My brother asked maybe it wasn't just psychological.  I couldn't talk to him for quite a while without gritting my teeth. A friend has said 'yeah I get migraines too'.  The usual about laying in a dark room, quiet etc.  The sweetest is when ever I tell my 6 yr old son that 'mummy has a headache, he asks which side and gently rubs it, kisses it then holds my hand as I take my 02.

The all-time stupidest thing ever said to me about ch was before I was diagnosed correctly:

I had called AGAIN to the Kaiser Permanente help line sobbing because the pain from "a sinus infection" was so bad I needed HELP!!!
The nurse who answered told me to "EAT JALAPENOS" to open my sinuses!!!

i was told to have a glass of whisky singel malt and a joint of hashis
befor i knew about ch i did try that
boy was i wrong 

my mum god bless her told me to sleep it over
i love my mum but if could sleep i would sleep

I've brought this up before...

My pregnant ex-wife told me that I was psycho-somatic with the headaches and jealous of the attention she was getting because she was pregnant.

Ray

just a couple of many.
on the sleep side of things,our local chemist said"try a glass of warm milk before bed"
and a occupational health doctor said"yeah ive dealt with cluster headaches before................how do you spell that???(sumatriptan)

my two favorites:

Mom - "Just rock your head back and forth or take a hot shower."

Friend - "Try pinching the skin between your thumb and forefinger.  That helps."

And another classic

"Try acupuncture"
Yeah, when they can get the needle to go through the skull and mess around with the nerve cluster in the brain ... maybe that would work

But yeah, friends and love ones mean well, they just don't understand.

Here at seminary (for those who don't know, I'm studying to be a Catholic Priest) I told a friend that I received the Sacrament of Anointing and he told me that headaches are really grounds for the Sacrament.  I wanted to reach over and slap him silly!

One "cure" that I think does work is "Pray more."  It won't necessarily eliminate them entirely, but I must admit that my prayer life is the only thing that gives me the strength to continue to carry this cross!

God Love you!
Joe

Except for you folks, I mostly don't talk to anyone about them anymore.     No point.  They don't get it. 

I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing.  It's just a thing.  So if I show up in the morning after a bad night looking like I've been dragged backwards through a culvert, I just let them think whatever they think.  I may look bad, but most people have sense enough to leave me alone when I've got the afterburn going on.  As far as I'm concerned, my personal appearance after a nasty hit is nature's way of saying "don't touch".

Dopiest response?  I've mentioned this before, but it was the optometrist who told me the headaches were caused by eye strain.  He gave me a contraption to perform "eye exercises" with.  The exercises consisted of crossing ones eyes to merge two images into a single stereoscopic picture.  I got pretty good at it.  To this day, I can watch a 3D movie without the special glasses.

Needless to say, it didn't help.

Best,

George

So I was talking with someone today & they go "Any chance he might be possessed?" I said "Why,  yes, of course, that makes perfect sense." (and laughed uncontrollably when alone in the bathroom...)

   Here's a new one for me "we need to get your sleep under control" WTF how do you sleep when you get 2-5 ha's a night,  my wife even got mad at that one.

Hello,

Love these threads they do make me laugh!!!

Before i started on 02
Boss at work " It is because you have 2 monitors" after taking the 2nd monitor away and being struck "it must be the lights in the office" After changing the lights and still being struck he finally listened to me that it was neither the monitor nor the lights but hey the office benefitted from blue daylight bulbs!!

All i can say is that he was trying to help as smoe people do but what would help is that they listen to the person!!!!

Jackie wrote on Oct 10^th, 2008 at 7:38am:
As I do agree that neuro is a jacka$$ especially the part about caffeine, I will admit when I quit smoking, my cluster cycle duration, # per day, and intensity has been reduced by a lot.  I will be smoke-free from cigarettes for 4 years come Feb.  Tobacco of any kind was a definite trigger for me.  Not sure if quitting had anything to do with it or maybe it's just a coincidence.

Assistant Manager at work : "If you don't want to come into work then don't, but please do not come in and put on those kind of theatrics again...."

Mind you that was only a couple of days after being diagnosed, and I probably shouldn't have been in.....

He's still a dumbass though......

Only today i saw a new neuro who's comments included:
"so your migranes"........ er NO
and
"do you think that its because you've moved and its a new environment" well i have moved 200 miles down the road but im not sure thats the route cause.
Bless my family, i still get, drink more, sleep more, eat less, eat this, dont  eat that, im sure everyone knows the classics. My response it to laugh, if only they knew. I love the brain disease one, i might try that, ive only ever told my very nearest and dearest but i think that might be quite entertaining, i think it dose it more justice that, "headache"

L