Since the doc has put you on the 60-days, no meds, period, I doubt that the ER staff could give you anything more effective than the oxygen.

While waiting for the doc's next step, start learning. The buttons (left) will take you to many links with good material, especially the OUCH site.

Here are two links for the most current therapies:

HERE ARE TWO MAJOR DOCUMENTS WITH RECOMMENDED TREATMENTS FOR CLUSTER HEADACHE, ONE FROM A U.S. PHYSICIAN, THE SECOND FROM EUROPE.
_________________________________________
Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or
Here is a link to read and print and take to your doctor.  It describes preventive, transitional, abortive and surgical treatments for CH. Written by one of the better headache docs in the U.S.  (2002. Rozen)
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Treatment guidelines from Europe

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A. May, M. Leone, J. Áfra, M. Linde, P. S. Sándor, S. Evers, P. J. Goadsby:
EFNS guidelines on the treatment of cluster headache and other
trigeminalautonomic cephalalgias.
European Journal of Neurology. 2006; 13: 1066–1077.

Download free full text:
Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or
(Thanks to "cluster" for link.)
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Two excellent books:

MANAGEMENT OF HEADACHE AND HEADACHE MEDICATIONS, 2nd ed. Lawrence D. Robbins, M.D.; pub. by Springer. $50 at Amazon.Com.  It covers all types of headache and is primarily focused on medications. While the two chapters on CH total 42-pages, the actual relevant material is longer because of multiple references to material in chapters on migraine, reflecting the overlap in drugs used to treat. I'd suggest reading the chapters on migraine for three reasons: he makes references to CH & medications which are not in the index; there are "clinical pearls" about how to approach the treatment of headache; and, you gain better perspective on the nature of headache, in general, and the complexities of treatment (which need to be considered when we create expectations about what is possible). Finally, women will appreciate & benefit from his running information on hormones/menstrual cycles as they affect headache. Chapter on headache following head trauma, also. Obviously, I'm impressed with Robbins' work (even if the book needs the touch of a good editor!) (Somewhat longer review/content statement at 3/22/00, "Good book....")

HEADACHE HELP, Revised edition, 2000; Lawrence Robbins, M.D., Houghton Mifflin, $15. Written for a nonprofessional audience, it contains almost all the material in the preceding volume but it's much easier reading. Highly recommended.

Hi Sophia and welcome to your new home. You are not alone anymore with your pain. Good to hear you are using o2 as an abort but you did not mention anything about a preventative med. I take Verapamil as many here also take as a prevent but talk to your Doc about what might work for you.

Read all the info to your left and hope you find something that helps you deal with this beast.

This family is the best and now we are one more stronger in fighting this monster.

   Barry

Welcome Sophia, horrible  to know you are in such great pain, but consider this the best place to be when you are. I only recently found it as well, but happy I did, given the circumstances.
Here you can ask anything and the folks will have answers and advice immediately, and read all you can to educate yourself.

Kom tilbage snart igen, du er gennem venner!

Sophie, hang in there. All of us here know what you are going through. Keep searching for the energy drinks, as Red Bull works well for some here. I was taking Verapamil during my last cycle so I was advised not to take an energy dring while taking that med.

As for the smaller, portable tank of o2 I have one in my car at all times and one at work. The smaller "E" tanks are about 2 feet tall and easy to move around. I keep my larger tank at home, so I have o2 within my sight at all times.

Here are some PF wishes for you and hope you catch a break soon. Please keep us informed on how you are doing.

  Barry

maalstroom wrote on Jun 8^th, 2008 at 3:19am:


Hey Sophia, when I wrote that, I didn't realize you weren't a native Dane. Anyway what I said was: Come back soon again, you are amongst friends.
But I see you already know that!
Greetings from the Netherlands to beautiful Denmark! 

Alright now, enough with the danish yall! It makes me suspicious!LOL! Anyway, welcome Sophia. I think everyone here has thought about the roof at least 100 times, but Im thinking this site might be a life saver. Hey Barry- what size O2 bottle do you have at home? Did it come off a cuttin torch? I didnt know they offered anything bigger than the 2 foot bottles.

Hi Sophie, sure glad you found this site.  It's awful that you had to though.  I'm kind of a newbie and I know you'll get lots of advice from the site veterans - but you asked about how others cope.

It's not easy but I try to keep thinking things like "at least I can have these headaches and not require a wheelchair", or "at least I have the arms and hands to bang on my head".  You know, the "it could be worse" logic.  I even manage a smile when I think of the "Simpson's Movie" when Bart say's something like "I had the WORST day of my life", and Homer (his dad) says, "So far."

Keep in mind also that the pain does go away.  I've never had one last longer than an hour (Thank God and Knock On Wood).  That knowledge alone helps get me through.

That's about it (along with the rocking, pacing and other distracting actions).  I'm as curious as you are as to people's coping mechanisms.

Wishing you all the best and many PF days.....Brett

P.S. I hope I didn't offend anyone physically challenged as I described above.  I'm sorry if I did.

Hi Sophia,

I'm new to this board as well, however, I've been dealing with these headaches for close to 10 years.  I understand the pain your going through.  I have been on my hands and knees dragging my head across the floor, bangging my head, etc.  When the headaches are at their worst, it seems as though your going to die just from the pain alone.  I have never vomited from one, but during some of the worst episodes I have felt slight nausea.  Meditation is good, it has worked for me at times.  Imagination is a good thing.  I have pictured a hole in my head and as I slowly exhale, picture the pain and pressure exiting through the hole.  I have even imagined the pain as a string of sorts, that I slowly pulled out of my head.  I have had some success with these techniques but usually before the headache reaches its climax.  I have also had some success with various forms of upper body stretching.  Try moving your head, back and arms in all sorts of varying positions.  Lie on the floor or bed and put your head, back and arms in all sorts of positions.  You are likely to find a position where the pain suddenly lessons.  Most important thing is not to hurt yourself but you want to create some tension.  If I do this in the early stages of a CH I can many times stop them from reaching "eye popping" magnitude.  We all have various pressure points in our head, neck and back.  Bending in just the right position has given me almost immediate relief at times.  Good luck and hang in there.

Melvyn

glad you have had success with melatonin.   I am confused by your post-  do you take melatonin as an abortive???  or at night to prevent night time hits?   If you take it as an abortive- does it really abort the HA?

Wishing you pf times-

kelly

thanks melvyn

I have used melatonin before actually.  My question was more related to using it as an abortive- I understand the use of melatonin in preventing night time hits. 

I guess i was confused when you said preventative and abortive- so i wasn't sure if you took it when you felt a hit coming on to stop the ha vs the daily night dose prior to prevent a night hit.  So i was wondering if you used melatonin as an abortive ( not as preventative) how long did it take to kick in to stop the HA from ramping up?

Have a good night!