Hi all. I just discovered this forum. I am a 62 year old male. I've had cluster headaches for over 10 years. I think they followed a typical pattern in that they would last 1-2 weeks and then go away for a while until they returned again. After the first 4-5 years, I discovered O2 which was great. Generally did a good job of vanquishing the headache. Unfortunately, I started a cluster about 6 weeks ago which is still present. I've never had one last longer than 2-3 weeks. I was traveling a bunch and managed to get O2 on the road which worked. When I got home, the O2 stopped working. Red wine seems to be a big trigger. Since i figured that out, I've only had white, which has generally been ok. Tested some red about a week ago and got a bad headache. In researching this morning, I discovered that red wine is higher than white in histimines. So, thought some of this might be histimine related. Anyone had any luck with antihistimines? Any thoughts on this cluster lasting so long? Any thoughts on stuff to take to keep the cluster at bay or stop this cluster? Thanks. any thoughts appreciated.   

Welcome to ClusterVille,
Drinking alcohol while in cycle is a common trigger. Most knowledgeable CH'ers avoid drinking alcohol while in cycle. Everybody is unique in terms of triggers, length of cycle, frequency of attacks, which meds work and which don't, etc., etc.

Just about everybody in this site has been where you are and we understand your pain and frustrations. You are not alone!

Suggest you stick around and do some reading. Everything you need to know about this disease is located on this website in current reading threads and in old archives dating back to turn of the millennium.

Hopefully you have a good headache specialist that can help you with a game plan to control the beast.

Suggest directing you to the entire left side of your computer screen with all of the many tabs, yellow specifically includes the O2 tab which should help you figure out what worked for you in the past and how it can benefit you today.

Additional recommend reading include the "123" thread about the anti-inflammatory vitamin regimen that has proven very helpful to lots of CH'ers.

Feel free to ask lots of questions, vent as needed, and ideally read and learn as much as your mind will comprehend to become a self advocate working together as a team with your headache specialist.

PF Wishes

-Gregg

Thanks Gregg. Intend to do some reading. Steve

Hi and welcome

For O2, read our oxygen page (clusterheadaches.com/o2.html) which has some great info about how to maximise how effective O2 can be.

Alcohol is strange with CH, for most any when in cycle can trigger a CH rapidly, but there are a few of us that it doesn't affect and for others some types do, others don't. So if in doubt, especially for a very short cycle, I'd just skip it.

With preventives, most take a week or so to take effect, so with your short cycle most won't be practical, but do look at the vitamin D3 approach which works well (80+% including me) which you can take all year around.

Otherwise ask your doctor about using a prednisione taper which can work quickly and cover about 10 days (don't go too much longer or the side effects include joint damage).

Have you got sumatriptan (Imitrex / Imigran) injections / nasal spray? This can work to kill off a CH rapidly too (where O2 isn't practical).

For the questions around histamines, there may be a link. Using the D3 approach what can often help is using a first generation antihistamine (so it crossed the blood brain barrier). Read up about D3 via START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE.

Keep reading and ask any questions, we all know CH at first hand (or support someone with it).

Thanks. On my way home today, I stopped and got Benadryl (as had read about blood brain barrier this afternoon on this site) and fish oil, D3, and magnesium. As I said earlier, the O2 had been working until recently. so, not getting relief has motivated me to search for some answers. This site appears to be a great resource. Just knowing there are things to try and do is helpful. Need to get some nasal Imitrex for traveling. Which I do often. Not always convenient to get an O2 tank. Has anyone tried the oral Imitrex? Is nasal the way to go? Thanks for the help. Steve

The oral Imitrex is very good for some types of headaches because it lasts so long but the problem for us ClusterHeads is that it can be a bit slow to start  -  commonly half an hour or more  -  which is why the injectable and nasal jobs are considered to be much better. 

Equally, some people have had a bit of success using small amounts of the pills twice daily as a preventive.  Just means they can't use an injection or spray later if things get out of control.

All of this, of course, must first be discussed with your doctor and only used with proper medical oversight.

Another little trick you might consider, silly as it sounds, is a Red Bull-type energy drink chuggalugged straight down at the first hint of a hit. Seems the caffiene/taurine mix can really take the edge off what we all know is coming.  I reckon they taste terrible but, hey, any storm in a port.