, teary eyes, the duration, agitation during the attack (I walk like mad around the house breathing very deeply), no painkillers work) that I fear it might be just a slow start of the real thing. I visited a GP doctor who told me my description fits the CH quite well but the timing is a bit strange indeed.

So my question is, is this how 'real' CH happen to manifest themselves or should I rather assume something less hardcore happening? Like I said, at the current rate the thing is so episodic that although it's extremely unpleasant it's overall still manageable but I'm scared like hell it could start to happen more often.

Best regards!

Don't worry about something that you diagnosed from the internet.

  If you're worried see a headache specialist.

                    Potter

Thanks, with all due respect I got the suggestion from two separate doctors AND internet :) I plan to visit a real headache specialist soon but waiting times for any specialists in my country are quite long and oftentimes you need to see a few doctors before finding a good one. Now it's Sunday anyway, this morning I had a second attack in two days and I'm trying to kill my time waiting for a specialist by asking for other people's experience, not a diagnosis.

I do sincerely hope it's not actually CH - that's sure. :-)

Hi Konrad and welcome,

Konrad wrote,  I never experienced an actual full size cluster - it's more like two, at most four attacks spread around a week (most often at the beginning of spring) separated by a year or two of remission.

Whilst your waiting to see a headache specialist, take the cluster quiz, to see if that spreads any light. The link is to your left on this page.

Cheers Hoppy

Hi and thanks, I'm looking for a recommended specialist in my area now.

As for the quiz, I have 7.5/8 "no" in the first half (I used to seek dark and quiet places but found out stuffing your head between two pillows in the dark is far worse than moving around, however I still avoid bright light) and 6/8 "yes" in the second half (no droopy eyelid and hard to say about runny nose, cause I have stuffed nose anyway at the moment and can't remember the other times but I get teary red eyes).

Anyway as I said, it's manageable now only because it happens so rarely and when it start's I now know it will probably be over in about 45 min (that helps enormously, I also fall asleep as soon as the pain disappears). Having it more often would be a total disaster and it's hard for me to even comprehend what other people here go through having similar or worse attacks a few times a day for weeks or months. English is not my first language, but I'd have no words anyway.

Konrad, I thought you might like to read this article until you get to see a headache specialist for a confirmed diagnosis.

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Cheers Hoppy

Konrad wrote on Mar 20^th, 2017 at 5:26am:

Hi and thanks, I'm looking for a recommended specialist in my area now. As for the quiz, I have 7.5/8 "no" in the first half (I used to seek dark and quiet places but found out stuffing your head between two pillows in the dark is far worse than moving around, however I still avoid bright light) and 6/8 "yes" in the second half (no droopy eyelid and hard to say about runny nose, cause I have stuffed nose anyway at the moment and can't remember the other times but I get teary red eyes). Anyway as I said, it's manageable now only because it happens so rarely and when it start's I now know it will probably be over in about 45 min (that helps enormously, I also fall asleep as soon as the pain disappears). Having it more often would be a total disaster and it's hard for me to even comprehend what other people here go through having similar or worse attacks a few times a day for weeks or months. English is not my first language, but I'd have no words anyway.

  Highly unlikely you have clusters.  Get on with your life and enjoy the ride.

                Potter

Konrad wrote on Mar 19^th, 2017 at 7:30pm:

...I'm trying to kill my time waiting for a specialist by asking for other people's experience, not a diagnosis.

Experience we've got by the bucket, Konrad, and while we'd never comment on the likelihood of it being CH or not, you're completely right in seeking a headache specialist to work out just what really is going on.

Every headache is a sign that not all is completely right and most problems are easily managed or fixed once you know just what is truly happening.

Good luck with your quest for answers and let us know when we can help in any way because all headaches are horrible and we really do care.

Full steam ahead and damn the torpedoes,

Brian down under.

A very good article, thank you for the link. Best wishes!