Also you will need to avoid triggers,,, for me triggers are Pepper, MSG, Alchohol, any form of barbiturate, peanuts, aged cheeses including sour cream to name the main ones.

Hi There, I've posted this on the message board but just in case you've missed it, here it is again. I suffer from cluster headaches, or rather, I did until I luckily consulted a Doctor who was himself a sufferer. He prescribed Pizotifen malate, which has the trade name Sanomigran. Although I still have the episodes every 3 years lasting about 10 weeks, the pain is reduced to almost nothing. It's prescription only, but widely available. I hope it works for you too.
                                                                            Kennie

Hi  my father suffered from clusters but what helped him was imitrex but he took like 9 pills a day that was like 10 years ago and knock on wood he has not suffered since i know now you proly cant get that much at one time but maybe a doctor could get you a prescription

sorry hope i helped in some way

I huff oxygen and in five minutes it's done. no dickin around needed.

           Potter

I suffer more than 30 years. The key is to realise that the pain is caused from the enormus stress, that we dont even understand that we have. So the brain inside us feels that he is in danger and works like a car running to the limit of his speed without stopping. It's the blood that runs in our vains in maximum speed.
So put your head into the shower and let cool water to run at your head, at the suffering area, for at least 10 minutes.
that's all.

Hi I'm new to this I have only had clusters for the past 2 year's and they are  I get them two or three times in the year and they last 4 to 5 weeks at a time. I do not see a Doc of any kind for them any more I spent 4 weeks in the hospital still paying for it and when sent home was no better off. They put me on dopeamax cost $300.00 a month with ins. I quit taking it after 2 months it did not help it just made me stupid.
Now when I get them I just use a heating pad around my neck and head that helps a little but the pain god the pain it will put me down for 4 weeks at a time I can't eat I can't do any thing. This last time the pain was so bad and it was all day every day for 4 weeks that my body was so sore I could not even touch my hair. There was a nurse when I was in the hospital that gave me heat and told me to try and rest that was easy with all the good drugs. But this time I had to do it with out any thing lucky me the pain became so bad that my body or mind just shut down.
They only thing that helps me is the heating pad my soft blanket, no sound, no light of any kind or I will go through the roof and go nuts. I do my best to sleep when I can even if it's a few min. the more I can try and relax and rest the better off I am. The more I fight it ie walking, hitting my head just compounds the problem for me and besides it scares the crap out of my husband. I'm thankful I found this site because most people don't understand what clusters do to a person unless they have seen the pain one go's through with it. I am lucky because I have a friend that has seen me in pain and how I grab he walls and hold my head and yell out in pain. When my husband can't be with me because he has to work my friend will come and baby sit me just to make sure I don't hurt my self like banging my head on the wall or something. My Doc will give me something to help me sleep when I have the clusters it helps some for a little rest. I like reading these post and will check in to some of the things I read. I just got over an attack and I know another one is on its way I feel the stabbing pains and the sick feeling coming on. And  I do think stress is the trigger for me.

New to the site and LOVING it. 

15 yrs of CH and never met anyone, including my docs that understood it.  I think I can manage my CH without meds, though I hit KIP10 frequently but I'm episodic about 3 times a year. 
My tricks are varied but the one I go to most often are chewing two asprin and packing them into my upper jaw to cover that pain, (as bad as my eye), and keeping two baseball caps soaked in water in the freezer at all times.
When it comes, I don my 50 mission cap and try to think of my biggest problem at the moment and try to solve it as the pain washes over me.
Can't say I've ever solved any problems, but it keeps me from pulling out my hair.
I'm experimenting with massive doses of vitamin/mineral supplements at the moment.  Will let you know how that works out.
My attacks are at 7:30PM, sometimes again at 10:30, almost never in REM.  REM Shadows wake me a few times and a cold compress on the temple and cheek seems to keep him at bay.
Hope this helps.

hi,
i am 35 and have suffering from CH for past 12 years. subcutaneous sumatriptan works best for me but off late i have noticed that these attacks rebound with more intensity after using sumatriptan... i have had 3 attacks per day for past few days and unable to break the cycle.. if attacks are mild compressing the superficial artery in the temple reduces the intensity  of pain....

Hi, I've suffered Cluster Headaches for around 13 years now. They come once a year during Spring and last about a week. I feel bruised for another week and then they are gone until next year. I get them about three or four times a day, worse at night and early morning. I've tried just about everything to get rid of them including the more exotic remedies. This year on day two I decided to try something I previously thought might make them worse. Cannabis. I know that its illegal but frankly I would have tried the dried and powdered teeth of an endangered white mountain lion if I thought it would do any good. Anyhow, I woke with a very bad headache that I knew was about to get unbearable within 10 minutes. I dont know why, but I decided to try eating just a tiny bit of cannabis resin. I chewed thoroughly and swallowed with water before lying down to see what happened. Within 10 minutes my headache started to ease. Withing 20 minutes I was able to get out of bed. And half and hour later my headache was just a vague shadow. I was okay until later that evening when it started to return. I administered the same treatment and got the same results. The following morning my headache was less intense than expected (perhaps thanks to a decent nights sleep) but again, I eat a small amount of cannabis resin and settled back to see if my previous results had been a fluke. Sure enough, I was out of bed and happy as a pig in mud for the rest of the day. And even better, that was the last of my headaches this time. After only two days! It seems that I broke the cycle and Im a very happy chappie let me tell you. The amount ingested was just a tiny bite (less than quarter of the amount you might use in a joint). Okay, I felt just a little stoned for an hour afterwards but no other side effects. I cant promise this is going to work for you guys but I did some research shortly after this years episode and found that it has worked for someone else too. Anyway, I'd just like to say that I feel for each and every one of you. Good luck, Paul.

I am taking Tramadol HCL 50 mg. It has not prevented them all night but can get me to early in the morning if I take one when I go to bed it seems to lessen the severity but the pain still wakes me up after a few hours. Then when  I take another after the pain wakes me up it seems to provide faster relief and the pain was not as severe. So far it has been a godsend! Tonight I forgot to take one and so I am up. I will not make that mistake again. I am going to ask for Oxygen tomorrow to see if that along with the Tramadol will work even better together. I also spend a lot of time walking around outside when the pain hits and that seems to help as well. I guess I have been lucky. I am 58 Y.O. and this is my second bout with these. First time I did not know what was going on and at least I am learning how to recognize and learn from the episodes. I have broken my back, had skydiving, motorcycle and about every other kind of bodily injury possible including two major heart attacks and NOTHING compares to this pain! I wish these on no one. They are a curse! Hope this helps.

I read that someone could not afford oxygen, well they might want to try an oxygen tank for welding. It is much cheaper and the contents I was told are the exact same gas, it's the cleanliness of the tank that is the issue. When I have run out of the small bottle that I keep in my car I am fortunate to work at a facility with welding oxygen and just take deep shots straight from the valve than shut it off, exhale than open the valve and inhale. I repeat this for about 2 minutes and off I go. No one is any the wiser and I can go back on the floor like nothing happened.

I can not imagine suffering these without relief. I had a severely fractured vertebrae in my back and dealt with that as well as skydiving accidents, two heart attacks and this is orders of magnitude worse. Here is what I do. Someone said antihistamines and they do seem to help but take them starting well before the expected attack. If you feel an attack coming on after taking the antihistamines WALK fast as you can long as you can. That seemed to help also. I have been to the ER  for O2 three times in two weeks after hours of constant pain. The O2 definitely provided quick relief. I am convinced taking Hydrocodone and Tramadol after the pain started just made it last longer. Finally what seemed to finally end the cycle was a prescription for Amitriptyline 50 mg every evening at the same time. There may be other calcium channel blockers that also work but it is what I take. I had to ask my dr. to prescribe these by the way. Cluster Headaches are so rare I do not believe DR's are up to speed on them always so don't be shy! Anyway so far pain free but seem to have residual headaches that would bother me as to what was causing them but I had a CT scan that was clear. Hope this helps.

Jan wrote on Jun 15^th, 2010 at 11:37am:

Not a cure. A treatment.